Welp another semester, another blatant cheater in my class.
I've had more cheaters this year than in all my nearly 20 years of post-secondary teaching.
Is anyone else seeing a sudden increase in cheating?
I'm not talking missing a few citations, I am talking handing in someone else's work as their own, forging medical notes, copying word for word from websites...
Is this getting worse?
Wow, when did you semester start? Is this the fall semester?
I had four students (two groups of two) in my last summer class who had a friend send them their paper, and then just used a thesaurus on every third noun. They even handed their papers in together, so that I read one after the other.
I haven't encountered anything quite so egregious before, but I'm teaching a different student population now than I was before, and they're much less prepared overall than my previous students were. They also mostly come from countries where the academic culture is... well, different, at least outside the most elite institutions. The occasional local students I get don't seem any less prepared or more prone to flagrant cheating than my local students at other institutions. So, in my case, I'm more inclined to attribute it to a combination of general unpreparedness + language problems + the compressed summer course timeframe than anything else.
But maybe I'm being too generous? Maybe there really is an upward trend in cheating. If so, I'd imagine it's driven primarily by the increased ease of doing so.
I thought this was going to be about non-prescription glasses sold at the local pharmacy.
M.
Quote from: mamselle on August 12, 2019, 03:27:52 PM
I thought this was going to be about non-prescription glasses sold at the local pharmacy.
M.
So did I. And leading to the question of whether they are helpful in making one look more academic.
Well, to the extent that they reduce squinting and keep me from misreading things out loud that don't say what I thought they said without the glasses (I'm up to 2.75 now) I suppose they add an academic aura about my person rather than letting me subtract from it.
But the bookbags and the 4" archival magnifying glass that are set out on my desk when I"m in the stacks do that already...I think.
M.
I was an undergrad in well... a Central European country (the most eastern part of the EU). It was actually 10 - 12 years ago and it was practically obvious that in every small group of students there was someone who cheated at least once during a given course. Why? There was no good practice in educating students why it was incorrect. No prevention. Higher education was (and still is) free and basically everyone wanted to have a degree believing that it would give them an advantage on the job market. So many of my peers were ready to study pretty much anything to get any degree, and so many of them didn't really care about what they were studying.
I remember an extreme example when I was a first year and I was preparing for a tough exam in Maths. Maths was always my Achilles heel, but I worked really hard to master it and to get an A grade. The examiner even gave me a second chance to improve my grade from B. At the same time there were some students who just 'hired' someone to solve the problems for them, outside the lecture hall. One of my colleagues who barely attended the tutorial classes smuggled his cell phone to the exam, sent a photo of the problems to such a hired guy, got the solutions back after one hour and copied them on his sheet of paper, getting a B afterwards. For ~100 USD... Ridiculous.
I actually doubt that much changed since then, and probably there still is 10% of cheaters eventually graduating and getting their degrees.
Cheating undermines the academic process, but we all know it happens. Devoting increasing resources to making sure that no students ever cheat means distorting the teaching process, and sometimes giving assignments that are not such good indicators of understanding, because they are harder to cheat on. I still come down hard on cheaters, but I've come to be more stoic about it.
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 06:54:48 AM
Cheating undermines the academic process, but we all know it happens. Devoting increasing resources to making sure that no students ever cheat means distorting the teaching process, and sometimes giving assignments that are not such good indicators of understanding, because they are harder to cheat on. I still come down hard on cheaters, but I've come to be more stoic about it.
And if you devote your resources to it, you'll likely be doing it without enough support.
Would this be a hijack if I mention the 'A' word? Probably...
I know nothing about the stresses and strains of climbing the ladder to tenure, but I can tell you this: higher education is neglecting the discipline and control of cheating anytime it has faculty who can be fired at any time for no reason, or any reason not required to be divulged. Individual chairs or deans may do their best to mitigate the structural flaw that creates this situation, but the situation is there.
Quote from: Hibush on August 12, 2019, 03:41:41 PM
Quote from: mamselle on August 12, 2019, 03:27:52 PM
I thought this was going to be about non-prescription glasses sold at the local pharmacy.
M.
So did I. And leading to the question of whether they are helpful in making one look more academic.
Well, they definitely help you to fit in when you work at a library. But if you wear bifocal contact lenses (reading prescription in one eye, distance in the other) they don't work too well for reading.
I'm now looking for a pair of vintage-era frames with 2.75 diopter lenses, since my charcter's faux gold framed cheaters broke.
That's the other problem with cheaters, of course.
They're cheaply made and break along predictable fault lines....
M.
Quote from: apl68 on August 13, 2019, 08:35:12 AM
Quote from: Hibush on August 12, 2019, 03:41:41 PM
Quote from: mamselle on August 12, 2019, 03:27:52 PM
I thought this was going to be about non-prescription glasses sold at the local pharmacy.
M.
So did I. And leading to the question of whether they are helpful in making one look more academic.
Well, they definitely help you to fit in when you work at a library. But if you wear bifocal contact lenses (reading prescription in one eye, distance in the other) they don't work too well for reading.
Hey you two...isn't Wheel of Fortune coming on right about now?
Quote from: downer on August 12, 2019, 02:35:53 PM
Wow, when did you semester start? Is this the fall semester?
We have summer semesters. I thought most places had some summer semesters? It's a compressed term, half the weeks but twice the hours per week...
