Caught Cheating
Last night, PrimeTime Thursday (ABC, at 9:00CDT) had a very good special about cheating in the high school and college class. It is almost certain to be repeated. http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Primetime/ -- PrimeTime's home page. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/US/cheating_040429-1.html -- See some of the material covered in the program, including a clip. Not a lot was new. We have discussed many of the topics and strategies on TIPS over the last few of years. Seeing it all at one time, however, made it a bit impressive. Plus, watching students pay lip service to academic integrity and then turn right around and plagiarize on papers and cheat on exams was a bit disconcerting. Programmable calculators can not only store the formulas you might be testing about, many new ones can store text. (I would suggest that if you allow the use of calculators in your testing, perhaps you should provide cheap basic calculators yourself.) PDAs (and iPods, pagers, etc.), especially wireless PDAs on WiFi campuses, are a gold mine for the cheaters. But, then again, they can work ahead and store tons of info on most PDAs today. Then they really don't have to connect online. Want to see the possibilities? Try Googling your way through one of your old exams. Cell phones and text messaging open up a whole new universe for cheaters. Hell, I have to look at the pad to dial home. Some of these folks can hold the phone out of sight under the desk, call a friend in the same classroom, type out and send a text message asking the answers to specific questions -- without looking at the phone. The friend can do the same. The student only has to glance at the phone for a moment to see the answers provided in the reply. Do we even stand a chance anymore?? Should we even try?? The program reported the results of a survey of faculty. Half admitted to ignoring cheating at least once. It is beginning to look to me as if we are approaching the point at which anyone who requires term papers and does not check them through http://TurnItIn.com or a similar service, is guilty of dereliction of duty. Retirement just keeps looking better and better and better. -- --==>> ¨¨¨ <<==-- Sometimes you just have to try something, and see what happens. John W. Nichols, M.A. Assistant Professor of Psychology Tulsa Community College 909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 (918) 595-7134 Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
My students are assessed entirely on the kinds of paper assignments that Bill describes (below), and like him, I can't imagine any kind of paper for sale on the internet that would be of any use at all to them. Besides what Bill writes about revisions in response to comments, the papers also have class-specific criteria, sometimes modified to address confusions that came up in class discussion. I'm sure that I have plenty of plagiarism, including some that I never spot. But I'll bet that I don't have students buying papers from the internet and submitting them. They'd stand out like a sore thumb - and they'd get an "unsatisfactory" because they'd fail to meet criteria. Also like Bill, I have found that the "lifting" of material is still a problem, and it's almost always by students who manage to remain unaware that they have to put material from journal articles into their own words. Marie Helweg-Larsen wrote "The most serious limitation of turnitin.com is that it does not check scientific references - that is journal articles (at least it didn't use to). I think one common source of plagiarism is lifiting sentences directly from published articles (that are never cited in the paper)" If that's still true, then Turnitin.com would be of no use whatsoever in my situation, as that is not only "one common source", but is certainly the source of essentially _all_ of the plagiarism that I see. We do have instruction in "information literacy" in some required general education writing courses, but many students (including of course those who transfer in, thus missing those courses) manage to remain blissfully unaware of the rules for quoting (including what I think is the most important one: "DON'T quote - put it in your own words"). I do something like what you'll find on Miguel Roig's site - direct instruction in the rules for quoting and summarizing - and find that my students inevitably (1) are very engaged in the topic - they really WANT to know, and (2) say that they've never had it laid out for them like that before. I strongly suspect that this is something that they need to hear multiple times, including in OUR courses, and not just in introductory level courses detached from our specific requirements. Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee Bill Scott wrote: > Paper assignments are progressive. Students have to submit a topic, then an > outline, then a set of drafts (sometimes with peer review in the class, > which I look at), followed by the final paper. Each step requires them to > revise their work according to comments. It would be difficult to buy a > paper that would conform to these steps. If the student were to ambitiously > cheat, e.g. buying a paper ahead of time, then rewriting in order to pass > the steps of the process, it would probably be as educational as writing the > paper in the first place. > > Plagiarism is something we work on during the process of re-writing the > drafts, but "lifting" of material is not, in my experience, eliminated by > these procedures. I would appreciate suggestions about this. I tend to > believe that a course in "information literacy" would help all of our > first-year students. > > I don't see how any of our students here can learn anything from "Caught > Cheating" that will help them to short-cut to a better grade, except maybe > the secret instant messaging on the cell phones. > > BTW. If I give a closed book exam of 60 items in a 50 minute class period, > they all finish well in time. If I give the exact same exam as an open book, > open notes exam, then I get many complaints of not allowing enough time for > such a long exam. > > > Bill Scott > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
