Pengwuino said:
I disagree here as well, it is raaaaarely out of desperation. Except of course, if by desperation you mean the homework being due the next day and you haven't even looked at the material because you were off at a club or partying or messin around on myspace. Cheating probably takes place at a much larger rate then you suspect. Now that technology is so freely available, you have so many methods of cheating. One of our professors was reporting that students (multiple, >5 in one testing) were using blackberry's to cheat on a biology test. It's rather unfortunate that people just cheat their butt's off and professors rarely notice it. Then again I've talked to some of my professors and they say they've seen it and just don't do anything about it.
I dunno, i raaaaarely buy the "i'm stressed" bs coming from some people because usually they say that after talking about the latest stupid social function they did/attended that weekend. It's rare to really be THAT busy unless you were foolish in your scheduling or aren't being realistic with your abilities.
Um...yeah, that actually is part of what I meant. It's self-imposed in most cases, true.
Why are students allowed to have Blackberries with them during the exam? It sounds like part of the problem is the conditions in your classes make it too easy to get away with it, which gives more people the chance to do it. When I give exams, especially in large classes where cheating is likely (yes, Tony, the problem is more rampant in the 101 level classes, and less of a problem in the smaller, upper level classes where you don't have to rely on multiple choice exams and the students aren't crammed on top of each other), the students are allowed to bring a couple pencils (yep, you have to watch how many and if they start "fidgeting" with them after every question), an eraser, a watch without any "gadgets" on it, and their student ID. If I can't write the questions in a way that uses easy numbers to work with by hand, they can bring a non-programmable calculator.
Everything else must be put into a
closed bag under their seat. Cell phones off, crackberries off, PDAs off...the room should be quiet...and all those things go into the closed bag. I've had students try to argue they need the clock on their cell phone, at which time I point out they should have brought a regular watch and then show them where the room clock is if they need it. An old trick was to bring a soda can or water bottle with answers written on the label, so no beverages either.
The most annoying part of it is having to make 4 or 5 different versions of the exam so nobody is within view of anyone else with the same version, so they can't just copy the answers.
It gets easier in the upper level courses. You can't really cheat your way through an essay exam.
I don't grade homework assignments (at least not since being a TA when I had to follow other people's rules in the courses I taught). I think students get more out of the homework when it isn't graded, because they aren't as likely to just copy it from someone else if they know it doesn't count for anything other than their own learning. I prefer short quizzes to test the knowledge they should have obtained from doing their homework instead. The quizzes will never make or break their grade, it just helps keep them on track and gets them used to my question style and provides them feedback on the level of their knowledge before they get to the midterm exams.
Overall, though, I'm not greatly worried about it because as soon as the students get out of the 101 level courses with multiple guess exams, they will either have the necessary knowledge base for their upper level courses, or they won't. If they cheated their way through all the 101 courses, they'll flounder in the 200, 300, or 400 level courses where you can't cheat your way through problem-based exams.
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