Allowable Help from Peer Educators
CSC 161 - Imperative Problem Solving - Weinman
The Computer Science Department provides evening tutors and class
mentors to help you with computing problems. However, in CS 161, the
role of these assistants is limited on some assignments, as discussed
below.
1 Help allowed on all assignments
For any assignment (e.g., laboratory exercise, project, or homework
problem), a tutor or mentor is allowed to provide help to:
- explain the operation of workstations,
- discuss the workings of the text editors,
- interpret error messages,
- clarify the format and meaning of C programming statements, and
- explain the syntax, semantics, and workings of procedures in standard
C libraries and in the MyroC library.
Of course, following the rules for academic honesty that apply to
all academic work at Grinnell College, help obtained from any source
must be cited in all assignments. See the syllabus for additional
guidelines.
2 Help allowed on laboratory exercises and projects
In addition, groups working on collaborative tasks (e.g., laboratory
exercises and projects) may ask tutors or mentors for the following:
- help in locating arithmetic or logic errors,
- help in finding infinite loops,
- background information related to an assignment,
- ideas on how to approach the problem, and
- insights regarding difficulties with proposed solutions and programs.
In short, groups may ask tutors or mentors for assistance on any aspect
of a laboratory exercise or project, but of course, all help obtained
from any source must be cited.
3 No additional help on homework assignments
Under no circumstances should a tutor or mentor be asked
- how to approach a problem or
- how to write a substantial piece of code
related to any homework assignment problem. As a general rule, a section
of code that is four or more lines long - perhaps even less when
the logic is particularly complex - will be considered substantial.
In sum, tutors and mentors may answer only short questions that
have short answers. If you have any doubts about the matter, please
speak with the instructor first.
Adapted from The
Role of Tutors For Computer Science 161 by Henry Walker. Used by
permission.