Yes, most schools have some sort of summer academic session, but usually not called a "semester," unless its part of the mandatory curriculum.
In any case, we've either seen a rise in cheating or more willingness to report it....as far as my classes go, there's been pretty consistent cheating, but its more prevalent on minor assignments that they think "don't matter" ("so I might as well cheat").
Quote from: pedanticromantic on August 13, 2019, 10:08:51 AM
Quote from: downer on August 12, 2019, 02:35:53 PM
Wow, when did you semester start? Is this the fall semester?
We have summer semesters. I thought most places had some summer semesters? It's a compressed term, half the weeks but twice the hours per week...
I'm used to the terminology of "Summer Session." I also see it just called an "8-week" or a "5-week."
I suspect that students are more likely to try cheating in the summers because it is summer -- it feels less serious, and I also know quite a few professors don't bother to try fitting 15 weeks worth of work into the 8 weeks, the 5 weeks or even the 3 weeks. They just do a "lite" version of the course. That adds to the sense that it is a bit of a joke.
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 12:32:56 PM
I suspect that students are more likely to try cheating in the summers because it is summer -- it feels less serious, and I also know quite a few professors don't bother to try fitting 15 weeks worth of work into the 8 weeks, the 5 weeks or even the 3 weeks. They just do a "lite" version of the course. That adds to the sense that it is a bit of a joke.
I never got that memo. Actually, I think it might be harder for me to redesign the course so that it's "lite" and we still manage to fill our six hours a week.
My students are almost broken at this point. But, by Bog, they've learned
something. At least one thing. And they're not doing poorly, more's the wonder!
Quote from: mahagonny on August 13, 2019, 08:19:38 AM
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 06:54:48 AM
Cheating undermines the academic process, but we all know it happens. Devoting increasing resources to making sure that no students ever cheat means distorting the teaching process, and sometimes giving assignments that are not such good indicators of understanding, because they are harder to cheat on. I still come down hard on cheaters, but I've come to be more stoic about it.
And if you devote your resources to it, you'll likely be doing it without enough support.
Would this be a hijack if I mention the 'A' word? Probably...
I know nothing about the stresses and strains of climbing the ladder to tenure, but I can tell you this: higher education is neglecting the discipline and control of cheating anytime it has faculty who can be fired at any time for no reason, or any reason not required to be divulged. Individual chairs or deans may do their best to mitigate the structural flaw that creates this situation, but the situation is there.
My experience is different. The question in my mind remains whether the institution has standards or is just collecting money for checking boxes. The mere presence of part-time folks on short-term contracts is not the same as not having standards.
I had the most support for enforcing academic norms when I was an adjunct at an open-enrollment community college that was free to residents of the county. That administration wanted the education we were providing to mean something so they were very supportive of professors who imposed penalties for cheating. I got a kudos from the VP of Academic Affairs for reporting cheating to the appropriate committee. Most classes were being taught by part-time folks on term-by-term contracts because that institution had such significant term-by-term enrollment fluctuation and a tight budget. The ways to be on the adjunct "no more contracts" list for student cheating were to look the other way and take no steps to help students do the right thing.
I had substantial support when I was full-time non-TT at a regional comprehensive. When a couple students filed complaints against me for enforcing rules preventing plagiarism, the dean's office took the evidence and worked through the process so I could focus on teaching. The dean's office even gave me words of encouragement that I was doing the right thing because the students were in the wrong.
The place where I had the least support when I was a tenure-track professor where tuition, fees, room, and board was more than the surrounding community's median household income. Even the most blatant cheating with the starkest evidence resulted in the grade penalties being overturned every time upon student appeal to the academic standards committee. Following the syllabus and the student handbook meant I was out of line because <retention and graduation>.
I got those practices changed when I became an administrator to hold the line on our degrees meaning something. We did not offer new contracts to a couple people who were reported to continue to have low standards, even after being officially warned in writing with concrete actions to take, and offered those part-time positions to people who would do the job including upholding academic standards.
Fear of being fired for doing the job indicates a seriously dysfunctional place from which one should be attempting to flee.
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 12:32:56 PM
Quote from: pedanticromantic on August 13, 2019, 10:08:51 AM
Quote from: downer on August 12, 2019, 02:35:53 PM
Wow, when did you semester start? Is this the fall semester?
We have summer semesters. I thought most places had some summer semesters? It's a compressed term, half the weeks but twice the hours per week...
I'm used to the terminology of "Summer Session." I also see it just called an "8-week" or a "5-week."
I suspect that students are more likely to try cheating in the summers because it is summer -- it feels less serious, and I also know quite a few professors don't bother to try fitting 15 weeks worth of work into the 8 weeks, the 5 weeks or even the 3 weeks. They just do a "lite" version of the course. That adds to the sense that it is a bit of a joke.
It's been this whole year that I'm seeing it. And I definitely don't dumb things down or do a lite version of the course in summer.
Quote from: polly_mer on August 14, 2019, 05:07:31 AM
I got those practices changed when I became an administrator to hold the line on our degrees meaning something. We did not offer new contracts to a couple people who were reported to continue to have low standards, even after being officially warned in writing with concrete actions to take, and offered those part-time positions to people who would do the job including upholding academic standards.
I'm wondering if the severity of penalties has an impact? I'm reminded of countries that have the death penalty (ahem) and yet do not have lower crime rates, for instance... does the severity of academic punishment reduce cheating?
