We have a freeware product which is designed for students learning a certain skill. It allows them to do by hand what our main paid product does automatically. This is because doing things by hand is considered essential to learning this skill.
Also, we state on the download page that we only provide tech support on the freeware product to instructors, but not individual students. We have good reasons for this which I won't get into here.
So I got an email from a student who had an assignment. He was wondering how to get the freeware product to automatically do his assignment for him.
Yes. That happens quite a bit. I don't know if the student was trying to cheat, ignored his instructor or just had a bad instructor. So I handle it tactfully.
My canned response mentions that, by design, the freeware product doesn't have the ability to do what he is asking. If he isn't sure how to use it to complete his assignments, he should contact his instructor for further help and instructions.
I almost never get a response to that.
But this guy responded. The jist was that he had already ASKED his instructor for help and she refused. He was really lost and desperate.
OK. These students ARE potential customers of ours once they pass this course, so I'm not going to leave someone floundering. What was his question about using the freeware product?
He still wanted to use it to do his assignment automatically for him because doing it by hand was difficult and he NEEDED to pass the course.
There was desperate earnestness to it that told me he honestly didn't realize that was cheating. It wasn't dishonesty or a bad instructor. He was just that ignorant.
I don't know what moved me to try and explain. I should have simply referred him the instructor again. I worded it carefully.
"[Freeware product] does not have [automated process] built in. You use it to type out your assignments by hand after you have [done the process in your head]. The way you do this is by [explanation of how to type using the freeware]."
He wrote back and asked how he was supposed to know if his answers were right or wrong if he had to figure it out himself? Another carefully worded answer.
"Check with your instructor for feedback on the accuracy of the assignments you complete using [Freeware product]."
Yes. I told him he'd know if his answers were correct after his instructor corrected them.
Also, we state on the download page that we only provide tech support on the freeware product to instructors, but not individual students. We have good reasons for this which I won't get into here.
So I got an email from a student who had an assignment. He was wondering how to get the freeware product to automatically do his assignment for him.
Yes. That happens quite a bit. I don't know if the student was trying to cheat, ignored his instructor or just had a bad instructor. So I handle it tactfully.
My canned response mentions that, by design, the freeware product doesn't have the ability to do what he is asking. If he isn't sure how to use it to complete his assignments, he should contact his instructor for further help and instructions.
I almost never get a response to that.
But this guy responded. The jist was that he had already ASKED his instructor for help and she refused. He was really lost and desperate.
OK. These students ARE potential customers of ours once they pass this course, so I'm not going to leave someone floundering. What was his question about using the freeware product?
He still wanted to use it to do his assignment automatically for him because doing it by hand was difficult and he NEEDED to pass the course.
There was desperate earnestness to it that told me he honestly didn't realize that was cheating. It wasn't dishonesty or a bad instructor. He was just that ignorant.
I don't know what moved me to try and explain. I should have simply referred him the instructor again. I worded it carefully.
"[Freeware product] does not have [automated process] built in. You use it to type out your assignments by hand after you have [done the process in your head]. The way you do this is by [explanation of how to type using the freeware]."
He wrote back and asked how he was supposed to know if his answers were right or wrong if he had to figure it out himself? Another carefully worded answer.
"Check with your instructor for feedback on the accuracy of the assignments you complete using [Freeware product]."
Yes. I told him he'd know if his answers were correct after his instructor corrected them.
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