I see that it apparently does search through many of the kinds of online sources my students are likely to plagiarize from, so I take back my comment that it would be useless in my situation. Still it strikes me that the problem is better addressed by us doing a better job of teaching students what they're supposed to be doing than by us catching and penalizing them after the fact. I also think that this is a place for one of those outreach projects to other levels of education. It seems clear that a significant part of the problem is that we not only fail to teach this properly to students, but that at some levels the use of sources is sometimes taught exactly the wrong way, with students essentially told that their job is to find relevant quotes and string them together. What exactly do we know about how our students are taught about this earlier in their academic careers? Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee -Original Message-From: Miguel Roig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 10:33 AMTo: Teaching in the Psychological SciencesSubject: Re: Caught CheatingAt 05:27 AM 5/4/2004 -0500, you wrote: "The most serious limitation of turnitin.com is that it does not checkscientific references - that is journal articles (at least it didn't useto). Yes, but their capabilities are expanding. I plucked the paragraph below from the Turnitin web site http://www.turnitin.com/static/about_us/whats_new.html: "Best Search Available. Turnitin has expanded its search capabilities to include the articles from thousands of commercial publications. This includes all of the published material contained in ProQuest®'s ABI/Inform, full-text Periodical Abstracts, and Business Dateline. It also includes tens of thousands of books from some of the largest digital libraries available. This is a free service to new and existing Turnitin customers."I understand that the above feature was only added recently.Miguel ___ Miguel Roig, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Notre Dame Division of St. John's College St. John's University 300 Howard Avenue Staten Island, New York 10301 Voice: (718) 390-4513 Fax: (718) 390-4347 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigmOn plagiarism and ethical writing: http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/___ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
At 05:27 AM 5/4/2004 -0500, you wrote: "The most serious limitation of turnitin.com is that it does not check scientific references - that is journal articles (at least it didn't use to). Yes, but their capabilities are expanding. I plucked the paragraph below from the Turnitin web site http://www.turnitin.com/static/about_us/whats_new.html: "Best Search Available. Turnitin has expanded its search capabilities to include the articles from thousands of commercial publications. This includes all of the published material contained in ProQuest®'s ABI/Inform, full-text Periodical Abstracts, and Business Dateline. It also includes tens of thousands of books from some of the largest digital libraries available. This is a free service to new and existing Turnitin customers." I understand that the above feature was only added recently. Miguel ___ Miguel Roig, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Notre Dame Division of St. John's College St. John's University 300 Howard Avenue Staten Island, New York 10301 Voice: (718) 390-4513 Fax: (718) 390-4347 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm On plagiarism and ethical writing: http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/ ___ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
Someone (probably Paul) first wrote: > "The most serious limitation of turnitin.com is that it does not > check scientific references - that is journal articles (at least it > didn't use to). Miguel replied: > Yes, but their capabilities are expanding. I plucked the paragraph > below from the Turnitin web site http://www.turnitin.com/static/about_us/whats_new.html: > "Best Search Available. Turnitin has expanded its search capabilities to include the articles from thousands of commercial publications. This includes all of the published material contained in ProQuest®'s ABI/Inform, full-text Periodical Abstracts, and Business Dateline. It also includes tens of thousands of books from some of the largest digital libraries available. This is a free service to new and existing Turnitin customers." I understand that the above feature was only added recently. > So Paul conceded:: > I see that it apparently does search through many of the kinds of > online sources my students are likely to plagiarize from, so I take > back my comment that it would be useless in my situation. > Not so fast, integrity-breath. There may be less there than you think. I don't know what ABI/Inform is, but "full-text Periodical Abstracts" sounds like a deliberately ambiguous way of saying "we search abstracts, not text". Stephen ___ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D.tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ___ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
The only study that I am aware of in terms of what students are taught at the high school level is an old one by Dant (1986). In a Psi Chi poster at EPA last year, one of my students and I reported that few schools provide coverage of plagiarism in their college catalogues/student handbooks. In my view, the coverage provided is less than adequate. I agree that we must teach our students proper writing and citation skills, but we must also place strong emphasis on why these skills are important. The overriding message I hear from students is that when it comes to cheating: "It's just not a big deal". Most of us probably can do a good job at teaching these skills. Where I think we have not been as successful is in convincing students why academic and general personal integrity ARE/SHOULD BE a big deal. Reference Dant. D. (1986). Plagiarism in high school. English Journal, LLXXV(2), 81-84. Miguel At 08:02 AM 5/4/2004 -0500, you wrote: I see that it apparently does search through many of the kinds of online sources my students are likely to plagiarize from, so I take back my comment that it would be useless in my situation. Still it strikes me that the problem is better addressed by us doing a better job of teaching students what they're supposed to be doing than by us catching and penalizing them after the fact. I also think that this is a place for one of those outreach projects to other levels of education. It seems clear that a significant part of the problem is that we not only fail to teach this properly to students, but that at some levels the use of sources is sometimes taught exactly the wrong way, with students essentially told that their job is to find relevant quotes and string them together. What exactly do we know about how our students are taught about this earlier in their academic careers? Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee -Original Message- From: Miguel Roig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 10:33 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: Caught Cheating At 05:27 AM 5/4/2004 -0500, you wrote: "The most serious limitation of turnitin.com is that it does not check scientific references - that is journal articles (at least it didn't use to). Yes, but their capabilities are expanding. I plucked the paragraph below from the Turnitin web site http://www.turnitin.com/static/about_us/whats_new.html: "Best Search Available. Turnitin has expanded its search capabilities to include the articles from thousands of commercial publications. This includes all of the published material contained in ProQuest®'s ABI/Inform, full-text Periodical Abstracts, and Business Dateline. It also includes tens of thousands of books from some of the largest digital libraries available. This is a free service to new and existing Turnitin customers." I understand that the above feature was only added recently. Miguel ___ Miguel Roig, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Notre Dame Division of St. John's College St. John's University 300 Howard Avenue Staten Island, New York 10301 Voice: (718) 390-4513 Fax: (718) 390-4347 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm On plagiarism and ethical writing: http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/ ___ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
Stephen Black wrote: > Not so fast, integrity-breath. There may be less there than you > think. I don't know what ABI/Inform is, but "full-text Periodical > Abstracts" sounds like a deliberately ambiguous way of saying "we > search abstracts, not text". That'd be a big problem, yup. What I meant though was that in looking at the site I realized that it searches through _webpages_, not just term papers available for sale. It's not at all unusual for one or two of my students each semester to turn in papers that directly "lift" text from online sources like this one: http://www.alzheimers.org/unraveling/09.htm I believe that the Turnitin tool would detect that kind of plagiarism, and if so, it would be at least somewhat useful to me. But it does sound as though it's not going to find plagiarism from journal articles, which is probably a more common in my students' papers than plagiarism from websites (though that's all speculation, because of course I don't know how much plagiarism I'm failing to detect). That being said, though, unless your students are very different from mine, the major issue here is not students' integrity, but rather students' understanding of what they're supposed to do when they write term papers using sources. The one or two students I mentioned who plagiarize from these sites list the sites in their Reference lists, which tells me that at least in those cases, the students' problem is understanding, not ethics. For those students, at least, discussions of ethics will be completely irrelevant. Paul Smith Alverno College Milwaukee --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
Bill Scott wrote, "BTW. If I give a closed book exam of 60 items in a 50 minute class period, they all finish well in time. If I give the exact same exam as an open book,open notes exam, then I get many complaints of not allowing enough time forsuch a long exam." This hits home for me, because this semester I've been doing general psych online, and have allowed the test to be open book/notes for the online students only. Although I give them 10 extra minutes (60 compared to 50 in class), many students complain that it is not enough time. I think they are trying to look up too much. But the students who do best take only 25-40 minutes--I suspect they are not treating it as an open book test and are well prepared. Lenore Frigo [EMAIL PROTECTED] Do you Yahoo!?Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
Lenore, Michael, Bill et al.: As I recall, the students' median test score on an open-book exam was lower than that of a regular hour exam. I attributed that difference to a somewhat lower level of preparation with a concommitant lower level of anxiety, but a higher anxiety level during the exam itself when they realized that they didn't know the stuff very well. DKH David K. Hogberg, PhD Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Albion College, Albion MI 49224 [EMAIL PROTECTED] home phone: 517/629-4834 >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 05/04/04 2:00 PM >>> Bill Scott wrote, "BTW. If I give a closed book exam of 60 items in a 50 minute class period, they all finish well in time. If I give the exact same exam as an open book, open notes exam, then I get many complaints of not allowing enough time for such a long exam." This hits home for me, because this semester I've been doing general psych online, and have allowed the test to be open book/notes for the online students only. Although I give them 10 extra minutes (60 compared to 50 in class), many students complain that it is not enough time. I think they are trying to look up too much. But the students who do best take only 25-40 minutes--I suspect they are not treating it as an open book test and are well prepared. Lenore Frigo [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
Pep talks on the importance of honesty and integrity probably have little effect on cheating. But instructors taking the time to closely monitor test-taking sessions and check on suspicious papers can make a difference. Students cheat when they can--so we shouldn't provide them with too much temptation (don't make cheating too easy). Also, we owe it to our honest students to take action to minimize cheating by the less-honest students. I usually caution students about cheating before an exam. And for a take-home exam, I add something like the following (for what it's worth). --Dave This test must be done in one sitting. That is, pick a quiet place and time when you have about two hours of undisturbed time available. You can use your course text and class notes. However, you must take this test alone (absolutely no assistance from anyone else). Understand that cheating can result in an F on both the exam and the entire course. Write or type an “X” below to provide your word that you took this test honestly. ___ I swear that I took this test in one sitting with absolutely no help from anyone else, using only my text and class notes. John W. Nichols, M.A. wrote: Last night, PrimeTime Thursday (ABC, at 9:00CDT) had a very good special about cheating in the high school and college class. It is almost certain to be repeated. http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Primetime/ -- PrimeTime's home page. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/US/cheating_040429-1.html -- See some of the material covered in the program, including a clip. Not a lot was new. We have discussed many of the topics and strategies on TIPS over the last few of years... ___ David E. Campbell, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology Phone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993 Arcata, CA 95521-8299 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
