Due to Covid-19 now I and most of my colleagues give takehome exams. In another department the professors noticed big time cheating: students posted the exam questions on Chegg, and turned in the answers received from there.
That department filed honor court charges.
Technicalities:
1) Chegg claims to cooperate with honor court investigations, if they are contacted by a dean, or higher up. That is, not if they are contacted by a professor.
2) Posted questions can be removed from Chegg as soon as the exam is over. So the cheaters must be caught asap.
3) The dean submits a screenshot of Chegg (to Chegg) which clearly shows the posted question, together with the professor's testimonial that that was really the exam question.
4) Then Chegg investigates.
Has anyone had experience with this process? My concerns:
a) I myself cannot contact Chegg.
b) Based on past experience, if a professor files an honor court case, his course evaluations will be low for several years in a row: he will be probably outed on some online forums, and even in subsequent years, this could affect his evaluations.
c) Given b) above, it is only worth filing an honor court case if the case is bulletproof, AND the dean is totally supportive.
d) I wonder whether deans in the current situation would be totally supportive.
Thank you
Presumably, you have take home exams which are easy to cheat on and difficult to detect cheating on? That isn't your fault obviously. But this semester is a mess, which will make trying to deal with this a mess if anybody is actually posting answers. Everyone from deans on down is dealing with all kinds of stuff.
Alternatively... you could just not go searching around on this site for your exam questions. I'm sure some are going to think that is a terrible abdication of our responsibilities, but unless you actually get some information that your questions are being posted, you really aren't required to go comb the internet. Frankly, this is just one way that students could be cheating. If they just send the questions and answers to their friends there's no way you'd ever be able to find out about it. I would leave the whole thing alone, and get this damn semester out of your life.
Once something is loose on the internet, it is there to stay.
Quote from: Caracal on April 27, 2020, 06:12:36 PM
Presumably, you have take home exams which are easy to cheat on and difficult to detect cheating on? That isn't your fault obviously. But this semester is a mess, which will make trying to deal with this a mess if anybody is actually posting answers. Everyone from deans on down is dealing with all kinds of stuff.
Alternatively... you could just not go searching around on this site for your exam questions. I'm sure some are going to think that is a terrible abdication of our responsibilities, but unless you actually get some information that your questions are being posted, you really aren't required to go comb the internet. Frankly, this is just one way that students could be cheating. If they just send the questions and answers to their friends there's no way you'd ever be able to find out about it. I would leave the whole thing alone, and get this damn semester out of your life.
It is an intro class, so it is relatively easy to cheat. It is actually me, who is bothered by this. It is easy to get info that my questions *are* being posted: google tells me when a question was posted on Chegg.
Quote from: centurion on April 29, 2020, 07:20:35 AM
Quote from: Caracal on April 27, 2020, 06:12:36 PM
Presumably, you have take home exams which are easy to cheat on and difficult to detect cheating on? That isn't your fault obviously. But this semester is a mess, which will make trying to deal with this a mess if anybody is actually posting answers. Everyone from deans on down is dealing with all kinds of stuff.
Alternatively... you could just not go searching around on this site for your exam questions. I'm sure some are going to think that is a terrible abdication of our responsibilities, but unless you actually get some information that your questions are being posted, you really aren't required to go comb the internet. Frankly, this is just one way that students could be cheating. If they just send the questions and answers to their friends there's no way you'd ever be able to find out about it. I would leave the whole thing alone, and get this damn semester out of your life.
It is an intro class, so it is relatively easy to cheat. It is actually me, who is bothered by this. It is easy to get info that my questions *are* being posted: google tells me when a question was posted on Chegg.
Who could be punished though? Is the idea that the company could track down the IP address of the person who posted the questions? Could it show the people who accessed them? Is this a multiple choice exam? If not, couldn't it be evidence of cheating if several students have all the same wrong answers, for example?
This is probably the wrong thing to think, but I just don't know if you want to spend your time, energy and capital taking something like this on right now. Administrators are people too, and they are all having to manage a whole raft of issues all while working from home in less than ideal circumstances. Heck, the same thing is probably true of whoever is supposed to be in charge of dealing with this kind of thing at Clegg. I imagine nobody is going to really enthusiastic about taking on a cheating issue with so many moving parts and murky components.
Cheating is terrible, if classes are online in the fall, you'll need to figure out ways to make this sort of thing harder to do and easier to spot. But, I'm just not sure you really want to try to do this now.
This will be the semester to forget.
I'm already trying to forget it.
Hold the line, Centurion.
