A Solved/Unsolved tag for homework problems

[neutrino]

The new template for the homework forums was a great idea. Would it also be possible to add a provision for the OP to mark his/her thread as solved (or not-solved), so that others who might want to help don't spend time going through a thread that has already been dealt with (unless ofcourse they want to learn something from it)?

I won't take credit for this "idea," I've seen it at work at another forum. :) All you need to do is, go to the first post (in Advanced Mode) and choose the appropriate radio button.

 

[berkeman]

We've discussed this at length in the Homework Helper's forum. So far we haven't come up with a way to do it that is easy to code up in the present forum software. It's still a good idea, though, and hopefully will happen in some form at some point.

 

[neutrino]

Hmm...the other forum that I was referring to uses the same software - vBulletin Version 3.6.4. ©2000 - 2006, if that's what you're referring to.

 

[EmilK]

The new template for the homework forums was a great idea.

Speaking of which, I seem to be unable to locate the section where this template has been posted or written?

 

[neutrino]

Speaking of which, I seem to be unable to locate the section where this template has been posted or written?

Go to one of the sections under the Homework forum and click on the 'New Topic' button - essentially that means you need to start a thread somewhere in homework forum.

 

[chroot]

Hmm.. there probably is some kind of plug-in which accomplishes this.. I'll look around.

- Warren

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

I found this, but I don't think it is very practical, but who knows.

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=129737

I think something like this
http://www.helpmij.nl/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=69

with a "status" column is the most convenient. If it was not a dutch forum I would ask the admin how he did it.

 

[neutrino]

The second one's certainly better. The one I was talking about just has a [RESOLVED] next to the title of the post. I'll try to get hold of the code, if possible.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

Is there a way to allow people to change thread titles in specific forums such as the homework forums? Perhaps people could just be encouraged to changed their title to "blah blah [resolved]" I have never worked with vbulletin, just phpbb.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is there a way to allow people to change thread titles in specific forums such as the homework forums? Perhaps people could just be encouraged to changed their title to "blah blah [resolved]" I have never worked with vbulletin, just phpbb.

I'm afraid very few would take the time to change it.

 

[neutrino]

I don't think you can change the title that appears on the forum index (at least without help from a moderator), but you can edit the title that appears within the thread (like the one that's sitting alongside by username in the first post), and that too till the Edit button expires.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

I'm afraid very few would take the time to change it.

That's most likely true I suppose.

What about this?

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=99925

With that, you can pre-program some prefixes that users can append to their thread title. Such as Solved, for instance. This "prefix" menu can also be accessed through the edit mode as well I presume.

Would be nice if there was just a simple radio button next to "edit" or something, would be more likely that people would use it.

 

[chroot]

It isn't really a big enough deal for me to spend time hand-editing the vBulletin software. I've been down that road before, and have only been frustrated enormously when it all gets obliterated by the next vBulletin release.

- Warren

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

True enough. From reading this guys program description it sounds pretty complicated.

 

[EmilK]

Go to one of the sections under the Homework forum and click on the 'New Topic' button - essentially that means you need to start a thread somewhere in homework forum.

Sorry for hijacking this thread yet again, but I know that there is a specific section for homework question. My query was to find a specific topic where this template was written. This is as topic where the PF Global Guidelines have been posted, but where is the information for the posting template in HCQ located?

 

[berkeman]

Emik, I'm not sure I understand your question, but the template comes up when you start a new thread in the Homework Forums. I don't think it's posted anywhere explicitly otherwise. Just go push the button to start a new thread and you'll see it. Just going to that first step will not cause any empty thread to be posted, if that's what you are worried about.

 

[EmilK]

I meant the part with:

1. Homework Statement
2. Homework Equations
3. The Attempt at a Solution

I don't really find any information relating to it on the post screen (FF/WinXP):

http://www.filehive.com/files/1212/Th.screen23.png

http://www.filehive.com/files/1212/Th.screen24.png

How is it suppose to look?

 

[berkeman]

Your screenshots don't show which forum you did that in. The template only appears when you start a new thread in a Homework Forum. Try the Introductory Physics forum in the Homework section, for example.

 

[Doc Al]

How is it suppose to look?

Like this:



It's just an outline that the poster is expected to fill out.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

EmilK, switch the the "Prime" skin

 

[EmilK]

EmilK, switch the the "Prime" skin

That solved it. I was using PF Nexus :)

 

[Gokul43201]

Greg, what's the default skin for a new member?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Greg, what's the default skin for a new member?

It is Prime

 

[FredGarvin]

In regards to the unsolved/solved issue, could we simply edit the title of each thread after a thread has been solved? Perhaps each new thread gets an automatic string attached to the end like *unsolved*. Once the thread is solved, go back in and edit the title. Just a thought.