One technique that was new to me was the use of the use of cell phones to photograph testing materials and notes which can then be accessed during an exam. That one plus some of the other techniques you've mentioned below will certainly lead to revisions in my course outlines regarding the use of cell phones and other electronic equipment during exams. Miguel At 02:25 PM 4/30/2004 -0500, you wrote: Last night, PrimeTime Thursday (ABC, at 9:00CDT) had a very good special about cheating in the high school and college class. It is almost certain to be repeated. http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Primetime/ -- PrimeTime's home page. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/US/cheating_040429-1.html -- See some of the material covered in the program, including a clip. Not a lot was new. We have discussed many of the topics and strategies on TIPS over the last few of years. Seeing it all at one time, however, made it a bit impressive. Plus, watching students pay lip service to academic integrity and then turn right around and plagiarize on papers and cheat on exams was a bit disconcerting. Programmable calculators can not only store the formulas you might be testing about, many new ones can store text. (I would suggest that if you allow the use of calculators in your testing, perhaps you should provide cheap basic calculators yourself.) PDAs (and iPods, pagers, etc.), especially wireless PDAs on WiFi campuses, are a gold mine for the cheaters. But, then again, they can work ahead and store tons of info on most PDAs today. Then they really don't have to connect online. Want to see the possibilities? Try Googling your way through one of your old exams. Cell phones and text messaging open up a whole new universe for cheaters. Hell, I have to look at the pad to dial home. Some of these folks can hold the phone out of sight under the desk, call a friend in the same classroom, type out and send a text message asking the answers to specific questions -- without looking at the phone. The friend can do the same. The student only has to glance at the phone for a moment to see the answers provided in the reply. Do we even stand a chance anymore?? Should we even try?? The program reported the results of a survey of faculty. Half admitted to ignoring cheating at least once. It is beginning to look to me as if we are approaching the point at which anyone who requires term papers and does not check them through http://TurnItIn.com or a similar service, is guilty of dereliction of duty. Retirement just keeps looking better and better and better. -- --==>> ¨¨¨ <<==-- Sometimes you just have to try something, and see what happens. John W. Nichols, M.A. Assistant Professor of Psychology Tulsa Community College 909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 (918) 595-7134 Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
I've always had a clear message concerning plagiarism in my syllabi, but after seeing that presentation, I've revised it a bit. In case it may help others, here's the relevant boiler-plate section from my syllabus (the final paragraph was revised after seeing the video which I intend to purchase and show on the first day of all my classes. == Plagiarism Plagiarism is one of the most serious, and frequent, academic offenses committed by college students-often through ignorance, rather than out of any desire to "cheat." Because the offense is so serious it is important that students understand both the nature of plagiarism and the academic sanctions which can result from its commission. Fundamentally, plagiarism is the act of presenting the ideas, words, or concepts of someone else as if they were your own ideas or words. There is nothing wrong with referring to another's ideas or quoting their words, but failure to attribute those words to their source is plagiarism. For example: You may describe Einstein's theory of relativity, but if you present it as your theory you are guilty of plagiarism. You may summarize a Supreme Court opinion in your own words, but if you incorporate the language of the original, without indicating that you are doing so, you are guilty of plagiarism. You may get an idea while reading someone else's book or term paper, but unless you acknowledge the source, you are guilty of plagiarism. Copying from someone else's paper during an examination is a form of plagiarism. The submission of a term paper purchased from or prepared by someone else also constitutes plagiarism. (College of Wooster Department of Psychology Independent Study Handbook) In this class, plagiarism-or any other form of cheating-will result in the awarding of a 0.0 grade for the entire course, and referral of the offending student to the college administration for possible disciplinary action. In order to guard against the rising rate of cheating in the classroom, as seen in the video presented during the first night of classes, all term papers must be accompanied by a disk or cd-rom containing the entire term paper, as submitted which may, at the discretion of the instructor, be submitted to TurnItIn.com for evaluation. Papers demonstrating more than 5% matching content as appraised by TurnItIn.com will (unless all such content is properly cited) be presumed to be deliberate plagiarism. In addition, no cell phones, calculators, or PDA are permitted to be accessible during any quiz or exam-no exceptions. It looks better with the original formatting, by the way! :-) Rick --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