FWIW, my school is weak in penalty in my opinion, often just giving them zero on the assignment, or at most putting it on their academic record.
Quote from: pedanticromantic on August 14, 2019, 06:26:50 AM
FWIW, my school is weak in penalty in my opinion, often just giving them zero on the assignment, or at most putting it on their academic record.
I find that students cheat for a lot of different reasons. Some do it because they're lazy and have been doing it all their academic careers. Some do it because they underestimate the work it'll take then panic as the due date nears. Some cheat because, as was pointed out above, "this assignment doesn't matter" or that "nobody cares (because none of this matters)." I see a lot of quiz copying, and I catch it with multiple copies of a quiz. Then I can make a general announcement to the class that this'll get you sent to the Dean. Less frequently I see out-and-out copy-and-paste jobs, and those get sent to the Dean. Faculty here aren't allowed to adjudicate plagiarism cases -- they get sent to the appropriate office. They say this is to standardize punishment and to centralize the list of cheating students. Here, a 2nd offence yields an F and community service, 3rd is expulsion.
All this to answer your question, I don't think students are thinking of punishment when they cheat. Someone on the Old Fora taught me that a combination of "I'm watching you" and "this is why this material/assignment is important" can be the antidote for a cheating class.
Quote from: polly_mer on August 14, 2019, 05:07:31 AM
Quote from: mahagonny on August 13, 2019, 08:19:38 AM
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 06:54:48 AM
Cheating undermines the academic process, but we all know it happens. Devoting increasing resources to making sure that no students ever cheat means distorting the teaching process, and sometimes giving assignments that are not such good indicators of understanding, because they are harder to cheat on. I still come down hard on cheaters, but I've come to be more stoic about it.
And if you devote your resources to it, you'll likely be doing it without enough support.
Would this be a hijack if I mention the 'A' word? Probably...
I know nothing about the stresses and strains of climbing the ladder to tenure, but I can tell you this: higher education is neglecting the discipline and control of cheating anytime it has faculty who can be fired at any time for no reason, or any reason not required to be divulged. Individual chairs or deans may do their best to mitigate the structural flaw that creates this situation, but the situation is there.
My experience is different. The question in my mind remains whether the institution has standards or is just collecting money for checking boxes. The mere presence of part-time folks on short-term contracts is not the same as not having standards.
I had the most support for enforcing academic norms when I was an adjunct at an open-enrollment community college that was free to residents of the county. That administration wanted the education we were providing to mean something so they were very supportive of professors who imposed penalties for cheating. I got a kudos from the VP of Academic Affairs for reporting cheating to the appropriate committee. Most classes were being taught by part-time folks on term-by-term contracts because that institution had such significant term-by-term enrollment fluctuation and a tight budget. The ways to be on the adjunct "no more contracts" list for student cheating were to look the other way and take no steps to help students do the right thing.
I had substantial support when I was full-time non-TT at a regional comprehensive. When a couple students filed complaints against me for enforcing rules preventing plagiarism, the dean's office took the evidence and worked through the process so I could focus on teaching. The dean's office even gave me words of encouragement that I was doing the right thing because the students were in the wrong.
The place where I had the least support when I was a tenure-track professor where tuition, fees, room, and board was more than the surrounding community's median household income. Even the most blatant cheating with the starkest evidence resulted in the grade penalties being overturned every time upon student appeal to the academic standards committee. Following the syllabus and the student handbook meant I was out of line because <retention and graduation>.
I got those practices changed when I became an administrator to hold the line on our degrees meaning something. We did not offer new contracts to a couple people who were reported to continue to have low standards, even after being officially warned in writing with concrete actions to take, and offered those part-time positions to people who would do the job including upholding academic standards.
Fear of being fired for doing the job indicates a seriously dysfunctional place from which one should be attempting to flee.
That is quite a plan. Get the outsiders, the people who get the worst of your stingy practices, to save higher ed from ruining itself.
Quote from: polly_mer on August 14, 2019, 05:07:31 AM
Quote from: mahagonny on August 13, 2019, 08:19:38 AM
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 06:54:48 AM
Cheating undermines the academic process, but we all know it happens. Devoting increasing resources to making sure that no students ever cheat means distorting the teaching process, and sometimes giving assignments that are not such good indicators of understanding, because they are harder to cheat on. I still come down hard on cheaters, but I've come to be more stoic about it.
And if you devote your resources to it, you'll likely be doing it without enough support.
Would this be a hijack if I mention the 'A' word? Probably...
I know nothing about the stresses and strains of climbing the ladder to tenure, but I can tell you this: higher education is neglecting the discipline and control of cheating anytime it has faculty who can be fired at any time for no reason, or any reason not required to be divulged. Individual chairs or deans may do their best to mitigate the structural flaw that creates this situation, but the situation is there.
My experience is different. The question in my mind remains whether the institution has standards or is just collecting money for checking boxes. The mere presence of part-time folks on short-term contracts is not the same as not having standards.
I had the most support for enforcing academic norms when I was an adjunct at an open-enrollment community college that was free to residents of the county. That administration wanted the education we were providing to mean something so they were very supportive of professors who imposed penalties for cheating. I got a kudos from the VP of Academic Affairs for reporting cheating to the appropriate committee. Most classes were being taught by part-time folks on term-by-term contracts because that institution had such significant term-by-term enrollment fluctuation and a tight budget. The ways to be on the adjunct "no more contracts" list for student cheating were to look the other way and take no steps to help students do the right thing.
