---
title: Getting Help
tags: Documentation, Documents-F22
---

# Getting Help and Working with Staff

CS 111 offers many different kinds of help. Here's a table summarizing where to go for each kind of question or issue:

| Problem | Ed | TA <br> Hours | Prof/Grad Hours <br> or Appt | Review Session |
| ----------- | ---------- | ------------------- | ----------| ------ |
| _Fix/Debug Code_ | small issue| larger issue | hours (smallish issues only) |
| _Understand Error Message_ | yes | yes | hours|
| _Conceptual Question_ | yes | yes | hours | yes |
| _Review Previous Week Material_ | yes| | | yes |
| _Review Study Skills_| | | hours (if general) or appt (if personal) |
| _Private Issue_ | | | appt w. prof | |
| _Need extension_ | | | fill in form on homepage | |

Review section (optional) is available each week to review and practice conceptual material. See the TA hours calendar for the schedule.

In general, **we strongly encourage you to use Ed for small/quick questions**. You can post code to Ed in private posts (don't post code for assignments publically). If you feel you need to post a lot of code, your question is probably better suited to face-to-face TA hours.

If you have a clarification question, we prefer you to make a public post (can be anonymous) on Ed. If we feel a private question is of general interest, we may turn it into an anonymous public post, so more people can see the answers.

Kathi's office hours will be open, not one-on-one. This means you are welcome to join the session anytime and ask questions or discuss material (whether from class, homework, or CS in general). These hours are not meant for helping individual students with code (though we can take a quick look for something simple that doesn't take much time from the group discussion).

If you feel you need individual help with how you approach problems in general, email Kathi or Lizzie for an appointment. Also make an appt with Kathi if you have a concerns of a personal nature.

## Preparing for One-on-one Office Hours

TA hour slots are 15 minutes max. Thus, it helps if you come prepared.

If your question is about a programming problem, we expect that you will come with your `where` examples written and a program plan if the problem requires one (or is complex enough to warrant one). You are also expected to be able to show what you have tried to isolate the problem yourself (we are interested in your developing skills, not just in your finishing the assignments).

To be clear, **if you haven't worked through the design steps (which we will be explaining in class) and just bring code to hours, the TAs can ask you to do the design steps before looking at your code.** TAs will do this when they believe your issue depends on one of the design steps.

We'll talk about design steps in lecture throughout weeks 2-4 of the course.

In addition, **if you ask for assignment help at TA hours, we expect that you are caught up on lectures**. The staff are not here to teach you just enough to finish the assignments. You have to do your part. (Of course, if you are catching up after an illness or something similar, just say so and we'll help you catch up conceptually. But we will most likely refer you to specific lectures to watch; we won't just tell you how to proceed.)