My colleagues in the Engineering Department have detected high levels of cheating on exams, through Chegg. They now have somebody signed up for the "service", and are prosecuting all cases. At least 20% of one section have been caught cheating; who knows what the actual rate is. PM me if you want a full description of our collective Engineering response.
Obviously, these aren't multiple choice exams. Students are submitting identical solutions, usually wrong in the same ways. Apparently, knowledge of metric units on the part of the "experts" providing the solutions is leading to some odd mistakes.
We have had situations in the past when large chunks of a cohort have been caught cheating using a common system. It is an existential threat, and some kind of institutional response is essential. It doesn't matter how hard this semester has been; students have to master the material, or they cannot earn their degrees.
Quote from: dr_codex on April 29, 2020, 08:20:46 AM
Hold the line, Centurion.
My colleagues in the Engineering Department have detected high levels of cheating on exams, through Chegg. They now have somebody signed up for the "service", and are prosecuting all cases. At least 20% of one section have been caught cheating; who knows what the actual rate is. PM me if you want a full description of our collective Engineering response.
Obviously, these aren't multiple choice exams. Students are submitting identical solutions, usually wrong in the same ways. Apparently, knowledge of metric units on the part of the "experts" providing the solutions is leading to some odd mistakes.
We have had situations in the past when large chunks of a cohort have been caught cheating using a common system. It is an existential threat, and some kind of institutional response is essential. It doesn't matter how hard this semester has been; students have to master the material, or they cannot earn their degrees.
It does seem like if you find cheating, you should avoid having to go through the company. Take screenshots of the answers posted online and if you have students who give those same answers, including all the same wrong ones, that should be evidence enough. Then you can just follow the normal procedures with the students who cheated and not be asking deans to try to get some outside company to investigate.
I think it is the responsibility of faculty to create a teaching/learning environment that is fair for all students. That means designing assignments and exams that minimize the possibility of cheating and reporting (and penalizing) cheating when it is discovered. There have been many discussions on these boards regarding ways to design online exams to minimize cheating (randomized questions; randomized answer choices for multiple choice questions; time limits; not allowing students to re-visit questions they have already answered; not allowing students to see the correct answers immediately after they have completed the exam; etc). My own experience for an online GenEd course is that it is possible to have similar success rates for an online class as for a in-class exam, simply by making the questions less fact-based and more application-based. This makes the questions less google-able and also more relevant in the context of assessing what students have learned in the class.
One thing that has not yet been discussed is whether it is appropriate to set traps for cheating students. For example, you could create a question for which there is no correct answer. Post that question and a "solution" on Chegg yourself. Every student who uses the Chegg solution is then reported for academic misconduct. This has the unfortunate side affect that the non-cheating students may spend an innordinate amount of time trying to solve the unsolvable. If, however, it is the last question posed, and you have the exam set up such that students cannot go backwards, then that has an inherent time limitation and should not adversely impact the success of the non-cheating students. But, the question remains: is it ethical to set a trap for cheating students?
Quote from: Caracal on April 29, 2020, 08:38:32 AM
Quote from: dr_codex on April 29, 2020, 08:20:46 AM
Hold the line, Centurion.
My colleagues in the Engineering Department have detected high levels of cheating on exams, through Chegg. They now have somebody signed up for the "service", and are prosecuting all cases. At least 20% of one section have been caught cheating; who knows what the actual rate is. PM me if you want a full description of our collective Engineering response.
Obviously, these aren't multiple choice exams. Students are submitting identical solutions, usually wrong in the same ways. Apparently, knowledge of metric units on the part of the "experts" providing the solutions is leading to some odd mistakes.
We have had situations in the past when large chunks of a cohort have been caught cheating using a common system. It is an existential threat, and some kind of institutional response is essential. It doesn't matter how hard this semester has been; students have to master the material, or they cannot earn their degrees.
It does seem like if you find cheating, you should avoid having to go through the company. Take screenshots of the answers posted online and if you have students who give those same answers, including all the same wrong ones, that should be evidence enough. Then you can just follow the normal procedures with the students who cheated and not be asking deans to try to get some outside company to investigate.
But how would I identify the students who *used* those answers? As it is, it is impossible to perfectly identify them, because anyone can read Chegg. But Chegg can identify the student who *posted* the question.
Quote from: centurion on April 29, 2020, 11:58:23 AM
Quote from: Caracal on April 29, 2020, 08:38:32 AM
Quote from: dr_codex on April 29, 2020, 08:20:46 AM
Hold the line, Centurion.
My colleagues in the Engineering Department have detected high levels of cheating on exams, through Chegg. They now have somebody signed up for the "service", and are prosecuting all cases. At least 20% of one section have been caught cheating; who knows what the actual rate is. PM me if you want a full description of our collective Engineering response.
