Welcome to Zulip! This pages offers some tips for using Zulip for a class. If this is your first time using Zulip, we recommend checking out Getting started with Zulip to get oriented.
Zulip works great as the communication hub for your class, providing a single place for:
- Posting lecture notes and announcements
- Answering students’ questions
- Collecting feedback from students
- Coordination among teaching staff
- Virtual office hours
!!! tip "" Subscribe to email notifications for channels such as #announcements to make sure you never miss an important message.
Many classes use a dedicated channel to post general announcements, for example:
- #announcements > office hours: My office hours this week
will be rescheduled from
Mon, Oct 11 2021, 1:00 PMtoThu, Oct 14 2021, 3:30 PM.
Share lecture notes and reading materials with drag-and-drop file uploads, for example:
- #Unit 3: Sorting algorithms > lecture notes: Here are the notes from today’s lecture. lecture notes 10/2.pdf You can view a recording of the lecture here.
- You can post a time that everyone will see in their own time zone.
- Share URLs as named links.
In Zulip, channels determine who receives a message. Topics are light-weight subjects for individual conversations. You can more about channels and topics.
Zulip works best when each conversation has its own topic. When you have a question to ask, simply start a new topic! For example, one might see the following topics in a channel where a lecture and the corresponding assignment are being discussed:
- problem 2a clarification
- question about slide 7
- code not compiling
- LaTeX diagram help
Zulip will show auto-complete suggestions for existing topics as you type, which helps surface relevant previous conversations. You can also use the search bar to check whether a question has already been addressed.
You can mention the person who asked a question to make sure they see timely answers.
When a question has been answered, you can mark a topic as resolved. This makes it easy for course staff to see which conversations still require their attention.
Use private channels to coordinate among course staff, for example:
-
#staff > homework 2 exercise 3b: How many points should I take off for this? The assignment says clearly to use Python 3 syntax.
print result
Zulip works great for virtual office hours! With a dedicated thread for each question, it's easy to have several discussions at once.
- Course staff can respond to multiple questions in parallel, making efficient use of their time.
- Students can participate in real time, or learn by reading the conversations afterwards.