Brittany Westerberg

SDSU Student Forums is a new Web site created by an SDSU student where students can discuss their classes and get help if they need it.

Jason Telgren, a junior manufacturing engineering technologies major and the Web site’s creator, was stuck on a physics problem and visited an online physics forum. He wished there was something based around here that he could go to where he could talk to the other students in the same class, or talk to students who had been in the class before him. That was how he got the idea for creating the forum.

Telgren did some research and decided to create his own online forum for all students.

“With this online forum, students can gather, discuss, ask questions, answer questions and just chat in general,” says Telgren.

“The basic idea behind the forums is to create a place where students can help other students,” said Chris McMacken, a senior computer science student and co-administrator of the forums.

“If a student is having a hard time with some homework, they have a place to ask questions where many people can read the question and easily respond.”

This Web site is not affiliated in any way with SDSU, but it is meant for SDSU students so that they have a place to go where they can discuss the subjects talked about in their class.

The forum has been on the Web since mid-February. It is set up with many different areas of interest, so that any student of any major can use the forum. For example, in the Modern Languages section, there are different discussions for German, Spanish and French. If you are an engineering student, there are discussions for electrical, mechanical, computer science and, not surprisingly, physics.

Students can upload files regarding their classes, such as old notes, a cheat sheet created for a test or answers they got on a worksheet that they would like to compare.

Not all the boards will be set up to everyone’s liking, but if a category should be added, all someone has to do is let Telgren or McMacken know. They want the forum to be as easy and user-friendly as possible. If anyone has any problems or issues to address with the forum, they should also contact the administrators.

“Our main worry is that there is not going to be enough student participation,” says Telgren. That is what is meant to be the backbone of this site: students talking to students.

There are not many people registered yet, but Telgren and McMacken are hopeful that the number of members will increase as more students learn about the forum and start using it.

To visit the Web site, go to http://sdsu.telgren.info/