ALL EXPERTS - RE: Student Assignments

[MMcCarthy]

Policies below superceded by FAQ Post Course Work Questions and Answers.

We are introducing a new policy regarding the whole issue of dealing with student assignments on thescripts. As this is most relevent in this forum I am introducing the policy here until the FAQ can be amended accordingly.

• We will be stopping the posting of whole code solutions to questions and will be asking the moderators to enforce this and to edit threads when necessary. Students posts containing full code will also be edited.
• If experts need to see a students full code for any reason it can be forwarded directly to the expert by PM.
• Students can ask questions on functionality and theory or post code snippets for syntax corrections.
• In essence the experts are going to be asked to act in the role of tutor rather than providing blanket solutions.
• Where experts do post full code solutions the solutions will be edited by the moderator appropriately and the expert will be referred to the guidelines which will be amended to this new policy.

It is felt that this is an important time in the development of any programmer and we are not helping them by providing full code solutions. Once identified previous full code assignments are to be edited in accordance with the guidelines.

ADMIN

[Ganon11]

I thought this thread should be Stuck.

[MMcCarthy]

Professor I take it you have no objection to an article of this nature being used to help students.

Mary

[hirak1984]

Mary a more detailed description is needed for dumbs like me!!!

How much of the code do you want people to post?May be a guy who is really new to a language ,will need one or two full code examples to comprehended ,what to write and what to not in a program!
what do you think?

Professor I take it you have no objection to an article of this nature being used to help students.

Mary

[MMcCarthy]

Mary a more detailed description is needed for dumbs like me!!!

How much of the code do you want people to post?May be a guy who is really new to a language ,will need one or two full code examples to comprehended ,what to write and what to not in a program!
what do you think?

The essence is ...

You can post code in snippets to answer syntax questions or to demonstrate how a function works. For example when a for...loop is required you can post a sample for...loop as long as it doesn't specifically answer the assignment question.

You can use Pseudo code to speak of the program flow required. What we don't want to see is the full code solution that students can just copy and paste and then hand in as assignment homework.

The rule of thumb is really just leave something for the student to do for themselves as it is the only way they will learn.

Mary

[hirak1984]

The idea not at all bad.Following it is like walking on a thin rope.

You can easily fall down with a slight mistake

The essence is ...

You can post code in snippets to answer syntax questions or to demonstrate how a function works. For example when a for...loop is required you can post a sample for...loop as long as it doesn't specifically answer the assignment question.

You can use Pseudo code to speak of the program flow required. What we don't want to see is the full code solution that students can just copy and paste and then hand in as assignment homework.

The rule of thumb is really just leave something for the student to do for themselves as it is the only way they will learn.

Mary

[RedSon]

Right, I think the point though is to use your best judgment. Keep the solutions informative but don't give everything away. You have to make the students work for it at least a little bit. You could post most of a code file if you leave out the important parts. Every single code file has a bunch of stuff in it that is not that important like, setting up variables, opening files, gathering input, and other things, that all need to be done before you get to the actual meat of the problem. I think it is this meat that we should not be giving away to the student. Tell them what the meat looks like, tell them a good strategy to do it but don't do it for them.

I'm sure everyone is going to be very forgiving while we all try to figure out exactly what this rule means. Just like laws in countries, sometimes even the law makers don't know the full extent of their laws until they are argued in a court.

[MMcCarthy]

I'm sure everyone is going to be very forgiving while we all try to figure out exactly what this rule means. Just like laws in countries, sometimes even the law makers don't know the full extent of their laws until they are argued in a court.

True!

I think the main thing to keep in mind is nowhere in the thread should the full code of the assignment appear either in one post or spread over a number of posts.

[RedSon]

ATTENTION: This is not a thread for you to ask your student assignment questions. This is for discussion of the new Student Assignment policy. Please ask your questions in the proper area, or they will be moved / deleted.

[teddarr]

As a newb, I thought I'd give my opinion on this policy. I've been given full code solutions in the past and have only needed and used a snippet. It was easier to understand the snippet in the context of the full code. I am just now getting to the point where this policy is just what I need to continue to learn. It's gonna be hard on the brand new members who are taking their first course, but it is manageable.

I get much more satisfaction out of MY programs when I am the one writing the code. My poblem is that I usually post all of my code when I ask questions. Now I'll be forced to better describe my problems and identify the relative code. Still not a bad thing.

personally, this policy will benefit me ( and eventually my employer).

Thanks

[hirak1984]

Well teddarr,

the rule of not posting the full code is applicable when you are posting for helping others.
If you post a code tp ask questions or clear doubts,then posting full codes is most welcome.
Good luck

As a newb, I thought I'd give my opinion on this policy. I've been given full code solutions in the past and have only needed and used a snippet. It was easier to understand the snippet in the context of the full code. I am just now getting to the point where this policy is just what I need to continue to learn. It's gonna be hard on the brand new members who are taking their first course, but it is manageable.

I get much more satisfaction out of MY programs when I am the one writing the code. My poblem is that I usually post all of my code when I ask questions. Now I'll be forced to better describe my problems and identify the relative code. Still not a bad thing.

personally, this policy will benefit me ( and eventually my employer).

Thanks

[MMcCarthy]

Well teddarr,

the rule of not posting the full code is applicable when you are posting for helping others.
If you post a code tp ask questions or clear doubts,then posting full codes is most welcome.
Good luck

Sorry Hirak but teddarr is right. If a student posts full code in a question with just some minor errors then that code can be just as easily copied by others as code posted by one of the experts. The whole point is to stop students copying and pasting code directly from the forum and handing it in as homework. If teddarr posted the full code of an assignment and it was copied then the lecturer could give teddarr 0 marks for the assignment assuming he/she had also copied this code.

Mary

[hirak1984]

Well then everything lies on the creative ability of guys like teddarr.

more well they can describe their problem,chance of solution increases.

Sorry Hirak but teddarr is right. If a student posts full code in a question with just some minor errors then that code can be just as easily copied by others as code posted by one of the experts. The whole point is to stop students copying and pasting code directly from the forum and handing it in as homework. If teddarr posted the full code of an assignment and it was copied then the lecturer could give teddarr 0 marks for the assignment assuming he/she had also copied this code.

Mary

[MMcCarthy]

Well then everything lies on the creative ability of guys like teddarr.

more well they can describe their problem,chance of solution increases.

Yes and as teddarr says figuring out how to describe the problem is a learning curve itself.

Mary

[yoda]

i would like to have an opinion, i like the new rule is great but wat do we do if its not an assignment but if it's just a question about the code that a person as writen.

example

 Option Explicit

Public LoginSucceeded As Boolean

Private Sub cmdCancel_Click()
    'set the global var to false
    'to denote a failed login
    LoginSucceeded = False
    Me.Hide
End Sub

Private Sub cmdOK_Click()
    Dim FH As Long
FH = FreeFile()

Open "H:\_Common\Work2\Stuff for Mr.goss\a.txt" For Append As #FH
'check for correct password
    If txtPassword = txtPassword Then
        'place code to here to pass the
        'success to the calling sub
        'setting a global var is the easiest
        LoginSucceeded = True
        Me.Hide
    Else
        MsgBox "Invalid Password, try again!", , "Login Failed"
        txtPassword.SetFocus
        SendKeys "{Home}+{End}"
    End If
End Sub

if i use this it's not all right but, if i asked a question like how would i use a loop in this code.

just a question by Yoda