Embedded Systems Class Question

I hope participation doesn't mean "how do I do my project". I suggest you stress to your students that they should use the groups' archives before posting questions that have already been answered a dozen times.

Oh gawd. Does this mean I have to stop reading it for 4-1/2 months?

"I need to get my final project in by next Tuesday; send me code now and make sure it's well formatted and thoroughly commented!"

Perhaps if you grade them _up_ for asking unique, penetrating questions, but _down_ for asking questions that they could answer with a well-done web search, by reading the book, by looking at the FAQ, or by looking through the archives.

Or better, have them participate not by _asking_ questions, but by selecting questions that they can answer (and answer well), and doing so. Be sure to grade them up for decent grammar: txt msg englsh is 2 hrd

The best option is to start your own forum among your students. It gives them a place outside the classroom to discuss things. Also, some may stay on after this course and assist with your next one.

Two points. First, make sure you invite volunteer mentors; perhaps some from the hallowed halls of this very newsgroup.

Secondly, be sure to make yourself available to answer questions. Turning them over to this lot on the newsgroup will be abdicating your own responsibility to them and allowing people of all skill levels to give them advice of unknown quality.

There are numerous places where forums can be hosted free including your teaching institution. Do a Google search on the terms Free Forum Hosting and see what comes up. Select one that allows private forums. Some don't.

Having your own forum gives you the best control over what they learn and who teaches them. To a student, bad advice can sometimes look as plausible as good advice.

-- Ray

Could you please keep the stupidents away from here. Why not creating the forum of your own?

alt.stupid.idiots alt.morons alt.clueless alt.help.with.homework

VLV

I suspect the O.P.may have confused this Usenet N.G. with a 'Google Group' considering his post was made from Google Groups and he called c.a.e. a 'group'. His request would likely be met with more sympathy if made from his institution's network using an NNTP client. Also to the O.P.: please review this N.G.'s archive to understand the distaste that is engendered by clueless (often non-U.S.) student posts in order to avoid acrimony.

Regards,

Michael

...and not using "plz", "u", "thx", etc.? ;)

pete

... and for not using absurd pseudonyms - real names only.

I think your "often non-U.S." remark is a bit out of line. The world is a lot bigger than your little country, you know. It is certainly a problem that people from some parts of the world make totally nonsensical posts because they have little grasp of the topic at hand, and even less grasp of the English language used in this newsgroup, but please don't generalise like that.

With that remark omitted, I agree with you. It makes sense in a university course to teach students about how to find answers and how to learn more about their field - but it is wholly out of place to simply tell them to ask in comp.arch.embedded (or any other discussion community). The OP should teach the students to search newsgroup archives (after learning it himself!), as well as how to ask appropriate questions, and how to contribute back to the newsgroup.

In my experience, your students will find their way to sources of information on the WWW without any help from you.

Where I come from (UK), we use (internal) systems - based on tools like Blackboard - to support discussions about the modules we teach (questions answered by staff and qualified demonstrators).

If you insist on directing your students to the WWW *and* this isn't an introductory course *and* you are willing to consider a different chip, I'd suggest you consider use of an LPC2xxx device (ARM core) and direct your students to the LPC2xxx list (more focused than comp.arch.embedded, with greater tolerance of student-level questions

- plus it has less spam ...).

Michael Pont (who teaches embedded systems at the University of Leicester, UK, once in a while).

Not intending to cast aspersions against any nationality, just pointing out a statistical trend. A large number of 'clueless' posts in this N.G. originate from the Indian subcontinent; perhaps as a result of intentional policies in educational institutions there, or as a result of inadequate familiarization with both the subject matter after matriculation or a disregard or ignorance of social convention in this forum.

Regards,

Michael

The salient point I got from msg's reply is that a lot of inquiries are made from people who have a difficult time with the English language. And since the de facto language of this forum is English, therein lies the problem of poor communications, making for painful reading.

Lou

Yes, I realise that - and I suspected that was what you meant. But you picked a bad choice of phrasing when you swept up the rest of the world as well as those countries that are relatively new to newsgroups and/or the subjects on hand here. It's also a bit unfair to generalise - even though a disproportionate number of clueless posts come from India, you can't then generalise to say that posts from India are often clueless. That would be like saying that since most spam comes from the USA (at least indirectly), then most posts from the USA are spam.

Anyway, as long as the OP (whatever country he is in) takes to heart the message that he must educate his students before turning them lose here, then maybe we'll avoid clueless posts from that group at least.

Classy Vladimir, really classy. (Not that we don't appreciate the sentiment...)

Scott

Don't forget failure to trim, and top-posting. No quicker way on the 'net to show one's ignorance than all of the above.

Yes, but there are a lot of us here who have no problems communicating in English and yet don't live in the USA. There are also a lot of people in the USA who seem to have great difficulty communicating in English (some apparently believe that you should drop half the letters in the words, and compensate by using an excessive number of punctuation marks).

I understand the point Michael was making - I just think he said it rather poorly (unintentionally, of course).

sci.electronics.basics sci.electronics.design

I've also found

Andrew

Look at Circuit Cellar Magazine. I know it's not the question you asked but they have student discounts.

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