I would argue against showing the video on cheating. This communicates to the students that the norm is to cheat. Cialdini has done some interesting research indicating that publicizing a widespread antisocial norm (cheating, stealing, etc.) may be counterproductive. The info on cheating and its consequences should be enough, without the video. See Cialdini, R. B. (2003). Crafting normative messages to protext the environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12 (4), 105-109. --Dave Rick Adams wrote: ...In order to guard against the rising rate of cheating in the classroom, as seen in the video presented during the first night of classes -- -- -- ___ David E. Campbell, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology Phone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993 Arcata, CA 95521-8299 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
After watching the special, I was struck by a few things that were brought up but had little attention paid to them during the show. Many students interviewed felt there were very serious consequences for cheating, but those consequences were never fully realized. The teach who "caught" her students cheating gave all of them a 2nd chance to rewrite the paper. At one point an estimate was given about the percentage of university professors who "ignore" cheating even when they see it. I can't remember the exact figure, but want to say it was over a third. If this is the case, what are the consequences? Basically, it appears that a large number of students who cheat realize that they will look bad, but in terms of their grade they have nothing to loose. If they cheat and get caught, they either get the lower grade they expected to begin with or are given a 2nd chance. If they cheat and don't get caught, they end up with a better grade. In terms of their future, they see it as a situation in which they have nothing to loose except some respect from their professors who they probably won't see again after the semester is over. The students (especially the high school students) did an excellent job of reciting all of the reasons "experts" say that they end up cheating... President Clinton lying under oath, Enron executives, etc. I was wondering if they said it because those incidents really "encouraged" them to cheat, or because the "experts" have been saying it will cause cheating for so long they think it is the reason we want to hear. One of the sources a college professor found students plagiarizing from was a collection of papers from a 5th grade class. He stated that the 5th grade students would have "earned an A" in his class. I'm sorry, but does anyone else see a problem here? Even if these are truly outstanding 5th graders, are they really performing at the same level we would expect from college students? Have our standards in some areas fallen so low that writing at a 5th grade level (even a really advanced 5th grade level) is sufficient for not only passing a college course, but earning an A? The statement that if a high school student doesn't have a really high GPA that they won't be able to get into college and will end up having to work at McDonald's was strangely disturbing to me on a few levels. First, these days a motivated student can get in to college with a moderate GPA in high school, though it might not be a "top tier" school. Second, a college degree will not keep someone from ending up working at McDonald's. Third, until we perfect the truly automated food industry, we will still need people to perform those jobs. At this point there is little chance of a server's job at a restaurant being outsourced, so might be a more stable career option than some alternatives. And finally, whether we really want to admit it or not, not everyone is cut out for college... just like not everyone in college is cut out for graduate school. Although I encourage everyone to engage in life long learning, the college environment is not necessarily the best environment for everyone to do that in. My step-brother is a pretty good movie critic/writer. While in college he was making high A's in his courses related to film, earning the highest grades some professors had ever given on exams. But, he could not bring himself to perform at the same level in other courses. He dropped out of college, wrote a movie script, directed and helped produce the movie, got a contract with a major film studio and is currently working on further developing his skills and passion as a script writer. Admittedly, not necessarily true for everyone, but if someone is not doing well in college, are we really doing the right thing by encouraging them to stay rather than exploring other options? (I won't even go into the friend of mine from high school (actually a year behind me) who went to a tech trade school for a couple of years and ended up "retiring" a few years ago at 24 he got out of the dot com bubble before it burst. He now owns his own custom car shop.) One of the scariest ways of cheating was presented towards the end... a "professional" paper-writer and test-taker. For $20/page you too can earn an A on a paper over a topic you know nothing about. What made me laugh is that just a few days ago a colleague asked me how I knew the students in my on-line course were in fact the students doing the work. I asked him if he checked student IDs in class and during exams... I've known for a long time about people like the one profiled that make money doing work for other people... he's essentially a ghost-writer, he just happens to be doing it for college papers rather than published books. Personally, I wonder if he realizes that by helping other students achieve high grades he is making his own high grades less meaningful. When grades stop distinguishing between
Re: Caught Cheating
