[P]

Likewise, I liked to discuss things afterwards - It engrains what you've learnt into your memory and everyone can iron out anything they misunderstood -  It is what learning is about     I found one of the BEST ways to cement info in my head after learning, was to explain it to someone else.

Also - people learn better in different ways, some prefer discussion to notes, others reading, others something practical. (just like in the "Find out hoe you learn thread"  http://www.chemicalforums.com/index.php?topic=4578.0)

EDIT: To add further - when I was at school, our physics teacher came down heavily on me and a friend because we had made the same mistake in the homework. He accused us of copying.  We explained that we HAD discussed that particular question because neither of us understood it properly and that was the answer we came up with. We told him that we regularly discuss the work as it was a good way of checking that we understood it.  He calmed down after that and agreed that it was actually a good way to work.

[JGK]

Personally, I think the university were correct to reprimand the student in the Ryerson case. As it was reported the students were specifically warned not to discusss the assignment on Facebook. In this instance, the student ignored the instruction, and left himself open to the repercussions.

I'm amazed at how many threads get locked by the moderators because some student somewhere thinks we'll do his assignment for him.

As one of the many dinosaurs who did their degrees and masters before the wonders of the internet arrived, this kind of laziness appalls me and , to an extent, reinforces the opion that academic standards in early education are falling and leaving students ill equipped to progress through the higher stages of education.

I work as a manager  of an analytical group and as part of the interview process used to set a small quiz (10 minutes max), basic high school chemistry, nothing complicated. In seven years of asking candidates to complete this only 10% ever got full marks,this really demoralized me as the candidates I was interviewing were graduates and post-graduates.