 

[neutrino]

In regards to the unsolved/solved issue, could we simply edit the title of each thread after a thread has been solved? Perhaps each new thread gets an automatic string attached to the end like *unsolved*. Once the thread is solved, go back in and edit the title. Just a thought.

If that were only possible by every member...

 

[Moonbear]

If that were only possible by every member...

That is the real problem we've encountered when discussing this before. We have yet to figure out a system that would really work without a lot of added effort by HW Helpers or mentors to have to sort back through threads to change tags, or that would work often enough with students that post one or two questions and then don't wait around long enough for a response.

The other challenge with such a system is that we don't answer questions, we offer help for the student to answer the question themselves. When I've seen radio button type options available on other sites, it's usually tech support type forums, and the radio buttons are really rating the help offered to build the reputation of the person answering the question. Usually, the options are along the line of "Was this helpful?" and "Did this solve your problem?" My concern would be that students coming in expecting to be given the answers to their homework would use such buttons to say someone was not helpful or did not solve their problem because a HW helper refused to offer a complete solution. We get a LOT of those types of questions, and it takes a little time before many of the new members realize that they get more benefit from being guided toward finding their own solutions than from being handed an answer.

This is certainly something the staff is open to implementing, if a really good solution is suggested that would keep it relatively simple and work often enough to make it worth the effort of having (i.e., if only a handful of people bother to use it, it's not going to save anything).

So, please, continue brainstorming on this.

 

[berkeman]

In a recent Homework Helper forum thread about radio buttons, I (with help from others) proposed something like this:

* No HH Yet
* Attachments Pending Approval
* Reminded To Show Work
* Help In Progress
* More Help Needed
* Questions Answered

I think the buttons only should be visible to the Homework Helpers, and should be used to make us more efficient at dealing with questions.

 

[neutrino]

It's upto the OP to decide whether the questions have been answered or not, IMHO, and therefore they should also be able to see the radio button. In most cases, it would be simple enough to decide by the HH'ers, but it may not be so in others.

Also, it would be better if everybody could see the tags regarding the status of the thread, and not just HH'ers, save the 'attatchment pending' one, which I guess is a job for the mods/mentors, if I'm not mistaken.

And I guess 'Help in Progress' and 'More Help Needed' are just different ways of saying that the problem has not been solved yet. If the posters are responsible enough to tag their threads as 'solved', these two will not be needed.

Just my two cents.

 

[radou]

Also, it would be better if everybody could see the tags regarding the status of the thread, and not just HH'ers, save the 'attatchment pending' one, which I guess is a job for the mods/mentors, if I'm not mistaken.

And I guess 'Help in Progress' and 'More Help Needed' are just different ways of saying that the problem has not been solved yet. If the posters are responsible enough to tag their threads as 'solved', these two will not be needed.

Just my two cents.

I agree on both cents.

 

[berkeman]

What I mean by "More Help Needed" is those threads where you've helped some but have reached the end of your usefulness (and/or knowledge), and the OP still needs more/better help. That's why I think the HHs/Mentors should be the only one to see and change the settings. It's a way for us to talk to each other at the top level of the forum display, and make it easier for us to be efficient in how we offer help. "Help In Progress" would mean more "I got it and I think I can handle it".

HH'ers would still be totally welcome to jump into threads that were marked "Help In Progress" of course. But I'd be skipping by most of those threads and just looking at the top level for threads that hadn't gotten help yet. You can't always just use the "0" replies flag at the top level to know if a thread needs help.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

I thought about how to do this in the simplest possible way.

I realized that a person can edit the title of their thread for as long as the edit button is still accessible (not expired). If you can change the edit expiration period to let's say, 3 days, (Is this forum specific? Maybe just change it for the homework forums?) then people could append a [solved] tag to the end of their thread title.

I agree with Greg that people would need to be persuaded to use it. I also agree that the new users whom are just here for a solution to one or two homework problems that their math teacher assigned would also not use it, but so what? I think that the regular posters would use it. I know I would. If I see that a homework helper has solved my problem, it would literally take about 5 seconds to append a "[solved]" to the end of my title. If PF can get it's regular users to do it, let's say 3/4 of the people posting a homework problem, that still saves a ton of time for the homework helpers, and for the 1/4th that don't, there is no difference. Of course homework helpers could put in their sig "Please append a [solved] tag to the title of your thread once you are happy with the solution." That coupled with the sight of all these [solved] tags once they enter the homework help forums would cause a lot of people to do it I think.

It would be optimal to have a radio button to append the [solved] tag as easily as possible, but it sounds like it is more effort than its worth.

It would either totally fail or succeed, but trying wouldn't hurt.