Sticky for students in General Book Discussion?

[ions]

I'm not confident the target audience has the capacity to see this thread and use it properly. In the very least it could be helpful to them and may cut down on the people asking for help. Is it possible to sticky the thread? Or do you guys think it's a bad idea and shouldn't be tried at all?

 

[Occlith]

I'm not confident the target audience has the capacity to see this thread and use it properly. In the very least it could be helpful to them and may cut down on the people asking for help. Is it possible to sticky the thread? Or do you guys think it's a bad idea and shouldn't be tried at all?

That might help or encourage more questions.
I like the idea. Title the sticky "Homework Help" to make it easier to find and occasionally update with additional resources.

 

[Ell]

Not sure it would solve the problem of lazy students, but wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

 

[Ice]

Done

I agree with Ell, it may not solve the problem of lazy students but it does provide all students with links to good resources. If you find any more, post them in the thread and i'll add them to the list

 

[ions]

I'm not betting it'll stop the problem but at least there's one link to give an offending poster that should help them out.

While we're on the subject what is an appropriate reaction to a lazy student looking for help here? I understand that my typical reaction is seen as harsh and rude. But I don't think coddling these people is the right way to react at all.

You're in a classroom doing an assignment on an assigned book that you have read. You know the material and the assignment is going well. The guy next to you leans over and whispers "I didn't read this, can you tell my why David Copperfield made such colourful descriptions of Uriah Heep?". How many of you are going hand the answers over? Why do it here? I was that student looking for handouts that was too lazy to his own work. I didn't learn my lesson by being given handouts. Not that I got many. I learned my lesson by facing the repurcussions of failure and coming to the realization that constant bullshitting is almost always more work thatn just doing the work. If I had the resource of the Internet that is available today then I believe I would have at least made the effort to get my own answers. It stuns me how kids are ignoring this extraordinarily easy to use library of information and answers! Using the Internet doesn't mean posting a question on a board and waiting for the answersd to roll in. They're too damn lazy to Google and they ask here?! That's why I get so pissed.

Plus it ruins the forum. I'm not here to help kids with homework. If I wanted to do that there are homework help boards out there I could join I bet. I'm here to discuss books with other interested readers. The Book Forum: read review discuss. I don't see ask in there.

 

[Kookamoor]

I'm not betting it'll stop the problem but at least there's one link to give an offending poster that should help them out.

While we're on the subject what is an appropriate reaction to a lazy student looking for help here?

I think the first response to any student should be, "Please note that TBF is not a homework-help forum. Read this thread and explore the resources within to seek help with your work. TBF members are happy to discuss books with you, but that means that you must contribute to the discussion as well. That means offering your thoughts and opinions, not just taking our information. We will not do your homework for you."

That being said, sometimes I think that a student is genuinely interested in discussing a book and they get jumped on far too quickly. For example if a post starts with, "I just finished reading 'David Copperfield" for my school literature class and find Dickens' description of Uriah Heep to be distasteful. I can't understand why he is portrayed in this way. Does anyone have any ideas?" Well, I personally think that's a very interesting question. I think the first response should be to probe the student for some information to detect whether they have read the book. This is similar to what a teacher would do, I guess. Questions like: "How would you define the relationship between David and Uriah?" "What qualities do you think Dickens does/does not endorse in his characters?"

A discussion has to have give and take. If a new member joins the forum and is only interested in taking, and not contributing, then I don't view that in a very positive light at all. If a student is interested in contributing, then that's different. I guess that's why if I were to pose the above question it would be viewed in a positive light, but if a new member were to, I would be suspicious that I'm not going to gain anything from the discussion and not want to help them out. The same goes for self-promotion. If an existing member does it, you feel like you are gaining from their discussion because they have already given to the forum through their membership. If a new member promotes themself then they are just taking with no intention of giving you anything.

Does that make sense?