Re: SQL to extract and evaluate rows from multiple child rows and1 parent. (OT)

DA Morgan <damorgan_at_exesolutions.com> wrote in message news:<3E41F18A.46EAA55C_at_exesolutions.com>...
> Because passing a class in SQL or PL/SQL or Oracle involves teaching people not just
> to parrot syntax ... but to think; to problem solve. When I give a midterm or a
> final I grade each student individually on their ability to take a word problem,
> translate it into pseudocode and then write a working statement, procedure,
> function, trigger, whatever. I also grade those in the class in comparison to the
> range of answers. And most importantly I grade myself based on how well I have
> communicated the material.
>
> When someone goes to the internet and gets answers to history or biology questions
> the point is learning how to perform research and learn the information. Teacher's
> refer students for purposes of research not plagiarism. If one of your children were
> to turn in homework that consisted of nothing more than google.com followed by
> Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V you'd soon here about it (or at least as a parent I'd certainly hope
> so).
>
> In the case of a student asking someone here such as you, or me, or Karsen, or
> Howard, etc. to provide the answer the end result is that the student learns
> nothing, other students can be penalized, the instructor is unable to evaluate what
> is being communicated. And, at its most basic level, it is a violation of an honor
> code that must exist for school to be places of education rather than high priced
> baby-sitters.
>
> I know honor, integrity, and ethics are somewhat out of fashion ... but I feel that
> I put my reputation, and the reputation of the University of Washington on the line
> every time I give a student a passing grade and they graduate. If they go out into
> the real world, using me as a reference or their certificate as a credential to
> obtain a job ... if they can't do that job it reflects on me and it reflects on the
> school.
>
> In spite of Dave's protests to the contrary I've seen the material from which his
> question originated (or he is unfortunate enough to be trying to solve a textbook
> problem) and don't buy that he has already modified the code given to him by Karsten
> and will within less than 24 hours run it in a production environment (truly a scary
> thought and if true it is a good thing I'm not the production DBA).
>
> So the short version of what has turned into a very long answer ... is that I care a
> lot as do other instructors. I send my students to tahiti.oracle.com, I send them to
> asktom.oracle.com, I send them all over the internet for study support and research.
> I even encourage them to use these resources, class notes, class web site, and books
> when taking tests. But that is far different from passing exam questions to you or
> me or Tom and asking us to do their work. Does this make sense?

Although I do agree with you but I must say that you are fighting a loosing battle. Internet genie has been out of the bottle for a while. What used to be a student asking another student for help in his/her own class... now he/she can get ready made help from thousands of experts just by a mouse click. By just typing "select * from..." in search and you will get a million hits with code examples and the whole explanation.

So as an instructor... I guess you have to accept this fact and come up with more clever ways to test and jump start your student's brains.

Regards
/Rauf Sarwar Received on Thu Feb 06 2003 - 12:58:04 CST