On Tue, 15 Jan 2002 10:14:12 -0700, Larry Farrell <farrlarr at isu.edu>
wrote:
>Paul Taylor wrote:
>>> I am ignoring my own suggestion and repsonding to this conversation..
>>>> Perhaps it would be slightly friendlier to just ignore homework questions
>> rather than berate people from a distance..which really does nothing but
>> make us all look like a bunch of angry info-hoarders.
>>>> Still, something to do I guess...
>>I don't believe that is serves any particular purpose to allow students to
>continue in their belief that it is all right for them to expect others to do
>the work they are supposed to do themselves. Simply ignoring requests for
>help with homework questions, rather than pointing out how such requests
>defeat the intended purpose of the educational process, panders to that
>belief. If responding negatively to such requests is considered berating and
>makes me look like an "angry info-hoarder," so be it.
>
I think all of you are on the right track, and I think replying to a
"poor" post probably is useful. But perhaps it can be done in a way
that encourages the student to make a better post. There are various
reasons for the poor posts, and some are more "innocent" than others.
Getting the students to enter into a dialog is good. (After all, when
a student approaches us after class or in the office, their first
version of a question isn't always the best. But we have a
conversation.) Also, it is gentler to reply to the student
"critically" by doing it privately.
In this case, I had written to the original poster privately, with a
(small) helpful comment about his question, and he did reply
constructively.
bob