Obviously, these aren't multiple choice exams. Students are submitting identical solutions, usually wrong in the same ways. Apparently, knowledge of metric units on the part of the "experts" providing the solutions is leading to some odd mistakes.
We have had situations in the past when large chunks of a cohort have been caught cheating using a common system. It is an existential threat, and some kind of institutional response is essential. It doesn't matter how hard this semester has been; students have to master the material, or they cannot earn their degrees.
It does seem like if you find cheating, you should avoid having to go through the company. Take screenshots of the answers posted online and if you have students who give those same answers, including all the same wrong ones, that should be evidence enough. Then you can just follow the normal procedures with the students who cheated and not be asking deans to try to get some outside company to investigate.
But how would I identify the students who *used* those answers? As it is, it is impossible to perfectly identify them, because anyone can read Chegg. But Chegg can identify the student who *posted* the question.
Well, what sort of exams are these? Are they just multiple choice? Is there any requirement to show work? Unless the answers on Chegg are perfect, it seems like it would be pretty obvious if a bunch of students get all of the same answers wrong and also all have the same wrong answer?
Quote from: Caracal on April 29, 2020, 12:53:50 PM
Quote from: centurion on April 29, 2020, 11:58:23 AM
Quote from: Caracal on April 29, 2020, 08:38:32 AM
Quote from: dr_codex on April 29, 2020, 08:20:46 AM
Hold the line, Centurion.
My colleagues in the Engineering Department have detected high levels of cheating on exams, through Chegg. They now have somebody signed up for the "service", and are prosecuting all cases. At least 20% of one section have been caught cheating; who knows what the actual rate is. PM me if you want a full description of our collective Engineering response.
Obviously, these aren't multiple choice exams. Students are submitting identical solutions, usually wrong in the same ways. Apparently, knowledge of metric units on the part of the "experts" providing the solutions is leading to some odd mistakes.
We have had situations in the past when large chunks of a cohort have been caught cheating using a common system. It is an existential threat, and some kind of institutional response is essential. It doesn't matter how hard this semester has been; students have to master the material, or they cannot earn their degrees.
It does seem like if you find cheating, you should avoid having to go through the company. Take screenshots of the answers posted online and if you have students who give those same answers, including all the same wrong ones, that should be evidence enough. Then you can just follow the normal procedures with the students who cheated and not be asking deans to try to get some outside company to investigate.
But how would I identify the students who *used* those answers? As it is, it is impossible to perfectly identify them, because anyone can read Chegg. But Chegg can identify the student who *posted* the question.
Well, what sort of exams are these? Are they just multiple choice? Is there any requirement to show work? Unless the answers on Chegg are perfect, it seems like it would be pretty obvious if a bunch of students get all of the same answers wrong and also all have the same wrong answer?
The questions are not multiple choice, but they are pretty basic: write a few equations, take derivative, find where it is zero. The Chegg answers show all work.
So, if 1) Chegg has correct answer 2) student gets answer correct, then the only way to punish anyone is to catch the one who **posted** the question. And for that, the Dean's office needs to get the ID of the poster.
A colleague of mine just told me that the Dean's office is hedging.
Quote from: centurion on April 29, 2020, 01:53:46 PM
So, if 1) Chegg has correct answer 2) student gets answer correct, then the only way to punish anyone is to catch the one who **posted** the question. And for that, the Dean's office needs to get the ID of the poster.
A colleague of mine just told me that the Dean's office is hedging.
I think you might be underestimating how easy it would be to track a student down. A username or email address is only going to be any good if the student is dumb enough to use their own name, or an identifiable email address. I guess there's payment information which would have a name, but I would bet that lots of students share accounts, possibly with a lot of other people. The credit card on file might well just lead to some person at the university not in your class.
Don't worry about cheating for relatively simple things that people can get right on their own. That's a waste of your energy. If someone needs to cheat at that level, then they will soon weed themselves out of the program.
However, I would follow Caracal's advice for the problems in which people put down the wrong answers that are wrong exactly the way Chegg has them wrong. Take the screenshot with a date and then attach copies to the test as you send it to the local honor court charges. That screenshot should then have sufficient information for the dean to submit it if that's what the institution wants to do.
When I was teaching engineering, I sometimes assigned homework problems to which the easily Googlable answers were bizarrely wrong (think using the ideal gas law for liquid water that must use the steam table or significant typo in the equations such that the answer couldn't possibly come from those equations). Then, I would inform all the students whose papers had that bizarrely wrong answer that I knew they were cheating and it was in their best interest to either cheat better (i.e., know enough about the actual material, even if they couldn't immediately do it on their own) or start coming to the help sessions.
