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Re: [Phys-l] Cramster.com



Hi all-
It's not an all or none situation. You can, for example, require each student to explain a homework problem on a rotating basis, and grade the explanation - two or three explanations per class period. This approach has the added benefit of not requiring you to grade everybody's homeworkd each class period.
This was pretty much the approach used in law school.
Regards,
Jack


On Wed, 14 Nov 2007, Karim Diff wrote:

Actually, according to the web site, premium members ($9.95/month or
$39.95/year) receive a response to a question within 2 hours.
So even custom-made assignments can fall prey to this.

Maybe the only response is to completely remove homework from the
calculation of grades.

Karim Diff


Rauber, Joel wrote:
Yes, it is a problem and diminishes the usefullness of homework,
particularly in advanced courses; where there is a relative paucity of
tractable "doable" problems.

Others, have given some responses as to how they deal with the problem,
which is to basically acknowledge the reality. Its unfortunate. But
the genie is out of the bottle.

You seem to have arrived at a solution as you outlined below.

________________________
Joel Rauber
Department of Physics - SDSU

Joel.Rauber@sdstate.edu
605-688-4293



| -----Original Message-----
| From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
| [mailto:phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf
| Of Price Daniel S.
| Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 2:38 PM
| To: Forum for Physics Educators
| Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Cramster.com
|
| Two students in my university General Chemistry II course
| purchased solutions to text problems. It was easy to
| determine that they had obtained the solution-manual answers,
| as they made little attempt to change the wording. When
| confronted, both admitted obtaining the answers "online", and
| could not understand why their actions would be considered
| dishonest. I immediately switched to assignments containing
| questions that I had written (or rewritten from other
| sources). [Despite student requests, I did not and will not
| publish the solutions to my problem sets, as I was and am
| certain that the solutions would enter the public domain,
| rendering my assignments no more useful than textbook questions.]
|
| Even at the university level, students seem to view education
| as a contest. Assignments are therefore part of the "us vs.
| them" struggle, to be circumvented at every opportunity, and
| are not viewed as they are meant--as tools to assist learning.
|
| --Daniel Price, Columbine High School
|
|
|
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l


--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley