1. Run it through the scantron now. If it reads it correctly, it argues against his proposition that the scantron made an error the first time. It does not prove anything, but if you planned to not give him credit, this would support your position.
2. Give him credit. You cannot verify that he cheated, nor that the scantron machine made an error. Where's the burden of proof? I think in general in academia we have to tend to side with the student (to my dismay in a circumstance I am facing right now that I will NOT get into!). Moreover, a smart cheater (and most of the students who get caught cheating aren't that good at it, of course) would have made his erasures more likely to have been 'misread' by the machine rather than making the effort to be so thorough in erasing.
3. Give him half-credit as a compromise, which by definition indicates that neither of you will be happy. His up-and-down performance on the other exams certainly makes it difficult to ascertain his performance on this one, as either a 52 or a 66 would not be out of line with the rest of his grades.
In the end, I'd probably run it through the machine again out of curiosity, but then give him the benefit of the doubt, despite my skepticism.
Good luck. I'm interested to see how others respond.
David
At 10:00 AM 5/4/2006, you wrote:
Hi folks:
I have a situation that I've never come across before and wanted to get
your perspective.
I just finished teaching a large (120+ students) non-majors Abnormal
Psychology class this semester. Because it was a large lecture class,
the major assignments in the class were five multiple-choice exams, each
worth 100 points, plus a few scattered quizzes. Because the class is so
large and I don't have a teaching assistant, I held an optional meeting
after each exam for any student who wanted to review their exam and
discuss items they got wrong.
During the review of exam 3, one of my students asked what he should do
if the scantron marked a correct answer as incorrect. I told him to
circle the item and bring it to me at the end of the meeting. When we
were done, the student showed me the scantron. He had circled 7 items
that he claimed the scantron had incorrectly graded. He said that he had
at first filled in the incorrect answer, but when he realized his
mistake he erased it and filled in the correct answer. He said that he
must not have erased very well so the scantron read the incorrect
answer.
The student earned a 52/100 on this exam. If I were to give him credit
for these 7 items, then his grade would be raised to a 66/100. This also
would raise his final course grade from a D to a C. His grades on the
other four exams in the class were 34, 62, 78, and 80.
I told the student that I would think about the situation and get back
to him. He asked me during the next class if I had made a decision. I
told him to schedule a meeting with me outside of class and I would talk
with him about it. I reminded him several times to do this in the
following weeks, but he never contacted me to schedule the appointment
until yesterday, the day after classes ended.
I have never come across a situation in which a scantron machine made so
many mistakes on one exam. In looking at his answer sheet, he had erased
his answers very well, so well in fact that I have no clue how the
scantron machine could have read them.
If the student had scheduled an appointment with me, I had planned to
explain my dilemma and give him an opportunity to come clean, if he had
indeed cheated. If he told me that he hadn't cheated, then I was going
to give him a chance to answer those 7 questions again when he took Exam
5 during the last day of class: same content but different response
options. Of course, now classes are over and all the exams have been
taken.
Not sure how to proceed at this point. On one hand, I could take his
word and give him credit for those 7 items, but if he had cheated I
don't want to reinforce that behavior (not to mention his lack of
follow-through on all of this) with a higher final course grade.
I meet with this student later today. Any suggestions would be much
appreciated!
Rod
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Associate Professor
Department of Psychology and Counseling
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698
229-333-5620
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/dtwasieleski
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makes me happy just to be alive..."
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