Your job as the professor holding the line isn't to root out all cheaters everywhere. It's to ensure that people who fail cheating are not allowed to continue and take up seats/resources/energy that should go to other people.
Quote from: polly_mer on April 30, 2020, 05:35:04 AM
When I was teaching engineering, I sometimes assigned homework problems to which the easily Googlable answers were bizarrely wrong (think using the ideal gas law for liquid water that must use the steam table or significant typo in the equations such that the answer couldn't possibly come from those equations). Then, I would inform all the students whose papers had that bizarrely wrong answer that I knew they were cheating and it was in their best interest to either cheat better (i.e., know enough about the actual material, even if they couldn't immediately do it on their own) or start coming to the help sessions.
Last semester, we were reading a non-fiction book called "American Dream" about welfare reform. I was assigning low stakes response papers to keep students accountable for the reading and got really confused when I had several students writing about characters known only as mommy and daddy who seemed to have killed their son or something. Apparently, there's an Edward Albee play also called American Dream...
Quote from: Caracal on April 30, 2020, 06:37:56 AM
Quote from: polly_mer on April 30, 2020, 05:35:04 AM
When I was teaching engineering, I sometimes assigned homework problems to which the easily Googlable answers were bizarrely wrong (think using the ideal gas law for liquid water that must use the steam table or significant typo in the equations such that the answer couldn't possibly come from those equations). Then, I would inform all the students whose papers had that bizarrely wrong answer that I knew they were cheating and it was in their best interest to either cheat better (i.e., know enough about the actual material, even if they couldn't immediately do it on their own) or start coming to the help sessions.
Last semester, we were reading a non-fiction book called "American Dream" about welfare reform. I was assigning low stakes response papers to keep students accountable for the reading and got really confused when I had several students writing about characters known only as mommy and daddy who seemed to have killed their son or something. Apparently, there's an Edward Albee play also called American Dream...
Ah, the other thread with the requirement to send the professor a photograph of the student with the book or the physical book brought to class makes more sense now.
I can't remember who wrote it now, but one forumite years ago wrote something like:
Dear student,
Do you realize how many announcements, readings, writings, and activities you had to miss to be in your current state of ignorance on this point?
I'm not angry or anything.
I'm just befuddled because that particular message has been everywhere in this course for three weeks. I purposely made it hard to ignore for anyone who made any effort whatsoever to keep up.
I'm at a loss on what to tell you at this point when you've missed literally the entire class up to this point, despite being physically present and submitting work.I haven't had any students to that degree, but I have definitely wondered about students who did the equivalent of a web search on something that used the same keywords, but were so, so far off in the context of the class discussions and other assignments that the question is indeed "how in the world could you have missed that?"
Quote from: polly_mer on April 30, 2020, 07:17:55 AM
I haven't had any students to that degree, but I have definitely wondered about students who did the equivalent of a web search on something that used the same keywords, but were so, so far off in the context of the class discussions and other assignments that the question is indeed "how in the world could you have missed that?"
Oh, it is always amazing how checked out a small number of students are. I was teaching a class where we read a diary by a South Carolina cotton planter named Chaplin. A student wrote a response paper consisting entirely of a biography of Charlie Chaplin copied from Wikipedia. The guy came to class regularly.
Years ago in grad school a couple of friends of mine were TAing for the same class that had discussion sections. One of my friends was confused when a few weeks into the class, a random student who had never been there before showed up to his discussion section. He asked the student if she was in the other section. Confusingly she said she wasn't sure. It turned out that she was in the other section and had been going to that one regularly. One of the TAs was a large, bearded man. The other was a petite woman more than a foot shorter.
I fully agree that it's not worth chasing down students who cheated on the basics. That being said, you need to write at least a few exam questions that are too difficult to cheat on. Make them so there are multiple correct solutions or multiple ways to solve them and require students to write down their reasons for choosing that method.
My saddest cheating case was a student who didn't turn in a lab report, when told he could still turn it in late for feedback & partial credit, he turned in another student's assignment with his name on it. The sad part? It was already graded BY ME and showed my comments to the other student.
Quote from: the_geneticist on April 30, 2020, 09:25:32 AM
The sad part? It was already graded BY ME and showed my comments to the other student.
I had a student claim that I couldn't prove he had cheated just because my comments to a different student on a highly unusual situation were copied verbatim onto this particular assignment. After all, there were many ways that those words could have appeared to be about the same.
The chair looked at both papers and said, "Well, that's a slam dunk on cheating, isn't it? Here's how you fill out the paperwork for the academic standards committee."
