(D) is OK, if the request is respectful (it's what I'd do for a neighbour
who was studying for a course, who asked me nicely for assistance with some
part of it). It depends on whether you feel like volunteering your time to
help that person, really. (E) is a sensible, neutral response - make it
clear that the answers are out there, but you have to look for them and
puzzle them through yourself.
Dominic
----- Original Message -----
From:
(A) Give a perfect answer. (B) Give a subtly flawed answer. (C) Give an obfuscated answer. (D) Give a critique of what the questioner has tried so far. (E) Give relevant general advice without answering the specific
question.
As a general rule, I require any student who comes to me for help to demonstrate that he (she) has made an attempt to solve the problem. After that, I have found a combination of D and E gets the best results. Please note that I encourage my students to ask for help if they are stuck after making an honest effort (for various reasons ranging from outright fear to simple lack of knowledge about how to relate to college instructors, many won't even approach their instructors without such an instruction).
Murray Gross Brooklyn College
_______________________________________________ Haskell-Cafe mailing list Haskell-Cafe@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell-cafe