##What is a conceptual question?

That's a serious question, and one I think gets to the heart of the issue with redoing the homework policy as a "conceptual question" policy.

I'll be honest and say I'm not really sure what Martin and orthocresol mean when they say "conceptual question". Yes, we can probably find some clear examples on both sides where a question is clearly "conceptual" and where the question is clearly "non-conceptual", but it's that middle region - that intermediate gray area - that causes issues.

If all we cared about were the clear examples, the current homework policy would be fine - yes, the fuzzy screenshots of poorly worded textbook problems are bad, and the advanced stuff is fine. But the current homework policy is dissatisfactory because of the gray area. It's those questions on the edge we're not quite handling correctly that are at issue.

That's my unease with the change: it's all well and good to redefine the criteria to say "conceptual: yes; non-conceptual: no", but if the definition of conceptual is "I know it when I see it", it's going to fall apart when the rank and file (who apparently like the current "effort" standard) disagree with Martin and orthocresol (and each other) as to what counts as "conceptual" or not.

Not knowing what "conceptual" means here (or more particularly, what makes a question "non-conceptual"), I can't necessarily agree that switching to a "conceptual" standard is going to adequately replace the (desired) functionality of the current homework close. It might have potential, but there's still details that need to get worked out.

What is a conceptual question?

That's a serious question, and one I think gets to the heart of the issue with redoing the homework policy as a "conceptual question" policy.

I'll be honest and say I'm not really sure what Martin and orthocresol mean when they say "conceptual question". Yes, we can probably find some clear examples on both sides where a question is clearly "conceptual" and where the question is clearly "non-conceptual", but it's that middle region - that intermediate gray area - that causes issues.

If all we cared about were the clear examples, the current homework policy would be fine - yes, the fuzzy screenshots of poorly worded textbook problems are bad, and the advanced stuff is fine. But the current homework policy is dissatisfactory because of the gray area. It's those questions on the edge we're not quite handling correctly that are at issue.

That's my unease with the change: it's all well and good to redefine the criteria to say "conceptual: yes; non-conceptual: no", but if the definition of conceptual is "I know it when I see it", it's going to fall apart when the rank and file (who apparently like the current "effort" standard) disagree with Martin and orthocresol (and each other) as to what counts as "conceptual" or not.

Not knowing what "conceptual" means here (or more particularly, what makes a question "non-conceptual"), I can't necessarily agree that switching to a "conceptual" standard is going to adequately replace the (desired) functionality of the current homework close. It might have potential, but there's still details that need to get worked out.