Quote from: polly_mer on April 30, 2020, 10:21:05 AM
Quote from: the_geneticist on April 30, 2020, 09:25:32 AM
The sad part? It was already graded BY ME and showed my comments to the other student.
I had a student claim that I couldn't prove he had cheated just because my comments to a different student on a highly unusual situation were copied verbatim onto this particular assignment. After all, there were many ways that those words could have appeared to be about the same.
The chair looked at both papers and said, "Well, that's a slam dunk on cheating, isn't it? Here's how you fill out the paperwork for the academic standards committee."
This is why courts use the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold...yes there could be some bizzarro reason that happened but any reasonable person knows this is cheating.
Set exams so that they are in a short time frame and everyone takes it at the same time. If no one has the exam before anyone else, and only has 75 minutes to answer the questions, (and add Examity or Respondis Monitor and Lock Down Browser) then there is no time and reduced ability to post or search Chegg for answer.
My own class' textbook has a test bank. I have found the test bank has been turned into Flash Cards!!!
I am in finance, so I have taken the test bank questions and changed one number in every problem! I have warned the classes that there are test banks available BUT that they should not learn the answers to those questions. IF, on test day, they see the same answer that they found online, THAT is the ONE answer that they can be sure is wrong! When there are "which of the following are correct?" questions, I have modified the original correct answer to be incorrect and fixed one that was not, to be correct now. In addition, I have merged some of the questions so that there are now more than one correct answer and added "Both A & B" (for example) are correct, or None of the above is correct. In some I didnt change anything other than add "none of the above or ""Both A & B" ... just so they do not think that IF they see that, it is the new correct answer.
So My suggestion is to take the advice given earlier. Copy the answers from Chegg and punish anyone using them for 'plagiarism' at a minimum. Otherwise, change your tests so that YOU reduce the opportunity to cheat.
Finally, Dont worry about student evaluations. IF you have bad evaluations because you punish cheaters, then whoever looks at evaluations will reward and not punish you. When evaluations are measured (in annual evaluations or tenure and promotion purposes), make sure that you highlight the comments about reducing cheating!
Finally, Finally, When classes resume, whether face to face or online, make it a point to point out your academic honesty policy on your syllabus. Make a big deal that you care not one bit about cheaters. What you care about are the honest students that the cheater is stealing from ! Someone cheating is stealing a degree and cheapening it from those that have actually learned the material and THAT you will NOT tollerate!
Good Luck! Tow the Line!
Unfortunately, I also found some cheaters who used chegg. Our institution would not allow us to use Respondus or a webcam (no comment), so I knew something like this would happen. I managed to nail down the days that the questions were asked on chegg and matched them up with the days that students took exams. Unfortunately, I cannot match up times (no obvious time stamp on chegg). One poor soul is the only one of my students to take my exam on the same day a chegg question was asked for that test. This particular question is very unique- I drew the diagram myself and reworded the question.
My admins have been alerted and I'm awaiting further instructions.
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 05, 2020, 08:49:05 PM
Unfortunately, I also found some cheaters who used chegg. Our institution would not allow us to use Respondus or a webcam (no comment), so I knew something like this would happen. I managed to nail down the days that the questions were asked on chegg and matched them up with the days that students took exams. Unfortunately, I cannot match up times (no obvious time stamp on chegg). One poor soul is the only one of my students to take my exam on the same day a chegg question was asked for that test. This particular question is very unique- I drew the diagram myself and reworded the question.
My admins have been alerted and I'm awaiting further instructions.
Is that conclusive though? Couldn't another student have taken the test before, and then sent the questions to another student who asked the question on Chegg? That seems totally plausible to me. How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 08:39:24 AM
How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
The Chegg help desk claims 2 hours up to the occasional 3 days (https://www.chegg.com/contactus/Chegg-Study/50367311/If-I-post-a-question-how-long-will-it-take-to-get-an-answer.htm)
Thus, a pretty standard 24-48 hours for a take-home test in things I taught absolutely could get answers. Even the 6-8 hours to do a bunch of problems with expected online research would permit Chegg's 2 hours to answer.
Quote from: polly_mer on May 06, 2020, 09:26:56 AM
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 08:39:24 AM
How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
The Chegg help desk claims 2 hours up to the occasional 3 days (https://www.chegg.com/contactus/Chegg-Study/50367311/If-I-post-a-question-how-long-will-it-take-to-get-an-answer.htm)
Thus, a pretty standard 24-48 hours for a take-home test in things I taught absolutely could get answers. Even the 6-8 hours to do a bunch of problems with expected online research would permit Chegg's 2 hours to answer.
