Questions on code and notifications

Every comment on a student's code is a thread. A teacher starts one by commenting on a line, a student starts one by asking about a line, and either side can reply. Only that student and the class's teachers ever see it.

Ask about a line (students)

Open one of your assignment files in the workspace and click the line number you have a question about. To ask about several lines, drag across the line numbers, or click one and shift-click another. Type your question and click Ask.

Your question appears under the lines it is about, and every teacher of the class is told about it. When a teacher replies, the reply appears under your question and the bell at the top of the page shows it. Questions you asked stay where you asked them, on your own copy of the file.

Your teacher's comments show up the same way, beside your code in the workspace and on the assignment's Feedback page. Click Reply under one to answer it.

Answer questions (teachers)

A student's question opens in the grading view, at the line they asked about, on their live workspace. You can also answer in their workspace itself, from the class's People tab. Click Reply under the question.

Every teacher of the class sees every question. Once one teacher replies, the question stops showing as unread for the others. A student's reply goes to the teachers who have already written in that thread.

Resolve a thread

Click Resolve under a thread once it is settled. Either side can resolve a thread or reopen it, and resolving it resolves it for everyone. A resolved thread folds down to one line; click Show to read it again. A new reply reopens it.

The bell

The bell at the top of every page counts what is new for you:

• Teachers: new questions, replies on threads, and submissions. Submissions are grouped by assignment, so a due date that collects a whole class shows as one line.
• Students: new comments and replies from your teachers.

Click one to go straight to the file and line, or to the assignment, and it is marked read. Mark all read clears the count. Open inbox lists every open thread you are in, the ones waiting on you first, and every notification. The count refreshes every 30 seconds while the page is open.

Email about questions (teachers)

CS Room does not email you about questions unless you ask it to. To turn it on, open your inbox and check Email me about new student questions.

• At most one email an hour, listing the questions you have not read yet. Anything you read in CS Room first is left out.
• Questions only. Never submissions, never replies.
• Every email has a link at the bottom that turns it off in one click.

Students never get email from these threads.