I had substantial support when I was full-time non-TT at a regional comprehensive. When a couple students filed complaints against me for enforcing rules preventing plagiarism, the dean's office took the evidence and worked through the process so I could focus on teaching. The dean's office even gave me words of encouragement that I was doing the right thing because the students were in the wrong.
The place where I had the least support when I was a tenure-track professor where tuition, fees, room, and board was more than the surrounding community's median household income. Even the most blatant cheating with the starkest evidence resulted in the grade penalties being overturned every time upon student appeal to the academic standards committee. Following the syllabus and the student handbook meant I was out of line because <retention and graduation>.
I got those practices changed when I became an administrator to hold the line on our degrees meaning something. We did not offer new contracts to a couple people who were reported to continue to have low standards, even after being officially warned in writing with concrete actions to take, and offered those part-time positions to people who would do the job including upholding academic standards.
Fear of being fired for doing the job indicates a seriously dysfunctional place from which one should be attempting to flee.
My experiences are also like polly_mer's. The large, relatively inexpensive state school had a clear system for handling suspected academic dishonesty. The gag-inducing-ly expensive private SLAC would tell us that we must be unclear in our expectations/not giving students enough support/we didn't want out students to succeed, even with documented blatant cheating. Because each student is
a walking tuition payment special and must be allowed every opportunity for
paying tuition until graduation success.
Quote from: the_geneticist on August 14, 2019, 09:50:57 AM
Quote from: polly_mer on August 14, 2019, 05:07:31 AM
Quote from: mahagonny on August 13, 2019, 08:19:38 AM
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 06:54:48 AM
Cheating undermines the academic process, but we all know it happens. Devoting increasing resources to making sure that no students ever cheat means distorting the teaching process, and sometimes giving assignments that are not such good indicators of understanding, because they are harder to cheat on. I still come down hard on cheaters, but I've come to be more stoic about it.
And if you devote your resources to it, you'll likely be doing it without enough support.
Would this be a hijack if I mention the 'A' word? Probably...
I know nothing about the stresses and strains of climbing the ladder to tenure, but I can tell you this: higher education is neglecting the discipline and control of cheating anytime it has faculty who can be fired at any time for no reason, or any reason not required to be divulged. Individual chairs or deans may do their best to mitigate the structural flaw that creates this situation, but the situation is there.
My experience is different. The question in my mind remains whether the institution has standards or is just collecting money for checking boxes. The mere presence of part-time folks on short-term contracts is not the same as not having standards.
I had the most support for enforcing academic norms when I was an adjunct at an open-enrollment community college that was free to residents of the county. That administration wanted the education we were providing to mean something so they were very supportive of professors who imposed penalties for cheating. I got a kudos from the VP of Academic Affairs for reporting cheating to the appropriate committee. Most classes were being taught by part-time folks on term-by-term contracts because that institution had such significant term-by-term enrollment fluctuation and a tight budget. The ways to be on the adjunct "no more contracts" list for student cheating were to look the other way and take no steps to help students do the right thing.
I had substantial support when I was full-time non-TT at a regional comprehensive. When a couple students filed complaints against me for enforcing rules preventing plagiarism, the dean's office took the evidence and worked through the process so I could focus on teaching. The dean's office even gave me words of encouragement that I was doing the right thing because the students were in the wrong.
The place where I had the least support when I was a tenure-track professor where tuition, fees, room, and board was more than the surrounding community's median household income. Even the most blatant cheating with the starkest evidence resulted in the grade penalties being overturned every time upon student appeal to the academic standards committee. Following the syllabus and the student handbook meant I was out of line because <retention and graduation>.
I got those practices changed when I became an administrator to hold the line on our degrees meaning something. We did not offer new contracts to a couple people who were reported to continue to have low standards, even after being officially warned in writing with concrete actions to take, and offered those part-time positions to people who would do the job including upholding academic standards.
Fear of being fired for doing the job indicates a seriously dysfunctional place from which one should be attempting to flee.
My experiences are also like polly_mer's. The large, relatively inexpensive state school had a clear system for handling suspected academic dishonesty. The gag-inducing-ly expensive private SLAC would tell us that we must be unclear in our expectations/not giving students enough support/we didn't want out students to succeed, even with documented blatant cheating. Because each student is a walking tuition payment special and must be allowed every opportunity for paying tuition until graduation success.
i certainly wouldn't quarrel with what you tell us your experiences have been. i wasn't identifying where neglect of the problem is the worst anyway. And I don't see you using the internet to throw a wet blanket on adjunct faculty's laudable efforts to have a voice, just cause for termination, a little standing in the community, decent pay etc.
Moderator Note: Edited to remove ad hominem.
Old Professor Outsmarts Cheating Students With New Tricks
https://cheezburger.com/9954053/old-professor-outsmarts-cheating-students-with-new-tricks
Agh. For the final papers in this into-level class, I gave students a choice between two articles not covered in class. They were to critically assess the text and explain either why they agree with the author, or why their critical assessment reaches a different conclusion.
Stu Dent's paper is a 1200-word chunk of the original article that's been wrung through a thesaurus.
Like... did she really think I wouldn't notice?
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on December 11, 2019, 08:00:21 PM
Like... did she really think I wouldn't notice?
Yes. They barely read anything and remember very little of what they read, so they're sure we have the same experience. There's seldom any awareness on their parts that we bring a very different experience to the same class as they do.