Honestly, my personal take is that short, timed take home exams during this time do more to hurt honest students than they do to prevent students cheating. Many of my students have had to take jobs with unpredictable schedules, and many don't have internet access or a computer at home.
There are ways to write exams that minimize cheating, but a customized answer to exactly what you ask is.... really hard to detect as wrong. The clue is when you get multiple submissions that are identical in setup and order, but proving it is still hard especially if it's the right answer (with work shown and reasoning).
Wrong, identical answers are a lot easier to deal with.
Quote from: eigen on May 06, 2020, 12:23:11 PMWrong, identical answers are a lot easier to deal with.
Even correct identical-down-to-the-last-detail answers were pretty easy to deal with when I would give take-home exams on the honor system years ago.
That multipart question with no variable names given and drawings required with several calculation steps and then a summary paragraph were great for people who made an effort, but terrible for the cheaters.
Quote from: polly_mer on May 06, 2020, 12:34:41 PM
Quote from: eigen on May 06, 2020, 12:23:11 PMWrong, identical answers are a lot easier to deal with.
Even correct identical-down-to-the-last-detail answers were pretty easy to deal with when I would give take-home exams on the honor system years ago.
That multipart question with no variable names given and drawings required with several calculation steps and then a summary paragraph were great for people who made an effort, but terrible for the cheaters.
Yeah, some more than others. For instance, synthetic schemes/mechanisms are often going to be identical for correct students, cheating or not.
Quote from: eigen on May 06, 2020, 01:04:28 PM
Quote from: polly_mer on May 06, 2020, 12:34:41 PM
Quote from: eigen on May 06, 2020, 12:23:11 PMWrong, identical answers are a lot easier to deal with.
Even correct identical-down-to-the-last-detail answers were pretty easy to deal with when I would give take-home exams on the honor system years ago.
That multipart question with no variable names given and drawings required with several calculation steps and then a summary paragraph were great for people who made an effort, but terrible for the cheaters.
Yeah, some more than others. For instance, synthetic schemes/mechanisms are often going to be identical for correct students, cheating or not.
That's where the paragraph comes in to explain the overall result and the multiparts have legitimately different paths (e.g., there's no reason for everyone to choose the bathtub over the sink, hot tub, or swimming pool, especially when the order of the choices are varied).
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 08:39:24 AM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 05, 2020, 08:49:05 PM
Unfortunately, I also found some cheaters who used chegg. Our institution would not allow us to use Respondus or a webcam (no comment), so I knew something like this would happen. I managed to nail down the days that the questions were asked on chegg and matched them up with the days that students took exams. Unfortunately, I cannot match up times (no obvious time stamp on chegg). One poor soul is the only one of my students to take my exam on the same day a chegg question was asked for that test. This particular question is very unique- I drew the diagram myself and reworded the question.
My admins have been alerted and I'm awaiting further instructions.
Is that conclusive though? Couldn't another student have taken the test before, and then sent the questions to another student who asked the question on Chegg? That seems totally plausible to me. How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
I looked at the source code to find the date the questions were posted. All were posted this semester during the times my exams were open. The questions are also very unique and easily identifiable as items that I created. I have spoken with my Chair and it's moving up to the Dean.
It would be pleasant to plant some little red flags in there to retrieve when proving the point to administration. Like "Charles Humphries exerts g gravity, currently heading east at ten E = R S." (Only, you know, one that made sense.) Spells out CHEGG CHEATERS.
Quote from: Hegemony on May 06, 2020, 05:08:12 PM
It would be pleasant to plant some little red flags in there to retrieve when proving the point to administration. Like "Charles Humphries exerts g gravity, currently heading east at ten E = R S." (Only, you know, one that made sense.) Spells out CHEGG CHEATERS.
I purposefully write questions that are identifiable as products of my mind. For example, I use uncommon names, write out prefixes and units sometimes instead of abbreviating. These students were foolish enough to even copy my instructions and include them in their posts on chegg (Some did screenshots)! Really disheartening.
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 06, 2020, 03:24:10 PM
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 08:39:24 AM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 05, 2020, 08:49:05 PM
Unfortunately, I also found some cheaters who used chegg. Our institution would not allow us to use Respondus or a webcam (no comment), so I knew something like this would happen. I managed to nail down the days that the questions were asked on chegg and matched them up with the days that students took exams. Unfortunately, I cannot match up times (no obvious time stamp on chegg). One poor soul is the only one of my students to take my exam on the same day a chegg question was asked for that test. This particular question is very unique- I drew the diagram myself and reworded the question.
My admins have been alerted and I'm awaiting further instructions.
