I can't make a reply on the poll so I just reposted it here to comment. Here it goes...

I answered no but it is actually a YES and a NO.

Let me put it into details:
YES for student help forum so they don't have to worry too much about the course and NO for specific course answer. The reason behind is we're not actually helping them or teaching them the right attitude to learn something from their hardships if we do that. We should teach them "how to catch fish" but not spoon feed them. No offense please. They might be dependent on the forum which may affect their working attitude in the end.

I do all the research I can and my last resort is to ask for help, I dont just ask a question without researching...I think its a good thing u can ask questions about quizzes.

I agree with you, Zara Mari. Handing someone the answer is not nearly as effective as giving hints as to where to find something. I would assume, as mrssortiz says, that all research within their capability has been done before the question is asked.

There are so many resources that seasoned MTs are aware of that they can pass on that will help newbies in their research abilities. I am happy to pass those along and if I could not see any way they could find it for themselves I might eventually tell them, but I think helping the newbie find it themselves is in the vein of "how to catch a fish" instead of handing them one.

I am saying this from personal experience and not to be unkind in any way.

I definitely believe it is cheating, especially when they are asking for help on quizzes that are actually graded, which you may have noticed happens very, very often. It`s one thing to ask for help in researching to find the answer, and I`m happy to help with that if I can, but requesting and giving the answers directly is cheating in any school I ever went to.

In addition, I`m a working transcriptionist. I come here on my own time and help when I feel it`s appropriate. I don`t get paid to help them -- their instructors do. If they need help with their homework, the proper place to direct their questions is to their instructors. If the school feels it is appropriate for them to have a self-help forum, the school should be providing it so that instructors can step in and redirect people who have been given incorrect answers in the forum (and, for those of you who post questions of this type, this happens a LOT, believe me).

I have been tempted many, many times to write to the school to let them know what is going on (by giving them the URLs for the particular threads), because I really don`t believe that, when the school tells the students to use the internet as a resource, they mean that they should use internet forums in the way this one is being used. I find it hard to believe that a reputable school would condone that.

What is the value of a certificate of completion when one obtains it only by having someone else fill in the test answers? How does it measure one`s own achievement?

I know that prohibiting these types of posts will cost you quite a bit of traffic on the site, SOMara, and I do regret that, but I feel very strongly about the cheating issue.

Please post comments here regarding the recent poll on course help. Thank you.

I agree with you also, Carol. Having the answers handed to them will not improve their MT skills.

I am currently a student and I research everything I do. I only ask a question on here if I have exhausted all my resourses. I so appreciate learning new sites, new suggestions etc. I don't want the answer handed to me, but just knowing that there is a forum of all these MTs out there that may be able to suggest a clue to me is "priceless" I voted yes for that reason.

I'm not sure how other schools handle it but I find it difficult at Allied. I'm doing the assingments as instructed but I am frustrated that they do not count any of the homework or midterms as part of the final grade. The only thing that counts is your final exam. So, I don't see the harm in helping Allied students. I do research myself before coming here for help too. I find a lot of the answers are not correct on the forum or just go unanswered.