Welcome and Where to Find Help

Hello, students!

This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of
Science in Data Science (MS-DS) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The MS-DS
is an interdisciplinary degree that brings together faculty from CU Boulder’s
departments of Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Information Science, and
others. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the MS-DS
is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or
professional experience in computer science, information science, mathematics, and
statistics. Learn more about the MS-DS program at this link.

This post contains important information about the difference between non-credit
and for-credit versions of the course and how to reach out for assistance. Please do
take the time to read through it carefully, as it will be important in the successful
completion of this course. 

For-Credit and Non-Credit Course

Options
You may take this course either for-credit or in the non-credit version. Moreover, you
can enroll in the for-credit version of the course for this term at any point, up until
the enrollment deadline (for all deadlines, see the MS-DS calendar). Any work you
have completed in the non-credit version of the course will transfer over to the for-
credit version of the course at that time. The content and assignments for the for-
credit and non-credit courses are the same. However, there are a few important
differences between the courses in terms of support.

The non-credit version of the course is designed to run as a free and fairly
autonomous MOOC course for anyone seeking to further their knowledge about the
course topic. About once a week, course facilitators will look at the non-credit
discussion forums and feedback boards periodically for feedback on ways to
improve the course and will also try to periodically respond to any questions you
have that you post in the discussion forums. However, course facilitators and
instructors are unable to view your grades or assignments to give you feedback or
make modifications while you are enrolled in the non-credit version of the course,
and they cannot provide the same level of support in terms of discussion forum
monitoring and feedback as they are able to provide for the for-credit version of the
course.

In the for-credit version of the course, instructors and course facilitators can view
your grades and individual assignments, and thus can give you feedback on your
assignments and make modifications to resolve grading issues. Moreover, your
course facilitator will host live (virtual) office hours twice a week that you can access
as for-credit students to ask questions or get feedback on your work. They will
monitor the for-credit discussion forums daily and respond to your questions and
comments, and you will also be given access to degree planning support and other
technical support through the MSDS program.

Thus, the main difference between the non-credit and for-credit versions of the
course, aside from the fact that you will receive credit for completing the for-credit
version of the course through CU’s MSDS program, is the level of support and
interaction that you can expect with course facilitators and instructors, as outlined
above. While you should feel free to take whichever version of the course (for credit
or not for credit) that best suits your learning needs, if you are fairly confident that
you would like to enroll in the for-credit version of the course eventually, please be
aware that there are some advantages to doing so sooner rather than later, as you
will get access to additional support and feedback once you enroll in the for-credit
version of the course.

Where to Find Help — For Non-Credit

Learners
Non-credit learners have a few options if they run into problems. We recommend
using the following resources in the order listed:

1. Ask a question of your peers in a discussion forum

2. Find related articles in the Learner Help Center
3. Contact Coursera's technical support team
4. Flag the issue in the course (non-urgent issues only)
5. For urgent technical issues, create a post in the "Questions and Urgent
Help" Discussion forum. This will be your main place to get answers and
support for large scale issues.
We work to promptly fix all course issues that Coursera technical support identifies
as requiring the course author's attention. We prioritize urgent issues that impede
learner progress in our non-credit courses, and we also periodically review flagged
issues.

In addition to the weekly discussion forums, there is an additional discussion forum

for this course. It is titled "Questions and Urgent Help." This forum is where course
facilitators will go to periodically check and reply to any questions you may have
about technical issues or course structure. This forum is for any urgent issues about
the course that would require a course facilitator's attention. Please do not reach out
to professors or faculty members directly. Utilize this discussion forum, as it is there
to give you the support you need. Keep in mind that this forum is not a place to get
help with answers on homework or quizzes.

So, please do keep an eye on these additional discussion forums.

Where to Find Help — For-Credit
Learners
For-credit learners have a few more options for where to find help. Similar to non-
credit learners, those in the for-credit version of a course can follow the first four
steps above to find help. Additionally, for-credit learners also have access to the
following resources:

 Discussion posts in the for-credit courses are monitored weekly by

course facilitators
 For-credit learners can participate in course facilitator office hours,
where they can ask questions and get help on specific problems. (See the
Course Facilitation reading in the for-credit courses)
 For-credit learners only can contact their course facilitators through the
course's support email (See the Course Facilitation reading)