Is that conclusive though? Couldn't another student have taken the test before, and then sent the questions to another student who asked the question on Chegg? That seems totally plausible to me. How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
I looked at the source code to find the date the questions were posted. All were posted this semester during the times my exams were open. The questions are also very unique and easily identifiable as items that I created. I have spoken with my Chair and it's moving up to the Dean.
Right, but you seem to assuming that only a student taking the exam that day could have access to your exam. But that's pretty clearly not true. Someone could easily have taken it earlier and sent questions to a friend, who posted them on Chegg and then took it on another day. For all you know the guy taking the test that day had nothing to do with it.
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 07:05:16 PM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 06, 2020, 03:24:10 PM
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 08:39:24 AM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 05, 2020, 08:49:05 PM
Unfortunately, I also found some cheaters who used chegg. Our institution would not allow us to use Respondus or a webcam (no comment), so I knew something like this would happen. I managed to nail down the days that the questions were asked on chegg and matched them up with the days that students took exams. Unfortunately, I cannot match up times (no obvious time stamp on chegg). One poor soul is the only one of my students to take my exam on the same day a chegg question was asked for that test. This particular question is very unique- I drew the diagram myself and reworded the question.
My admins have been alerted and I'm awaiting further instructions.
Is that conclusive though? Couldn't another student have taken the test before, and then sent the questions to another student who asked the question on Chegg? That seems totally plausible to me. How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
I looked at the source code to find the date the questions were posted. All were posted this semester during the times my exams were open. The questions are also very unique and easily identifiable as items that I created. I have spoken with my Chair and it's moving up to the Dean.
Right, but you seem to assuming that only a student taking the exam that day could have access to your exam. But that's pretty clearly not true. Someone could easily have taken it earlier and sent questions to a friend, who posted them on Chegg and then took it on another day. For all you know the guy taking the test that day had nothing to do with it.
Right. I probably should have mentioned that in one class, only one student took the test on the day a problem was posted (1st instance of the problem being posted). So, in that case, this student was the first person to see the test and the problem showed up on the day he/she took it. Yes, the student could have passed on this information to someone else, but there is a correlation between when the student took the test and when the problem showed up on the site. Again, these problems are VERY different from test bank stuff, so it is highly unlikely that someone else came up with the exact same problem, wording and image. Seems pretty damning to me.
I am *hoping* to get some kind of timestamped data and also user data (within reason) to match up at least the student who posted the problems. Yes, I may not get everyone. Yes, info may have been passed along. We shall see what happens.
What is the processing for seeing if your problems are posted on Chegg?
Quote from: clean on May 06, 2020, 09:19:20 PM
What is the processing for seeing if your problems are posted on Chegg?
I googled the problems (for the hell of it and just to see what's out there). 1st hit was on Chegg. On one of my tests, 75% was up there. I then went to the site and did more investigating.
Well, I googled mine, but Im not finding anything. Well, actually, ... as part of the problem I included the names of Maryanne and Ginger (and the rest in one way or another (except Gilligan)... that made THEM him!)
So I searched the first 2 lines of my question and ALL I get are Gilligan's Island posts! So let that be a lesson to you! Never name anyone Ginger Maryanne (or the other way), or they will be lost on The Google!
Maybe that is what we should all do to our tests. Include 'famous' or even Infamous names so that IF students search for the question online they get some history Lesson. (Start a problem with Sherman Lee Grant, and let the rest fall into place!
Or maybe "Jethro Bodine was ciphering the distance betwixt Bugtussle and Hooterville a fortnight ago. "
If line 2 includes "Andy and Barney" or Wally and The Beaver" then the Chegg notations may no longer be the top of the search results!
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 06, 2020, 08:58:34 PM
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 07:05:16 PM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 06, 2020, 03:24:10 PM
Quote from: Caracal on May 06, 2020, 08:39:24 AM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 05, 2020, 08:49:05 PM
Unfortunately, I also found some cheaters who used chegg. Our institution would not allow us to use Respondus or a webcam (no comment), so I knew something like this would happen. I managed to nail down the days that the questions were asked on chegg and matched them up with the days that students took exams. Unfortunately, I cannot match up times (no obvious time stamp on chegg). One poor soul is the only one of my students to take my exam on the same day a chegg question was asked for that test. This particular question is very unique- I drew the diagram myself and reworded the question.
My admins have been alerted and I'm awaiting further instructions.
Is that conclusive though? Couldn't another student have taken the test before, and then sent the questions to another student who asked the question on Chegg? That seems totally plausible to me. How fast is the turnaround time on Chegg anyway? Would you really be able to get an answer to your question in time for the test?