"Modest" Miguel didn't, so I will. http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/ (It would be difficult to recommend this excellent comprehensive source too highly or too frequently.) Miguel Roig wrote: > > One technique that was new to me was the use of the use of cell phones to > photograph testing materials and notes which can then be accessed during an > exam. That one plus some of the other techniques you've mentioned below > will certainly lead to revisions in my course outlines regarding the use of > cell phones and other electronic equipment during exams. > > Miguel > > At 02:25 PM 4/30/2004 -0500, you wrote: > >Last night, PrimeTime Thursday (ABC, at 9:00CDT) had a very good special > >about cheating in the high school and college class. It is almost > >certain to be repeated. > > > >http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Primetime/ -- PrimeTime's home page. > > > >http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/US/cheating_040429-1.html -- > >See some of the material covered in the program, including a clip. > > > > > >Not a lot was new. We have discussed many of the topics and strategies > >on TIPS over the last few of years. Seeing it all at one time, however, > >made it a bit impressive. Plus, watching students pay lip service to > >academic integrity and then turn right around and plagiarize on papers > >and cheat on exams was a bit disconcerting. > > > >Programmable calculators can not only store the formulas you might be > >testing about, many new ones can store text. (I would suggest that if > >you allow the use of calculators in your testing, perhaps you should > >provide cheap basic calculators yourself.) > > > >PDAs (and iPods, pagers, etc.), especially wireless PDAs on WiFi > >campuses, are a gold mine for the cheaters. But, then again, they can > >work ahead and store tons of info on most PDAs today. Then they really > >don't have to connect online. Want to see the possibilities? Try > >Googling your way through one of your old exams. > > > >Cell phones and text messaging open up a whole new universe for > >cheaters. Hell, I have to look at the pad to dial home. Some of these > >folks can hold the phone out of sight under the desk, call a friend in > >the same classroom, type out and send a text message asking the answers > >to specific questions -- without looking at the phone. The friend can > >do the same. The student only has to glance at the phone for a moment > >to see the answers provided in the reply. Do we even stand a chance > >anymore?? > > > >Should we even try?? The program reported the results of a survey of > >faculty. Half admitted to ignoring cheating at least once. > > > >It is beginning to look to me as if we are approaching the point at > >which anyone who requires term papers and does not check them through > >http://TurnItIn.com or a similar service, is guilty of dereliction of > >duty. > > > >Retirement just keeps looking better and better and better. > > > >-- > > > >--==>> ¨¨¨ <<==-- > >Sometimes you just have to try something, and see what happens. > > > >John W. Nichols, M.A. > >Assistant Professor of Psychology > >Tulsa Community College > >909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 > >(918) 595-7134 > > > >Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols > >MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html > > > >--- > >You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- --==>> ¨¨¨ <<==-- Sometimes you just have to try something, and see what happens. John W. Nichols, M.A. Assistant Professor of Psychology Tulsa Community College 909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 (918) 595-7134 Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
Dave wrote: --- I would argue against showing the video on cheating. This communicates to the students that the norm is to cheat. Cialdini has done some interesting research indicating that publicizing a widespread antisocial norm (cheating, stealing, etc.) may be counterproductive. The info on cheating and its consequences should be enough, without the video.See Cialdini, R. B. (2003). Crafting normative messages to protext the environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12 (4), 105-109.--Dave - You may be right, Dave, but the opportunity to hold an open class discussion on the topic is a pretty good incentive to do so as well. Bear in mind, however, that I teach Criminal Justice Psychology--and thus the majority of my students are going into the CRJ field, counseling fields (including clinical psychology and medicine), and social work. That's not a typical student mix, instead it's one that strong emphasis on ethics is very important to. Another reason for showing it, of course, is so they can see what the TurnItIn.com system is, and what it's capable of as well. Incidentally, to take a slight tangent to the topic--how many TIPsters agree with everything they focused on in the show? From my own perspective, they had some strong points, but it seemed to be "off" in a couple areas. The first was the role of grading and college admissions in the perpetuation of cheating--you'll note that at no time did they place any blame at all on the parents or home environment, only on the models they are getting from society. Personally, I think that the parents of the kids have a bit more responsibility to teach them sound values than was demonstrated there--particularly in the case of the high schoolers. A second problem I saw was in treating the individual who was writing the term papers as the cheat; sorry but he's simply a free-lance writer doing work for hire (except, of course, when taking a test for someone else). It isn't cheating to write a term paper--it's cheating to buy one and submit it as your own. You can buy a research paper from a range of sources--including the Encyclopedia Britannica--and it's totally legitimate for them to write and sell them. They aren't enrolled in the classes (or the same college) as the buyer and have no responsibility for the use of their work, in my opinion. The show tended to make it look as though the writer was responsible for the cheating instead of placing the blame squarely where it belongs--on the cheating student him or her self! One point that was clear, however (and one I've been arguing for years), is that grading on a curve is a bad idea. It encourages students to compete instead of cooperate and, if they know some of the students in the class are cheating, they have much more incentive to do so themselves since it will allow them to remain competitive. Any instructor can grade on a straight point value basis--and by doing so he or she can encourage students to work together to improve all their grades instead of working against each other in an attempt to improve only their own. Comments? Rick --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