For no particular reason, this brings up the memory of one plagiarist. On the first skim of the paper, I was impressed because I get papers on this topic all the time and this was a different take. However, this particular plagiarist submitted an electronic paper with the hyperlinks still embedded. Following the hyperlinks led to other parts of the plagiarized website with zero references in the bibliography to any part of that particular website. When I called the student on it, she insisted that I had no evidence that she plagiarized. Her father called me and insisted that I had no evidence the student plagiarized. The dean, however, thought that was a slam dunk on plagiarism for unique wording that would appear only on this particular website.
Still on the question of do they think we won't notice, I remember a math class in which everyone bombed the first test so hard that I made them take it back and redo it as a take-home exam because they had to master this material before we went on. I told them not to consult each other, but fully expected some group discussion on problems and didn't really care as long as people learned enough to go forward.
However, one student submitted a redone item that was word-for-word a different student's minor (and unique) error along with word-for-word my comment on the error. Think along the lines of "This is a six-sided object with <properties>. Oops, miscount on this seven-sided object." Again, the department chair thought this was a clear example of cheating while both students swore up and down that they didn't consult and this was just a coincidence.
Are there more cheaters lately? I can't speak for everywhere, but anecdotally, the numbers have risen since My University started offering athletic scholarships in a certain sport. One colleague had to report half a class (not necessarily all athletes) for plagiarism--a career record. I only had one in my class, but it was a doozy--3/4 of the paper a lightly edited copy of an essay offered on one of those "homework help" sites. The "editing" caused some stupid errors that tipped me off. I suspect this student has some serious learning disability, though, and probably hasn't done any of his own work all semester. His final exam, which included an "open book" section, was completely random. If his work is being done for him by athletic tutors, this isn't going to end well.
Cheaters. I sometimes have those. At least a cheater is motivated enough to cheat.
Let me tell you another story.
I just wrapped up a class where only 20% of them passed. Yes, only 20%.
For the students that even bothered to come in and take the final exam, half of those students didn't even have the "cheat sheet" that they're allowed to use. They all know about it, they've been allowed them all semester for every exam, and the cheat sheets are very permissive (you get an entire full-sized sheet of paper to put whatever you want on it).
But were all of these students even motivated enough to make an "authorized and approved" cheat sheet? NO.
I don't know if behaviors like this earmarks somebody as stupid, hopelessly apathetic, or a combination of the two. But it certainly does a good job identifying who belongs in college and who does not.
Quote from: 0susanna on December 12, 2019, 09:23:10 AM
Are there more cheaters lately? I can't speak for everywhere, but anecdotally, the numbers have risen since My University started offering athletic scholarships in a certain sport. One colleague had to report half a class (not necessarily all athletes) for plagiarism--a career record. I only had one in my class, but it was a doozy--3/4 of the paper a lightly edited copy of an essay offered on one of those "homework help" sites. The "editing" caused some stupid errors that tipped me off. I suspect this student has some serious learning disability, though, and probably hasn't done any of his own work all semester. His final exam, which included an "open book" section, was completely random. If his work is being done for him by athletic tutors, this isn't going to end well.
Probably. I doubt there will be anything better than anecdotal evidence. We have had the internet for decades now and there are plenty of inventives for students to cheat, along with a surprising number of places that are reluctant to do a whole lot when students get caught, presumably because of the students=customers mentality. Even when there is a mechanism to deal with cheating, it is often onerous for the professor to engage with it, and it is much easier to give the student a low grade but not involve any that official apparatus.
Now there are websites like this one https://www.advancedwriters.com/inquiry.html which are probably very tempting for students who need a degree but can't do the work themselves.
A parent of a current student just bragged on Facebook about writing their child's paper for my class. WTF?
Quote from: Aster on December 12, 2019, 10:23:09 AM
For the students that even bothered to come in and take the final exam, half of those students didn't even have the "cheat sheet" that they're allowed to use. They all know about it, they've been allowed them all semester for every exam, and the cheat sheets are very permissive (you get an entire full-sized sheet of paper to put whatever you want on it).
I used to love these in high school, although we never got a full page. It's amazing what one can get on a 4x6 index card. To be honest, I'm amazed that professors are still allowed to do this. It's not "racist" somehow?
I teach a rather technical subject (I mean one with problems and clear right and wrong answers), and the seats are packed too closely together for me to separate the students for exams. But it doesn't matter. Some of them may well be peering at the exam of their neighbor and copying the answer. But the more fool they — because their neighbor has no idea what the answer is either! Extensive experience has proven! I suspect that trying to copy from their neighbor actually lowers the grades in that class.
Quote from: writingprof on December 12, 2019, 11:31:24 AM
Quote from: Aster on December 12, 2019, 10:23:09 AM
For the students that even bothered to come in and take the final exam, half of those students didn't even have the "cheat sheet" that they're allowed to use. They all know about it, they've been allowed them all semester for every exam, and the cheat sheets are very permissive (you get an entire full-sized sheet of paper to put whatever you want on it).
I used to love these in high school, although we never got a full page. It's amazing what one can get on a 4x6 index card. To be honest, I'm amazed that professors are still allowed to do this. It's not "racist" somehow?
