[cs615asa] Welcome to CS615 System Administration, Spring 2022!

[Jan Schaumann]

Hello, and welcome to CS615 System Administration,
Spring 2021!

Our class is scheduled to begin next week, so I wanted
to send out an email with some useful information for
you to get the most out of this class.

We will begin this class remotely on Zoom, and will
likely alternate throughout the semester between
in-person and online class, based on infection rates
and everybody's comfort level.  As always, what you
get out of this class depends largely on you, your
motivation, and initiative.

Let's cover the basics:

I've subscribed all students who are officially
enrolled in this class to this mailing list; this will
be the primary means of asynchronous communication for
us.  Please don't hesitate to ask questions here --
this is not intended as an announcements-only list,
but as a place for discussions.

I've also sent you an invite to the course Slack
channel:
https://cs615asa.slack.com

Please customize your profile there and add your full
name and say hi to each other.  We'll use this channel
to chat informally in semi-real time.  Please use this
space to talk amongst yourselves and help each other
out or just share some interesting links relevant to
the class.

Video lectures of all materials for this class are
available from the class YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/cs615asa

Using the above resources will allow us to keep our
assigned, synchronous classroom time to talk with you
in real time rather than lecture via Zoom.

Hopefully this will encourage more interactive
participation and foster a more engaging online class
experience.

For this to work out, I'll expect you to watch the
video lectures _before_ our online Zoom class; before
our first class on 2022-01-24, please watch the Week
01 playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDadzdouM0VCV7tjurqM8FHY6APK9wvJl

Please come to class prepared with questions to let us
have lively, interactive discussions!


I'm also asking you to fill out a quick self-check
form prior to each week's class, linked to from the
course syllabus on the course website at:
https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/

Please make sure to review the posted videos and
materials before Monday.  I hope that with all these
resources we will have a successful and productive
class, and don't hesitate to ask questions either on
Slack or on this mailing list.

See you next Monday on Zoom!
-Jan