<i>This really has opened a very important can of worms </i>
Absolutely, but I don't think there's any simple answers to be had.
<i>One question: Now you've done part of his homework for him, are going to do the full code for his serial link too? </i>
What help I'd give would depend upon exactly what was being asked for, and what I thought would help the person best. I will admit that I am generally disposed to presume that someone asking for help is doing so because, while capable, they ( for whatever reason ) cannot see the solution and are banging their head on the wall, and to say, "Open your eyes and look harder", will not help them at all.
<i>And the analogy 'fastest gun in the west' is just about right. It seems to be a competition as to who is the fastest/smartest. </i>
I don't agree, and that's not what motivates me. Maybe others see it differently. The way I see it is that people want help and if I'm able to I will give the best help I can.
<i>Perhaps its common knowledge in Schools now that if you want your school project completed for you then just get on this Forum. </i>
But how many times has that happened ? I don't think many at all, and if people are asking for help I believe we are all here primarily to help and it is not our job to police the education system or a student's learning experience.
And who are we to know or judge what is best for any particular student ? As I've said, I believe those who 'cheat' by coming to take an answer are only fooling themselves in the long term, and if they are fooling the education or examination system as well, then the problem lies there not here.
On the other side of the coin, we have had the 'OMG I have to finish this tomorrow and haven't started' posts which have received short shrift.
<i>But providing a nearly-finished answer to a specific school exam question is a bit OTT yes/no? </i>
In this case, while I gave a specific answer, I don't believe that is a significant part of the project as a whole. I would almost certainly have responded differently if it were known to be a specific exam question, but then the student could have simply neglected to mention such a fact and we'd be none the wiser. If we ask if it is, a student could likely say "no", even if it were. Do we start to take all questions as exam questions even though not stated as such, and simply tell posters, everything they need to know is in the manuals or can be learned through study ?
One could genuinely say we are all doing everyone a disservice by giving any answers at all if the information already exists elsewhere or can be determined.
Perhaps the only way to judge if what answers are given are reasonable or go too far is to compare them to what an in-class lecturer or mentor would provide if asked directly. Not being one I can't say. The best we can hope for is one of those to say when we've got it wrong retrospectively.
That then leads to a further question; are we here as "educators" or "founts of knowledge", or both ?
<i>And just look at the detail of code in VB given to Useless in his threads. Its amazing the amount of work others will go to. People spent ages looking, coding, tidying etc. knowing Useless seems to put in no effort himself. WHY? </i>
I don't think usless gets anything more than anyone else when there are people who can answer a question or give advice. In my case the amount and detail of response does depend upon whether I know the answer ( and although complex it can be easy to provide ), or how well the question motivates me to find a good answer myself.
The answers given, while in response to questions, are also there to help a wider audience, even beyond the PICAXE community.
The bottom line is, that in my perfect world there would be a book which had all the answers in for people who want them and we couldn't stop students or anyone from looking in the book to get what they are given here. The only difference is that we are writing the book as we go.
One final point. If someone we know to be emminently capable but unable to solve the problem had asked the same, would we have given the answer and explained it them ? I expect so. That solution would then have been documented for anyone to find no matter what their motive or intent, so is there really any difference in having provided the answer in the past to doing so now ? We're firmly into philosophy there, which is what makes it so hard to give any straight-forward and simple answers on the whole subject.
Edited by - hippy on 07/09/2006 14:33:10