I can't even imagine what you mean by that. Allowing students to make an exam cheat sheet is actually an excellent way to get (some of) them to engage with the material while they try to decide what to put on the sheet. The best students don't need it, the worst students don't know what to do with it, and the B and C students are frequently helped by the process of making it. Why on earth woukd it be "racist"?
Allowing a cheat sheet also allows me to give exams that ask questions higher up Bloom's Taxonomy. I'm much more interested in whether students can figure out how to apply a formula or idea, than in whether they can memorize something that they could google in two seconds if they were a working professional in my area.
I'm also in favor of letting students use a notecard on exams for the reasons that Onthefringe mentions. It doesn't really do much to the overall exam average, but it seems to reduce the amount of whining that I hear from students in the run-up to the exam. (I used to get an average of 4-5 unprofessional "panic emails" from students in the lead-up to the final exam. After I started allowing a notecard, that dropped to 0-1).
Quote from: Antiphon1 on December 12, 2019, 11:08:57 AM
A parent of a current student just bragged on Facebook about writing their child's paper for my class. WTF?
Ooof. Yikes. It sounds like the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.
Just reported a cheater who used their phone for the entire exam. I watched them stare at the phone while simultaneously writing on the exam. (I did not interrupt since I did not want to cause a disturbance for the rest of the class taking the Final).
After the exam, good ole google let me find the 100% word-for-word sources that the student transcribed onto their exam...including material that was not covered in this class at all! I submitted the exam and copies of the sources used as part of my report of the incident.
Stu Dent's excuse...they didn't know anything about any websites and the reason they held the phone was that their friend kept texting. LOL! (BTW...Just touching the phone is a violation of the policy...Stu Dent's lie was a confession!)
Fantasy Response 1:
Wow! You are sooooooo multi-talented. You are able to psychically channel websites even while being distracted by your phone! I am soooooooooo sorry that I made such a terrible error. Here's your A!
Fantasy Response 2:
HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaHahahahahahahahahaha
Real Response:
This violation of the Academic Integrity Policy has been reported. The process is outlined in the student handbook. This matter is closed.
Quote from: pepsi_alum on December 12, 2019, 04:29:22 PM
Quote from: Antiphon1 on December 12, 2019, 11:08:57 AM
A parent of a current student just bragged on Facebook about writing their child's paper for my class. WTF?
Ooof. Yikes. It sounds like the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.
Yep. Too bad Mom should have followed the assignment instructions. I'm gearing up for a grade appeal.
Quote from: Antiphon1 on December 13, 2019, 06:08:26 AM
Quote from: pepsi_alum on December 12, 2019, 04:29:22 PM
Quote from: Antiphon1 on December 12, 2019, 11:08:57 AM
A parent of a current student just bragged on Facebook about writing their child's paper for my class. WTF?
Ooof. Yikes. It sounds like the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.
Yep. Too bad Mom should have followed the assignment instructions. I'm gearing up for a grade appeal.
Had this experience early in the semester. A student complained about his B+ on the assignment to me, told me I was being too subjective in my grading, and that I "just can't tell from looking at a thesis that it's a bad one." This from a 25yo graduating senior in a first-year class. So I sent him to the program director, who kindly told him that his prof was being generous with a B+. The kid's response was that his mom "helped." The program director sussed out that the mom had indeed written it, and since didn't understand the assignment, was lucky to escape without further punishment. The whole situation was weird from start to finish.
Quote from: Antiphon1 on December 13, 2019, 06:08:26 AM
Quote from: pepsi_alum on December 12, 2019, 04:29:22 PM
Quote from: Antiphon1 on December 12, 2019, 11:08:57 AM
A parent of a current student just bragged on Facebook about writing their child's paper for my class. WTF?
Ooof. Yikes. It sounds like the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.
Yep. Too bad Mom should have followed the assignment instructions. I'm gearing up for a grade appeal.
I am pleased that at least someone in the student's household is capable/willing to complete a writing assignment. I feel bad that Mom can't get a grade. Maybe she could get a sticker on student's paper.
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on August 12, 2019, 02:37:35 PM
I had four students (two groups of two) in my last summer class who had a friend send them their paper, and then just used a thesaurus on every third noun.
There are websites that do this automatically--paste in some text, hit a button, and get back an oddly-phrased but undetectable plagiarized essay. A not-very-technical colleague just sent me two such essays his students had submitted and an hour of Google searches gave me nothing.
I am not sure what the answer is, except to craft assignments where the students are required to create something so specific that there is nothing they could plagiarize from.
Quote from: larryc on December 14, 2019, 04:00:12 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on August 12, 2019, 02:37:35 PM
I had four students (two groups of two) in my last summer class who had a friend send them their paper, and then just used a thesaurus on every third noun.
There are websites that do this automatically--paste in some text, hit a button, and get back an oddly-phrased but undetectable plagiarized essay. A not-very-technical colleague just sent me two such essays his students had submitted and an hour of Google searches gave me nothing.
I am not sure what the answer is, except to craft assignments where the students are required to create something so specific that there is nothing they could plagiarize from.
My department has seen several of these auto-paraphrased papers recently. I expect that a desperate student might resort to such measures no matter how plagiarism-proof the assignment might be ("I haven't even read The Big Novel, so I have no idea how to do this creative thing. I guess I'll just run SparkNotes through a paraphraser..."), but crafty assignments do help.
Quote from: larryc on December 14, 2019, 04:00:12 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on August 12, 2019, 02:37:35 PM
I had four students (two groups of two) in my last summer class who had a friend send them their paper, and then just used a thesaurus on every third noun.
