What to do with Homework Posters
 

I wonder, what do you guys think about, and how do you deal with people posting their homework to the forums?

I know I personally dont agree with helping them, unless they can prove they understand what the question is asking, and if they wanted that they would be able to answer it themselves.

The reason I think of this is I can recall being at school, knowing my stuff very well, but I'd still be beaten by others who just downloaded it online or copied it from a book. The teachers never had the time/effort/bothered to check up properly and notice this. Hell, I even saw it happening in university where they had systems to stop that kind of thing.

So.... do you help them or not?

If someone wants to cheat, he'll try to find a way. But it's not our responsibility to help him do it, nor is it our fault or concern if he's being "beaten" by his classmates. It's the job of the school/teachers to police against that.

The purpose of most school assignments is to provide the student with the skills needed to master the subject. The best way we can help accomplish that is to keep doing what we do already, refuse to provide direct answers, but do provide general guidance on how to proceed, when necessary and as possible. Help the student help himself. If that's not what he wants, then too bad for him.

It also doesn't hurt to point out that in the long run cheating only hurts the cheater, as it means never actually learning the things you're supposed to know.

I would say help them...
 

But only in a certain way. I'm, a professor at the associate's level. and when students ask me for help, I give it to them. I never give them the answers, but I ask open ended questions that will help guide them to the answer. If you solve their problem for them, you will rob them of the chance to learn and grow. Getting an "A", to me is worthless, if you haven't really learned anything.

I'd like to add that to me the biggest problem is not what to do about homework posts, but simply in recognizing them in the first place. Sometimes it's rather obvious, but often it's not so clear. A clever student can often state the assignment in a way that makes it sound like a genuine problem.

My general policy when I suspect homework has been to clearly voice my suspicion up-front, point out that such questions are against the site rules, and that we won't give any spoon-fed answers. Then I provide, or offer to provide, whatever general advice I feel is appropriate.

If the poster follows up by clarifying his needs in a way that shows, to a credible level of believability, that it's not homework, then I'll provide more direct help.

I think most of the regulars here work the same way.

The rule doesn't prevent us from doing other people's homework. It prevents the person making the request from expecting us to help:

That being said, I don't help people to do their homework, only guide them to the answer. I also don't help at all w/ a coding assignment if the OP doesn't at least make an attempt at coding it themselves other than perhaps giving a link to a useful site pertaining to the language in question (I might even give the pertinent location in the guide if they are totally clueless).

Forrest

Hi...

In the end, it all boils down to this, really...

Learning is not just about incorporating brute knowledge, is about algorythmics...

problem-Solving methodology, this is what homeworks are really about.

Then perhaps we should just give the answers, because it seems that LQ is a problem-solving methodology for a lot of folk out there :D

Which raises the question whether today's educational system is going with the time. I think that the whole paper-and-homework paradigm is now outdated because it has become too easy for student to "get help". When I graduated just 15 years ago, grades depended for only 5-10% on papers, at best; the rest would be exams... (we would have up to 8 written exams on a single day, for three days in a row..). I can assure you, if you had helped yourself to a bit too much "help" during the year, you simply didn't make it. Unfortunately, EU politicians appear to have an Anglo-American fetish so we are now aping the whole lot, from the bachelor and master system to more and more weight being put on "individual assignments"...

What to do with Homework Posters
Make them walk about in their home towns or cities with a placard saying: I AM A HOMEWORK POSTER ON LQ. That'll teach 'em!!!

That would be fine, brianL, as long as they have to wear a traffic cone on their heads as well. :D

See this to me, shows they have at least SOME understanding of the problem and are just trying to fix it, as if it was a REAL problem (by asking on this forum as we all do, regularly).

if they do this to a level at which I can believe its a real problem (even if I know its just homework) then I have no problem with giving them the same answers which I'd give anyone with the same problem.

My approach is sort-of like that, but I prefer to avoid very open questions because there seems to be tendency for the group of people asking this kind of questions to include a high percentage of people who will try to avoid thinking about the problem, for whatever reason....and who want to submit the answer to their Computer Science class tomorrow morning

So, I would prefer to ask
"And what would happen if you try X, would that help? In what ways? Or would Y help more and not suffer from the disadvantages?"

rather than
"You could try something in the XY space".

While I completely agree with not spoonfeeding homework posters with an answer to their questions, I find it often needs a strong prod in the correct direction (or at least a plausible/workable direction) before they will do anything other than ask more 'fishing for help' questions, sometimes on a different forum.

(And, on a side note, I find it intensely irritating when I've done the difficult work of adding information without giving away the worked-out answer, which is the 'more work, better results' approach, when someone comes along and just posts the answer. I have still to decide whether I'll be repping people who do that down, for whatever that is worth. Not that I've actually replied to a homework question for a while.)

I think it depends on whether they're trying to get others to do all the problem solving for them. If someone demonstrates that they've tried to work through a problem and gotten stuck, as it's easy for one stumbling block to grind learners to a halt. I'm happy to help.

Example of the wrong kind of question: "Can someone post code to do x for me?". Example of a better question: "Here's some code I wrote to do x, but I get this strange error y. Google has been unhelpful. Anyone know how to fix this?".

I just provide them with resources, I do not give the answer.

Actually, helping them can actually harm them. When I was taking C/C++ in high school, some guy never did his homework, and he always asked me for it. I gave him the answers, but in the end he failed the class and I got an A+, that's because he didn't do his homework, I did.

Hi,

I look at it in this way: You open the door and they walk through. I won't carry them over the thresh hold. It's up to the poster to do a little effort on their part. That's why they have the assignment any way. To help in understanding by the growth and attainment of knowledge that will hopefully allow them to answer or understand future problems. This way things build for the person so they can hopefully learn.

It's not only what you know but knowing where to look for the answers or having the means to break things down into terms that you understand so conveyance is understandable by others. Immediate direct answers are meant for peers. Most homework type presenters are not peers to me nor other knowledgeable LQ members. Some may look at this as a elitist viewpoint but not intended as such. Just plain fact, if the presenter had the answers or the knowledge to convey then no posts would be made by that same person. Now if the presenter wants feedback or queries to attempts on his/her part then of course we should help or lead that same person to achievement but again opening the door and let them walk through thus determine the correct path to the answer(S).

I will informational link or resource to most homework type questions. To me, it's pretty easy to identify a homework type question. I'll identify and reply initially the presenter should be asking the prof/teacher with the problem first. Or look at the text or session notes for potential leads to the answer. If the teacher's worth and understanding of the student(s) then they should be able to identify the problem at some time during the learning experience(s) with the problems of the curriculum for any student. Again the learning experience within the class not the web;

Doesn't mean we as LQ members cannot aid but lead by proper methods.
:hattip: