- Jump right in! Anybody and everybody is welcome to help others! It is not required that you be a professor, an accredited educator, or a professional tutor. All you need is a familiarity with a topic and the ability to communicate your knowledge.
- Encourage learning. The goal of these forums is to help people learn and, as they say, "One best learns by doing." While it is often easiest to simply post "the answer" to an exercise, a student learns nothing from this that wasn't already in the back of the book. Instead, strive to provide hints, helps, leading questions, and other avenues for the learner to investigate.
- Support growth. If you're helping, then you already "know how to do it". The goal of these forums is that the learners grow in understanding as you have. Providing the complete hand-in solution to a take-home test might be "fun" for you, but the student (experience shows) learns very little which is positive.
- Model good habits. Please speak clearly, display consideration and good manners, and model useful mathematical habits of writing and thought. Explaining similar examples and posting links to on-topic web pages is great; doing a student's homework or posting ads is not.
- Be professional. Keep in mind that readers cannot hear your cheerful tone or see your friendly wink. While a friendly tone is certainly preferred, it is often best to exercise caution regarding sarcasm, off-topic humor, and the like. If you're tired, go to bed and come back, refreshed, the next day.
Thank you!
