Wolfram Alpha Rekindles Campus Math Tool Debate 339
An anonymous reader sends in a story about how Wolfram Alpha is becoming the latest tool students are using to help with their schoolwork, and why some professors are worried it will interfere with the learning process. Quoting:
"The goal of WolframAlpha is to bring high-level mathematics to the masses, by letting users type in problems in plain English and delivering instant results. As a result, some professors say the service poses tough questions for their classroom policies. 'I think this is going to reignite a math war,' said Maria H. Andersen, a mathematics instructor at Muskegon Community College, referring to past debates over the role of graphing calculators in math education. 'Given that there are still pockets of instructors and departments in the US where graphing calculators are still not allowed, some instructors will likely react with resistance (i.e. we still don't change anything) or possibly even with the charge that using WA is cheating.'"
"Pockets of instructors"? (Score:2, Funny)
Are they protected?
Re:"Pockets of instructors"? (Score:2, Funny)
Only if they have tenure.
Oh the horror!! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I don't see how this matters (Score:3, Funny)
No, those are the best types of classes, because no one does any work and everyone tanks the exam, making the curve oh so easy.
Oh man (Score:5, Funny)
Damn you Wolfram! (Score:5, Funny)
Well Wolfram Alpha has been a big buzz kill for me.... My query was "average penis length?".... WA answered: 5.94 inches.
Now I understand the meaning of "ignorance is a bliss"
Sweet, let's try it out! (Score:5, Funny)
Let X_n and Y_n be positive integrable and adapted to F_n. Suppose E(X_{n+1}|F_n) \leq X_n + Y_n, with \sum Y_n \lt \infty a.s. Prove that X_n converges a.s. to a finite limit.
Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input.
.
Useless!
Using the book is cheating! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't see how this matters (Score:5, Funny)
You CS whinies had it easy. For us EEs, the exams came pre-tanked.
Well in my CE department, we came to the exam pre-tanked!
Um, Muskegon who? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:I don't see how this matters (Score:4, Funny)
In Soviet Russia, tank exams you!
Re:Oh man (Score:1, Funny)
If you need some help dealing with the math-debating, I'm more than willing to lend a helping hand.
Re:Oh the horror!! (Score:3, Funny)
By hand, on graph paper with pen/pencil, with an egg timer, and a d20 (or dN) to pick the next tile.
Re:iirc (Score:0, Funny)
What!? Calculus is fruit?
Let me see now (Score:3, Funny)
If Computer Science were about computers they'd call it astronomy. No, that's not right. They'd call it Telescope Science. No, that's not right either. If Computer Science were about computers they'd call it Computer ..Hmm.
Re:Calculator...or electronic book? (Score:3, Funny)
You mean, your students are actually there to learn academic skills? Heretic! They should be learning practical things, like, um, leadership skills. Or networking.
Re:I don't see how this matters (Score:3, Funny)
Ability to solve problems in the limited-time test format.
Heh. Not really related, but I have fond memories of some "tests" from upper division real analysis and abstract algebra courses during my undergraduate degree. They were open-note, open-book, take-home, with only 6-8 problems and we were given a full week to finish them. Of course, all of the problems began "prove or disprove:" and each one took several hours of hard thinking/playing to grasp the core issues so that you could either write a proof or construct a counterexample.
I guess they were technically more like assignments which constituted a major part of your grade, but they sure felt like exams, even when I was working on them at home in the bathtub (my favorite place for the part of the thinking process where no paper or pencil is required; after the nature of the problem is thoroughly internalized, but the key structure not yet apparent). My wife remembers those tests, too, mostly me staring blankly into space for hours on end until I finally shouted "Gotcha!" as the last pieces fell into place.
Wolfram Alpha would not have been the slightest assistance with those tests :-)
Re:I don't see how this matters (Score:4, Funny)
I assume they were rather dry?
Re:Sweet, let's try it out! (Score:3, Funny)