There are websites that do this automatically--paste in some text, hit a button, and get back an oddly-phrased but undetectable plagiarized essay. A not-very-technical colleague just sent me two such essays his students had submitted and an hour of Google searches gave me nothing.
I used to record a D for such papers as being non-college-level work. The advice years ago on the fora was to have a rubric with categories, but without weighting for categories. When I checked the lowest box in every point for a certain category, like readability, I then had a fully justified overall D.
Students who only needed a general education requirement tended to be OK with that. Students who objected in person tended to end up giving enough information that I could then record the F for plagiarism.
Quote from: LetsGetCooking on December 13, 2019, 05:10:59 AM
....
Real Response:
This violation of the Academic Integrity Policy has been reported. The process is outlined in the student handbook. This matter is closed.
Thanks for sharing! Am wondering what discipline/decision was taken by the administration? Did you follow up and find out?
Quote from: mahagonny on August 13, 2019, 08:19:38 AM
Quote from: downer on August 13, 2019, 06:54:48 AM
.....but I can tell you this: higher education is neglecting the discipline and control of cheating anytime it has faculty who can be fired at any time for no reason, or any reason not required to be divulged. Individual chairs or deans may do their best to mitigate the structural flaw that creates this situation, but the situation is there.
I agree that the administration at most institutions are not disciplining students when violations are reported. Do you have any personal experience with reporting instances that are not disciplined appropriately?
Quote from: polly_mer on August 14, 2019, 05:07:31 AM
......
The place where I had the least support when I was a tenure-track professor where tuition, fees, room, and board was more than the surrounding community's median household income. Even the most blatant cheating with the starkest evidence resulted in the grade penalties being overturned every time upon student appeal to the academic standards committee. Following the syllabus and the student handbook meant I was out of line because <retention and graduation>.
I got those practices changed when I became an administrator to hold the line on our degrees meaning something. We did not offer new contracts to a couple people who were reported to continue to have low standards, even after being officially warned in writing with concrete actions to take, and offered those part-time positions to people who would do the job including upholding academic standards.
Fear of being fired for doing the job indicates a seriously dysfunctional place from which one should be attempting to flee.
I agree that the administration at most institutions are not disciplining students when violations are reported. Do you have any personal experience with reporting instances that are not disciplined appropriately?
I teach a writing-intensive course in a department in which writing is usually bullet points. I am fully on-board with the difference between intentional and unintentional plagiarism. I am also fully aware of the lack of writing skills for most students, at least in my student population. I tell them that I am interested in your ideas, not your run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, or sentence fragments. However, if I can't understand what you are trying to say, that's a problem.
Regardless of my explanation of leniency on actual writing skill, I have encountered blatant, intentional plagiarism at least once per term. It galls me. I have reported it...nothing done. Exam cheating issues were dutifully reported under a previous structure, and nothing was ever done. Students (yes, students) then walked into the president's office of my very small upper division school, and he claimed to have never been apprised of these issues. What?
So now, cheating prevention is a priority. A new process was put in place for exam cheating and for plagiarism, and I followed it. I even sent a follow up message about the blatant plagiarism to the one-person academic affairs office to find out when I would be brought in, per the policy. Said policy also requires an investigative follow through within 5 to 7 days of the faculty member reporting it. It's been four weeks, and nothing.
I'm so freaking frustrated.
Quote from: 0susanna on December 14, 2019, 06:45:07 PM
Quote from: larryc on December 14, 2019, 04:00:12 PM
Quote from: Parasaurolophus on August 12, 2019, 02:37:35 PM
I had four students (two groups of two) in my last summer class who had a friend send them their paper, and then just used a thesaurus on every third noun.
There are websites that do this automatically--paste in some text, hit a button, and get back an oddly-phrased but undetectable plagiarized essay. A not-very-technical colleague just sent me two such essays his students had submitted and an hour of Google searches gave me nothing.
I am not sure what the answer is, except to craft assignments where the students are required to create something so specific that there is nothing they could plagiarize from.
My department has seen several of these auto-paraphrased papers recently. I expect that a desperate student might resort to such measures no matter how plagiarism-proof the assignment might be ("I haven't even read The Big Novel, so I have no idea how to do this creative thing. I guess I'll just run SparkNotes through a paraphraser..."), but crafty assignments do help.
I had a student do that in my course, and I reported it as blatant plagiarism. Nothing was done to the student at all, except for a zero on the assignment. She barely passed my class; however, I knew she would eventually fail out. Unfortunately, she is an ELL student who really struggles with reading and writing in English. However, it's for the best considering that my area requires understanding the written word or people die. Literally.
Hi xerprofrn,
I have recently been following up on students that plagiarized that I had previously reported to the dean of student services. I have been shocked to learn that very little is done to discipline students who have a proven instance of plagiarism. In most cases, the student was just put on a list. In a few cases where the I reported the student THREE separate times in the same class, and then followed up for weeks with the dean just to get an email response, the student was not disciplined except for threatening more serious discipline in the future. One student was going to fail the course because of his multiple zero grades in the class, so the dean backdated his withdrawal so he could get a W. I feel like the administrations I work for (I'm an adjunct at three community colleges) are purposely looking away to avoid real discipline for plagiarism. It might even be a administrative policy and I'm very concerned.
