Using Minidora

Author

Sadamori Kojaku

Published

August 28, 2025

1 Getting Started with Minidora

Minidora is your personal AI tutor available 24/7 through Discord to help you master network science concepts. She’s designed to provide personalized learning support, answer questions about course materials, and guide you through challenging topics with patience and clarity. To interact with Minidora, simply use Discord slash commands or mention her directly in any channel or thread where she’s present.

Check out the instruction here on how to use Minidora: Minidora Usage. Minidora is available on Discord, and you can find the invitation link on the email sent in the first week of the semester. Or you can find the invitation link on the Brightspace.

Note

Some students could not find Minidora on Discord. The easiest way to get around this is:

  1. Go to the course discord server
  2. Open “network science” channel.
  3. Click the Minidora icon and send a direct message
  4. Type “/” and see if the available commands are shown.

2 Asking Questions

The most straightforward way to get help is using the /ask command followed by your question. For example, suppose that you want to ask a subject (Euler tour) in module 1.

  1. Type /ask then type space.
  2. Type your question (e.g., What is an Euler tour?)
  3. Type space
  4. You will be prompted to specify the module id. The id consists of “m”. For example, if it is module 1, you should type m01. Type the module id.
  5. Then type enter.

Minidora will then read the lecture content and provide an explanation.

3 Natural Conversations and Interactive Learning

For a more conversational experience, use the /chat command which allows you to interact with Minidora in a natural, free-flowing manner. You can say things like /chat I'm confused about small-world networks, can you explain them step by step? or /chat Can you help me debug this Python code for computing centrality? Minidora will engage in back-and-forth dialogue, ask clarifying questions, and adapt her explanations based on your responses.

Note that /chat does not contextualize the Minidora to the course materials. That means that it does not read the lecture content and interact with the students with its build-in knowledge.

4 Quizzes and Assessment

To test your understanding and reinforce learning, Minidora offers intelligent quiz features through the /quiz command. She can generate concept-based questions using /concept-quiz m01 multiple-choice for theoretical understanding, or coding challenges with /code-quiz m01 to practice implementation skills. Minidora tracks your progress and adapts quiz difficulty based on your performance, focusing on areas where you need more practice. You can also request quizzes on specific topics by adding subject keywords, such as /quiz m02 clustering algorithms.

5 Tracking Your Progress

Use the /status command to monitor your learning journey and see detailed insights about your progress. Minidora provides different status views: /status summary gives you a quick overview of questions asked and concepts mastered, while /status concepts shows which topics you’ve learned and what to study next. The /status profile command reveals your personalized learning profile, including your preferred difficulty level, learning style, and areas where you excel or need additional support. This helps Minidora provide increasingly personalized assistance as you continue learning.