Grading on a point basis instead of a curve makes excellent sense where cheating is a result of competition, and this concept can be presented to the students in such as way as to discourage cheating. (Although cheating will still be done by those who are too lazy or limited in time to prepare their own work.) But still one needs to establish the point totals needed to earn each possible grade, and this has to come from some sort of normative data--essentially a curve based on initial classes. To arbitrarilly use 90%=A, 80%=B, etc., or some similar set of criteria, would ignore relevant factors like difficulty of the testing material and degree of preparation provided by the instructor. Incidently, note that Turnitin.com doesn't catch everything, and it can be foiled by changing words so no string of copied material exceeds 7 words. --Dave Rick Adams wrote: One point that was clear, however (and one I've been arguing for years), is that grading on a curve is a bad idea. It encourages students to compete instead of cooperate and, if they know some of the students in the class are cheating, they have much more incentive to do so themselves since it will allow them to remain competitive. Any instructor can grade on a straight point value basis--and by doing so he or she can encourage students to work together to improve all their grades instead of working against each other in an attempt to improve only their own. Comments? Rick ___ David E. Campbell, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology Phone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993 Arcata, CA 95521-8299 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Caught Cheating
Dave wrote: Grading on a point basis instead of a curve makes excellent sense where cheating is a result of competition, and this concept can be presented to the students in such as way as to discourage cheating. (Although cheating will still be done by those who are too lazy or limited in time to prepare their own work.) But still one needs to establish the point totals needed to earn each possible grade, and this has to come from some sort of normative data--essentially a curve based on initial classes. To arbitrarilly use 90%=A, 80%=B, etc., or some similar set of criteria, would ignore relevant factors like difficulty of the testing material and degree of preparation provided by the instructor. True--but while it may be necessary to normalize the curve for a test, it isn't necessary to do so for a class. An instructor can base the score of an individual exam on a curve, yet still grade the class on a point system. If a test is assigned a standard point value, then the points earned by the test are determined by a curve (it may be a 50 point test and result--after normalizing--in 30 answers correct giving 40 points, etc.), the students still have less incentive to cheat and more to work together to help each other learn. But if the course, itself, is curved than the students are forced to compete with each other to be in the upper part of the curve instead. Each student who does well raises the curve higher for the entire course and the result is to encourage cheating. Incidently, note that Turnitin.com doesn't catch everything, and it can be foiled by changing words so no string of copied material exceeds 7 words. True--but since JCC doesn't subscribe to TurnItIn anyway (note that in my revision to my syllabus I stated that papers "may, at the discretion of the instructor, be submitted to TurnItIn.com for evaluation," not that they _would_ be submitted. Since I would have to pay out of my own pocket for any evaluations done by TurnItIt, I suspect that's an option I'll only exercise if I'm certain of cheating and need absolute proof to cover myself before reporting it. The student who _expects_ to be checked by TurnItIn.com is just as unlikely to cheat as the one who _knows_ he or she will be checked by them. Of course, I teach at a community college where most students are as computer sophisticated as those at major Universities, so they tend to be more likely to assume that a service such as TurnItIn.com is even more accurate than it actually is. Rick -- Rick Adams [EMAIL PROTECTED] "... and the only measure of your worth and your deeds will be the love you leave behind when you're gone." -Fred Small, J.D., "Everything Possible" --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
BTW, I did not intend to demean or offend any individual with my "... is guilty of dereliction of duty." comment. If I did, I apologize. The Prof is could be guilty if the service is available and s/he fails to use it. I feel justified in charging that the institution is guilty if the service is not provided. I realized that the possibility existed when Rick Adams, in this message, wrote: "True--but since JCC doesn't subscribe to TurnItIn anyway ...". TCC does not, either. TurnItIn is a tad pricey for most of us to have to pay out of our pocket. Certainly the school (or the department) should pay for the service. They will surely counter with "Are you nuts? We are in the midst of a budget crunch!!" (When are they not?) I am going to campaign on the argument that: 1. Everyone knows that plagiarism is widespread (30-70%, depending on the source of the figures). 2. We have a student code of conduct that prohibits plagiarism. 3. It is our institutional obligation to enforce the code the institution established. 4. Failure to enforce the prohibition on plagiarism, constitutes condoning it, and results in encouraging the practice. 5. Using the service (or a similar one), and publicizing the fact that we are using it on a regular basis, may by itself go a long way in reducing the incidence of plagiarism and promoting academic integrity. 6. The cost of using such a service should be viewed as a "cost of doing business", just like providing electricity and libraries. 7. We are going to be increasing tuition and fees, in any case, for a host of other reasons -- some of which are less justifiable and less central to our institutional mission than this reason. Adding a dollar or two to the fees is not unreasonable. It is the students as a group who, after all, who created the need for the expense. They, or their parents, ought to be the ones who pay for the solution. I agree with Rick's position that it would be "an option I'll only exercise if I'm certain of cheating and need absolute proof to cover myself before reporting it." I so hate the thought of them walking away thinking they had "pulled the wool over my eyes", that I would be willing to pop for the cost on occasions when I am reasonably suspicious or convinced the offense has occurred. (I wonder if if the plagiarism is clear we could find a way to make the offender pay the cost?) -- --==>> ¨¨¨ <<==-- Sometimes you just have to try something, and see what happens. John W. Nichols, M.A. Assistant Professor of Psychology Tulsa Community College 909 S. Boston Ave., Tulsa, OK 74119 (918) 595-7134 Home: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols MegaPsych: http://www.tulsa.oklahoma.net/~jnichols/megapsych.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
