Education Forum Split - Feedback Requested

[mfb]

Instead of splitting by country (which wouldn’t lead to homogeneous forums anyway - Italy and India are as different as India and the US), we could use thread prefixes for common countries (and „other“ for the rest/multiple countries).

 

[Pythagorean]

Instead of splitting by country (which wouldn’t lead to homogeneous forums anyway - Italy and India are as different as India and the US), we could use thread prefixes for common countries (and „other“ for the rest/multiple countries).

I think the point is volume control. If you segregate US from non US, the non US won't get lost in a sea of US and volume should be low enough that each non US isn't flooding the other. May need to add UK and/or CAD too.

Imo, though, there should instead be a neuroscience forum separate from biology :p

 

[CrysPhys]

Instead of splitting by country (which wouldn’t lead to homogeneous forums anyway - Italy and India are as different as India and the US), we could use thread prefixes for common countries (and „other“ for the rest/multiple countries).

I think the point is volume control. If you segregate US from non US, the non US won't get lost in a sea of US and volume should be low enough that each non US isn't flooding the other. May need to add UK and/or CAD too.

Yes, I realize that the rest of the world outside of the US is not homogeneous. There would be an initial US/non-US split. Under non-US, there would be tabs for specific countries (or multiple countries or regions).

 

[fresh_42]

I don't think that a regional separation is helpful. I've seen many threads which aren't related to location. I think this makes sense as the process of studying and the issues caused by human misunderstandings or incompleteness is pretty much the same all over the world. Of course there are also posts which are specifically due to the framework (degrees, tuition, qualifiers etc.) but even those are often general enough if one disregards the names of tests. A split by country seemed artificial to me. In the end we have to rely on a good description of the situation anyway.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Regional separation is not really attainable in our setup because you can't have multiple prefixes. Having separate forums for both will dilute globally applicable advice. Interesting idea for the future though!

 

[TeethWhitener]

For one thing "Open Practice Problems" will be retired.

Are the unanswered problems just going to go back to their respective subfora? I still enjoy playing around with them when I have a spare moment (increasingly scarce though they may be).

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Are the unanswered problems just going to go back to their respective subfora?

Yes and you can always find them by sorting the reply column. We certainly still welcome and encourage their answering.

 

[dlgoff]

I feel this way:

I personally feel that there is no need to split the Academic Guidance forum. I would argue that we should keep Academic Guidance as is, but just remove the Open Practice Problems.

 

[CrysPhys]

The former is questions about specific schools/admissions and specific courses school's provide and the latter is for questions regarding various exams and testing taking advice/tips etc.

The issue that's likely to arise with this proposed split is confusion over where threads on entrance exams (such as SAT's and GRE's) should go, since they are exams that are used for admissions.

 

[CrysPhys]

Regional separation is not really attainable in our setup because you can't have multiple prefixes. Having separate forums for both will dilute globally applicable advice. Interesting idea for the future though!

OK. But I highly recommend a sticky in each (Academic and Career) strongly recommending that OP's provide relevant country info up front and cautioning respondents about strong differences in national practices (that the practices they are accustomed to may not apply for others), and respondents should also identify what country they are talking about.

 

[Vanadium 50]

But I highly recommend a sticky

Stickies are routinely ignored, particularly by new members.

respondents should also identify what country they are talking about.

I agree, but everyone's seen threads where it takes for-ever for someone to finally let us know where he is.

 

[Ibix]

Stickies are routinely ignored, particularly by new members.

Could it be done via a template, like the homework one? No obligation to use it, but if you don't specify where you want to study, note that the advice may be wrong.

 

[CrysPhys]

I agree, but everyone's seen threads where it takes for-ever for someone to finally let us know where he is.

Yes, that's why it's critical that the OPs identify their countries up front.

 

[CrysPhys]

Stickies are routinely ignored, particularly by new members.

Well, my first recommendation was to split the fields into US/non-US. But that has been shot down.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yes, that's why it's critical that the OPs identify their countries up front.

Sometimes people fill out their location field in their profile.

 

[CrysPhys]

Sometimes people fill out their location field in their profile.

Some do, some don't. Then the burden falls on the respondents to check the profile of the OP ... just to find out that the info isn't there. And even when it is there, it becomes obvious that many respondents don't check (such as respondents discussing options in the defense industry with an OP whose country listed in the profile turns out to be halfway around the world). And in many instances, the current country of residence by itself isn't sufficient (when the OP plans to study or work elsewhere). I answered a post on the "Patent Attorney" thread. Turned out the OP was a citizen of the Philippines, studying in Japan, but wanting to become a patent practitioner in Germany. You would think it would be obvious to include all that info in the first post, but I got that info only after some probing. I think that many OPs (and respondents) operate under the assumption that practices are uniform across the globe and that terminology (such as A Levels) is universal; hence the need for an improved process or (minimally) instructions.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thanks for all the feedback! Looks like the best course of action is to keep the Academic Guidance forum as it is. However the OPP forum will still be ending and we've decided to bring the homework help forums to the top homepage level instead of sub forums. Thanks!