[MWForum]"ask an expert"

[Wendy Petti]

Hi Folks,

MWForum is currently hosted through Math Cats but it is supported by
OpenWorld Learning, the Denver nonprofit organization that has created the
MicroWorlds in Action (MIA) site -
http://mia.openworldlearning.org .  Daniel Ajoy and I have been the
developing the content for the MIA site.

Recently we have added a form to the "How Do I?" section of MIA so that
visitors can ask MicroWorlds-related questions.  We plan to begin
forwarding these questions to our MWForum list, and we invite all of you to
participate in answering questions of interest.  It is fine for several
people (or more) to provide answers to each question, for there are often
numerous ways to tackle a problem.

These questions will be forwarded from "askanexpert@openworldlearning.org"
... and you should also see the question-asker's e-mail address in the
"from" line.  If you just hit "reply" then your answer will be sent only to
the list, and the person asking the question through the MIA form will not
receive your answer.  Please use "reply to all" (or CC your reply to the
question-asker's address).  Also be aware that if the question-asker then
replies to you with a follow-up, that reply will be coming only to you, not
to the list (unless the asker also uses the "reply to all" feature... and
after I've approved the posting from a non-member).  If you would like the
list to continue following the thread, feel free to forward to the list any
follow-up questions or remarks you may receive.

For the time being, Daniel Ajoy is going to screen the questions before
forwarding them to the list, because we have received the occasional
off-topic question such as, "How do I remove rust from an old bathtub?"  We
have amended the text accompanying the form to try to make it clear that we
handle only *MicroWorlds* questions!  In time we may forward the questions
directly without screening them, so if in the future you find an occasional
silly off-topic question on our list, please just ignore it.

Even though the messages will be forwarded from "askanexpert" - please do
not think that we must consider ourselves "experts" to answer the
questions!  Far from it.

We have not received many questions yet through the MIA form, so I do not
think the additional list traffic will be a problem and I hope it will
stimulate some interesting replies that many on the list will find useful.

As always, feel free to ask our list any MicroWorlds questions you may
have!  Or if you wish, you may like to try out the MIA form at:

http://mia.openworldlearning.org/howdoi.htm

Thanks,

Wendy Petti
MWForum moderator
content developer, OWL's MicroWorlds in Action
http://mia.openworldlearning.org
creator of Math Cats
http://www.mathcats.com