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Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

jeffe.cs.illinois.edu

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Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#131

Post by tptacek »

aklemm wrote: post #130
jefferickson wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I'm the author. I'm honestly seriously torn about this. There is a serious tension between pedagogical needs of students in formal classrooms and the pedagogical needs of self-learners. I've chosen to aim for the former. Yes, I know it's a bummer. (From experience) providing solutions interferes with the learning process of my own students at Illinois. I have to change up homeworks and exam questions every semest…

You could consider providing answers and feedback in a premium priced forum or email subscription.

Or, you know, he could just keep being a professor in a top-ranked university CS program. :)

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#132

Post by chapium »

jefferickson wrote: post #86
_underflow_ wrote: post #3

> Please do not ask me for solutions to the exercises. Even if you are [an] instructor, I will say no. That's kind of a bummer. I like to be able to check my answers when teaching myself things. Am I somehow alone in that?

Hi, I'm the author. I'm honestly seriously torn about this. There is a serious tension between pedagogical needs of students in formal classrooms and the pedagogical needs of self-learners. I've chosen to aim for the former. Yes, I know it's a bummer. (From experience) providing solutions interferes with the learning process of my own students at Illinois. I have to change up homeworks and exam questions every semest…

As a cs student I am quite conflicted about this as well. Sometimes we do need answers, either to help break into understanding a problem or to confirm that we have not come to a terrible conclusion.

On the otherhand many classes are graded competitively, so there is enormous pressure to do well on homeworks while you know others have no scruples about being dishonest.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#133

Post by nerpderp82 »

alach11 wrote: post #125
jefferickson wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I'm the author. I'm honestly seriously torn about this. There is a serious tension between pedagogical needs of students in formal classrooms and the pedagogical needs of self-learners. I've chosen to aim for the former. Yes, I know it's a bummer. (From experience) providing solutions interferes with the learning process of my own students at Illinois. I have to change up homeworks and exam questions every semest…

>In practice, my stance is becoming increasingly moot, as more of my official solutions get uploaded to places like CourseHero and Koofers and their many foreign-language equivalents. I've found that whether or not a professor releases solutions to assignments (or even tests), some segment of the student population will have access to the solutions. Releasing them publicly ensures the access is universal, instead of…

I found out my last year of uni that frat and sororities had a huge, well run archive of homework, tests and solutions for every class ever taken by members. This was the first time that I had been so close to structural class benefits. This is absolutely how these kids skated through, many of which should not have graduated.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#134

Post by sqlacid »

Copyright question, the copyright page says draft published 12/29/2018, but the copyright is 2019; doesn't that mean somebody could have taken the work, published as their own as copyright 2018 on 12/30/2018 which would be earlier than the author's 2019 claim? I'm not a copyright expert by any means, but am always troubled when I see "Copyright $CURRENT_DATE" in electronic works, I thought it was supposed to reflect the earliest date of claim.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#135

Post by tptacek »

thrwthrw93223 wrote: post #34
nf05papsjfVbc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"pretend you don't have solutions" is not a realistic approach. The strength of people's conviction to this will probably fall on a bell curve and few can resist the temptation when the problems get really tough. Accounting for how humans are, I do not see how one can easily say "Having solutions is strictly better". I can easily think of cases where it is indeed better to have solutions but to say "strictly" require…

Don’t rob the self-learner that doesn’t have access to TAs, fellow students, and professors the ability to check their work, just because someone else doesn’t have the discipline to not abuse it. Textbook solutions are good for those that aren’t in school, aren’t in formal programs and have no other way of receiving feedback. The “you should know if you’re right” mentality doesn’t necessarily fit a person that’s been…

Presumably nothing's stopping you from putting a book of solutions and posting them online. It seems like a much easier task than writing this book, with all its problem sets, and then posting it online for free for the world to read.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#136

Post by ggggtez »

Vaslo wrote: post #100
gricardo99 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>25% credit given on any exam question just for writing "I don't know", effectively a reward for acknowledging your own shortcoming and for saving the TA the time to decipher a bullshit answer. That’s brilliant, yet I’ve never heard of it. Should be standard scoring for written exams.

Random other point of brilliance I've seen: Our Organic Chem teacher (who was loved universally in the Program) had a rule about test corrections. If you wanted a correction to something you believed you should get credit on, he would only offer to regrade your WHOLE test, which meant you could actually get less points on the regrade because it was he and not a TA regrading (could have worked both ways). It really sc…

I agree. I've seen this done and it was effective. Combined with requiring the request to be made in person, during office hours, it also got struggling students to actually attend the office hours (which often was otherwise empty, and another waste of the grader's time).

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#137

Post by ggggtez »

sqlacid wrote: post #134

Copyright question, the copyright page says draft published 12/29/2018, but the copyright is 2019; doesn't that mean somebody could have taken the work, published as their own as copyright 2018 on 12/30/2018 which would be earlier than the author's 2019 claim? I'm not a copyright expert by any means, but am always troubled when I see "Copyright $CURRENT_DATE" in electronic works, I thought it was supposed to reflect…

No, because copyright law doesn't care what the copyright date says, or even if you write it at all.

As soon as you write something, you have the copyright to what you wrote. If it was challenged in court, he would likely easily be able to show his drafts from prior to 12/29/2018 to prove he was the author.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#138

Post by pulisse »

aklemm wrote: post #130
jefferickson wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I'm the author. I'm honestly seriously torn about this. There is a serious tension between pedagogical needs of students in formal classrooms and the pedagogical needs of self-learners. I've chosen to aim for the former. Yes, I know it's a bummer. (From experience) providing solutions interferes with the learning process of my own students at Illinois. I have to change up homeworks and exam questions every semest…

You could consider providing answers and feedback in a premium priced forum or email subscription.

How is that a solution? It would provide well-off students with an opportunity to skate by and exacerbate the problem of having solutions circulating in the wild.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#139

Post by Eridrus »

jefferickson wrote: post #86
_underflow_ wrote: post #3

> Please do not ask me for solutions to the exercises. Even if you are [an] instructor, I will say no. That's kind of a bummer. I like to be able to check my answers when teaching myself things. Am I somehow alone in that?

Hi, I'm the author. I'm honestly seriously torn about this. There is a serious tension between pedagogical needs of students in formal classrooms and the pedagogical needs of self-learners. I've chosen to aim for the former. Yes, I know it's a bummer. (From experience) providing solutions interferes with the learning process of my own students at Illinois. I have to change up homeworks and exam questions every semest…

Thank you very much for making your textbook available.

Maybe having a separate set of problems for the online version, with solutions, would be appropriate?

I have been wondering this for all freely available textbooks: have you ever thought about turning your book into an open source project? I see you already manage issues on GitHub, but how about managing the actual content there as well?

Producing a printed book might need tighter editing than shipping software, but I feel like there are a lot of books with partially overlapping content, and I feel like self-learners would be better served by larger books that are not meant to be read end-to-end, but that are "integrated" into a larger whole.

Re: Algorithms, by Jeff Erickson

#140

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly »

sqlacid wrote: post #134

Copyright question, the copyright page says draft published 12/29/2018, but the copyright is 2019; doesn't that mean somebody could have taken the work, published as their own as copyright 2018 on 12/30/2018 which would be earlier than the author's 2019 claim? I'm not a copyright expert by any means, but am always troubled when I see "Copyright $CURRENT_DATE" in electronic works, I thought it was supposed to reflect…

You don't actually have to place a copyright on original works like this. Copyright is granted whether you put the little c symbol and date or not.
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