Where I taught before the university subscribed to turnitin.com. It definitely got students' attention immediately when I described it. I had all students submit their papers on a disk (along with the traditional hard copy) and a staff member uploaded the papers to turnitin.com. The most serious limitation of turnitin.com is that it does not check scientific references - that is journal articles (at least it didn't use to). I think one common source of plagiarism is lifiting sentences directly from published articles (that are never cited in the paper). Marie John W. Nichols, M.A. wrote: BTW, I did not intend to demean or offend any individual with my "... is guilty of dereliction of duty." comment. If I did, I apologize. The Prof is could be guilty if the service is available and s/he fails to use it. I feel justified in charging that the institution is guilty if the service is not provided. I realized that the possibility existed when Rick Adams, in this message, wrote: "True--but since JCC doesn't subscribe to TurnItIn anyway ...". TCC does not, either. TurnItIn is a tad pricey for most of us to have to pay out of our pocket. Certainly the school (or the department) should pay for the service. They will surely counter with "Are you nuts? We are in the midst of a budget crunch!!" (When are they not?) I am going to campaign on the argument that: 1. Everyone knows that plagiarism is widespread (30-70%, depending on the source of the figures). 2. We have a student code of conduct that prohibits plagiarism. 3. It is our institutional obligation to enforce the code the institution established. 4. Failure to enforce the prohibition on plagiarism, constitutes condoning it, and results in encouraging the practice. 5. Using the service (or a similar one), and publicizing the fact that we are using it on a regular basis, may by itself go a long way in reducing the incidence of plagiarism and promoting academic integrity. 6. The cost of using such a service should be viewed as a "cost of doing business", just like providing electricity and libraries. 7. We are going to be increasing tuition and fees, in any case, for a host of other reasons -- some of which are less justifiable and less central to our institutional mission than this reason. Adding a dollar or two to the fees is not unreasonable. It is the students as a group who, after all, who created the need for the expense. They, or their parents, ought to be the ones who pay for the solution. I agree with Rick's position that it would be "an option I'll only exercise if I'm certain of cheating and need absolute proof to cover myself before reporting it." I so hate the thought of them walking away thinking they had "pulled the wool over my eyes", that I would be willing to pop for the cost on occasions when I am reasonably suspicious or convinced the offense has occurred. (I wonder if — if the plagiarism is clear — we could find a way to make the offender pay the cost?) -- * Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 Webpage: www.dickinson.edu/~helwegm * --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
Here's how I try to eliminate cheating. All my exams are "open book", "open notes". Students are allowed to consult any source, including the internet, except their classmates. You might think this only works for abstract essay exams, but it works just as well for multiple choice exams (time limited). By "it works", I mean that by comparing multiple choice exams taken within the same course as "open notes" to those that are "closed", the correlations in performance are higher than .90. In this environment, crib notes simply become good notes. In the real world, we are not prohibited from using references to come up with the best answers to problems. I'll admit to possible bias. The questions in my open-notes exams might be a little bit "harder" than a closed-book exam but I honestly don't think they have to be. Paper assignments are progressive. Students have to submit a topic, then an outline, then a set of drafts (sometimes with peer review in the class, which I look at), followed by the final paper. Each step requires them to revise their work according to comments. It would be difficult to buy a paper that would conform to these steps. If the student were to ambitiously cheat, e.g. buying a paper ahead of time, then rewriting in order to pass the steps of the process, it would probably be as educational as writing the paper in the first place. Plagiarism is something we work on during the process of re-writing the drafts, but "lifting" of material is not, in my experience, eliminated by these procedures. I would appreciate suggestions about this. I tend to believe that a course in "information literacy" would help all of our first-year students. I don't see how any of our students here can learn anything from "Caught Cheating" that will help them to short-cut to a better grade, except maybe the secret instant messaging on the cell phones. BTW. If I give a closed book exam of 60 items in a 50 minute class period, they all finish well in time. If I give the exact same exam as an open book, open notes exam, then I get many complaints of not allowing enough time for such a long exam. Bill Scott --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Caught Cheating
David Hogberg wrote: > Lenore, Michael, Bill et al.: As I recall, the students' median test > score on an open-book exam was lower than that of a regular hour exam. > I attributed that difference to a somewhat lower level of preparation > with a concommitant lower level of anxiety, but a higher anxiety level > during the exam itself when they realized that they didn't know the > stuff very well. DKH I agree that the students feel that they do not need to prepare in the same way for an open-book exam and are probably more relaxed. This leads them to feeling much more pressed for time in the open-book exam but, in my experience, they perform the same, no better or worse on either form. Also, the correlations in a class between scores on a closed-book exam and an open-book exam are equivalent to those between same form exams. Bill Scott --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