Quote from: collegeprof19 on January 07, 2020, 02:17:43 PM
Hi xerprofrn,
I have recently been following up on students that plagiarized that I had previously reported to the dean of student services. I have been shocked to learn that very little is done to discipline students who have a proven instance of plagiarism. In most cases, the student was just put on a list. In a few cases where the I reported the student THREE separate times in the same class, and then followed up for weeks with the dean just to get an email response, the student was not disciplined except for threatening more serious discipline in the future. One student was going to fail the course because of his multiple zero grades in the class, so the dean backdated his withdrawal so he could get a W. I feel like the administrations I work for (I'm an adjunct at three community colleges) are purposely looking away to avoid real discipline for plagiarism. It might even be a administrative policy and I'm very concerned.
In theory, the idea here is that a first offense can result in a zero on the assignment, but it gets reported so that more serious consequences can be applied for repeated plagiarism. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it sounds like these policies are being misapplied in this case.
I guess that makes me incredibly naive, but I could not, ever, ever, imagine taking the risk of cheating. I just can't. I have never done so. Have never considered doing so. I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror if my success was not mine...I prefer failing than cheating. Wow.
When I will teach, I will need to pay attention to that, I had not realized it was so common...
Yeah, college cheating is rampant and widespread.
https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/02/23/9-in-10-students-admit-to-cheating-in-college-suspect-faculty-do-the-same.aspx
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cheating-in-college-where_b_4826136
https://www.voanews.com/student-union/how-many-college-students-admit-cheating
Quote from: Caracal on January 08, 2020, 09:20:33 AM
Quote from: collegeprof19 on January 07, 2020, 02:17:43 PM
Hi xerprofrn,
I have recently been following up on students that plagiarized that I had previously reported to the dean of student services. I have been shocked to learn that very little is done to discipline students who have a proven instance of plagiarism. In most cases, the student was just put on a list. In a few cases where the I reported the student THREE separate times in the same class, and then followed up for weeks with the dean just to get an email response, the student was not disciplined except for threatening more serious discipline in the future. One student was going to fail the course because of his multiple zero grades in the class, so the dean backdated his withdrawal so he could get a W. I feel like the administrations I work for (I'm an adjunct at three community colleges) are purposely looking away to avoid real discipline for plagiarism. It might even be a administrative policy and I'm very concerned.
In theory, the idea here is that a first offense can result in a zero on the assignment, but it gets reported so that more serious consequences can be applied for repeated plagiarism. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it sounds like these policies are being misapplied in this case.
It's maddening when this happens, but my philosophy is that the issue is really between the student and university, not the student and me. That is, the college/university owns the problem, not me.
A few years ago, I was pressured into withdrawing an open/shut cheating case because the student's helicopter mom was revving up and my then-department head wasn't willing to invest the time into dealing with her "over such a low-stakes assignment" (40 points out of 1,000). I was enraged and it led me to lose confidence in that department head. The next semester, the student went on to cause more problems in other classes. But by then, it was my department head's problem to deal with, not mine. The student left the university at the end of that semester with mostly failing grades and without a degree. I like to think that the student might have gotten their wake-up call a semester earlier if my AI charges had been allowed to stick, but things ultimately still worked out. The department head stepped down about a year later for unrelated reasons, though I do have it on good authority that a lot of other faculty found this person "conflict avoidant."
Thanks for sharing, pepsi_alum. While I agree that it makes sense to leave this to the university to tend to, I am also feeling outraged by the lack of action. Conflict avoidant is a perfect way to describe two of the administrations I work for. It absolutely makes sense because there is no incentive to dive in and solve conflicts, but then again, isn't managing conflict the job of the dean of student services? Ugh. I am looking ahead and seeing that slowly the integrity of education itself is being degraded by this lack of action.
Right now I am just collecting stories, in order to figure out if these instances are merely anecdotal or more widespread across universities. Don't know how many I have to hear before I decide that real investigation needs to be done.
Thanks for your story.
See: "Black Binders of. Doom, Anthroid" on the old Forum.....
M.
Quote from: Caracal on January 08, 2020, 09:20:33 AM
Quote from: collegeprof19 on January 07, 2020, 02:17:43 PM
Hi xerprofrn,
I have recently been following up on students that plagiarized that I had previously reported to the dean of student services. I have been shocked to learn that very little is done to discipline students who have a proven instance of plagiarism. In most cases, the student was just put on a list. In a few cases where the I reported the student THREE separate times in the same class, and then followed up for weeks with the dean just to get an email response, the student was not disciplined except for threatening more serious discipline in the future. One student was going to fail the course because of his multiple zero grades in the class, so the dean backdated his withdrawal so he could get a W. I feel like the administrations I work for (I'm an adjunct at three community colleges) are purposely looking away to avoid real discipline for plagiarism. It might even be a administrative policy and I'm very concerned.
In theory, the idea here is that a first offense can result in a zero on the assignment, but it gets reported so that more serious consequences can be applied for repeated plagiarism. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it sounds like these policies are being misapplied in this case.
I completely agree that first offense should be a zero with subsequent offenses having harsher penalties. However, I can't even get the first damn offense on record when my admin doesn't follow its own policies!
Quote from: mamselle on January 11, 2020, 03:41:55 PM
See: "Black Binders of. Doom, Anthroid" on the old Forum.....
M.
This is the thread...
https://www.chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,34546.0.html
You have to go in a few pages to get the meeting details.
M.