[Tutor] Fwd: Mailing list chaos.

[David Rock]

> On Aug 23, 2019, at 19:22, David L Neil <PyTutor at DancesWithMice.info> wrote:
> 
> On 24/08/19 12:02 PM, David Rock wrote:
>>> On Aug 23, 2019, at 17:40, David L Neil <PyTutor at DancesWithMice.info> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Why though (in this context), if these days "social media" is such a corner-stone of young people's lives?
>> Because “social media” is often a poor platform for getting the type of assistance found here.  You aren’t going to get a discussion of any substance related to topics like python on Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter (FB isn’t mentioned because none of the kids use it).  Most social platforms used by teenagers are about sharing snippets of your life, not code discussion.
> 
> You're educating me: I thought (in addition) that they were asking each other 'how did you tackle the xyz homework problem?' or even working more collaboratively (individual learning being a function of education in 'my day' but no longer in this ?brave new world).

More often what I see, unfortunately, is the last-minute panic “what’s the answer?” in that context.  There are tools in place to catch and discourage that level of “sharing,” but that’s much more common than actual teamwork.

One thing in the syllabus that I think is a great idea is teaming up to do a project.  Loosely speaking, they will be expected to pair up and write “a game” using Python as the final project.  I haven’t asked the exact parameters yet (standard library tools only, pygame, other, etc), but the idea they will have enough at the end of the course to do this is heartening. Working on code in a team is a skill many people doing it on their own never get to try.


—
David Rock
david at graniteweb.com