I looked at the source code to find the date the questions were posted. All were posted this semester during the times my exams were open. The questions are also very unique and easily identifiable as items that I created. I have spoken with my Chair and it's moving up to the Dean.
Right, but you seem to assuming that only a student taking the exam that day could have access to your exam. But that's pretty clearly not true. Someone could easily have taken it earlier and sent questions to a friend, who posted them on Chegg and then took it on another day. For all you know the guy taking the test that day had nothing to do with it.
Right. I probably should have mentioned that in one class, only one student took the test on the day a problem was posted (1st instance of the problem being posted). So, in that case, this student was the first person to see the test and the problem showed up on the day he/she took it. Yes, the student could have passed on this information to someone else, but there is a correlation between when the student took the test and when the problem showed up on the site. Again, these problems are VERY different from test bank stuff, so it is highly unlikely that someone else came up with the exact same problem, wording and image. Seems pretty damning to me.
I am *hoping* to get some kind of timestamped data and also user data (within reason) to match up at least the student who posted the problems. Yes, I may not get everyone. Yes, info may have been passed along. We shall see what happens.
Oh ok. He was the first person to take the test? If so, that makes more sense.
I have reached the BIG LEAGUE! My final exam is on Chegg!
Unfortunately, Every one of them got a different version, so I have been able to figure out exactly who posted the question.
When I emailed the students the take home portion (what is on chegg now) I told them that they were not to talk to anyone about the exam and all work must be their own.
Quote from: clean on May 07, 2020, 03:58:27 PM
I have reached the BIG LEAGUE! My final exam is on Chegg!
Unfortunately, Every one of them got a different version, so I have been able to figure out exactly who posted the question.
We'll all be looking forward to updates on this........
Quote from: clean on May 07, 2020, 03:58:27 PM
I have reached the BIG LEAGUE! My final exam is on Chegg!
Unfortunately, Every one of them got a different version, so I have been able to figure out exactly who posted the question.
When I emailed the students the take home portion (what is on chegg now) I told them that they were not to talk to anyone about the exam and all work must be their own.
Oops, now that's good evidence...
Quote from: Caracal on May 07, 2020, 05:12:21 PM
Quote from: clean on May 07, 2020, 03:58:27 PM
I have reached the BIG LEAGUE! My final exam is on Chegg!
Unfortunately, Every one of them got a different version, so I have been able to figure out exactly who posted the question.
When I emailed the students the take home portion (what is on chegg now) I told them that they were not to talk to anyone about the exam and all work must be their own.
Oops, now that's good evidence...
Dang clean. I'm interested to find out what happens with this. Was it just one version of the test?
I teach finance. I copied a test I wrote 20 years ago into Excel (line by line as Word and Excel are not all that cozy for what I wanted to do. Then I created an answer key from the Master Copy of the test. I then copied from the master to a separate worksheet and named the tab with the student's last name. Several of the numbers were then changed throughout the test.
As I changed the cell locations in the questions, the answer portion generated the separate answers for each student.
After the tests were done I copied the first several columns that housed the questions, stripped out the color coding I used to mark the numbers to change, copied to a separate file and then emailed each student their personal excel file.
When I found the Chegg page I figured which main subgroups the exam fit (was it a 3 year or a 7 or a 10 year lived asset; Did it use MACRS or Straigtline depreciation, etc), and then I looked to see which particular tax rate, unit sales and prices I was searching for. Only ONE exam matched (as it should as I was pretty sure that I had plenty of numbers and changed several of each).
On exam day, they will upload their documents to Blackboard and then take a fill in the blank test. I already know the answers so they will answer specific questions about the work they did. What is the Revenue in year 3? What is the Depreciation Expense in Year 3? What is the Initial Outlay in Time Zero?
Every one gets the same questions, but the answers are all unique. I tried, but it is hard and I know that this didnt work well, but I tried to have it so that a mistake in one part does not cost them points from several questions. So IF they miss the Initial Outlay, then the Net Present Value has to be wrong as well, so I tried to ask the questions so that they can make mistakes but get partial credit. That is the hard part.
Worse, I have more instances of inappropriate behavior! They have all had their exams more than a week. The exam is Monday. I told them that if they sent me their first year's cash flows, that I would compare their answer to mine and let them know if we agreed, but they had to submit by 8pm (as a reward for those that are working on it now, they can get some feedback if they are doing it correctly). Two submitted, not the cash flow, but their spreadsheets. They were submitted at almost the same instant. The spreadsheets for their work is similar, but that is not too unexpected because i showed them all a template to use to answer such questions. What I did not expect was that each had their first year cash flows in Red! Usually that means negative, so I checked the work. It was just red. Not negative. ANd only the first column value. Why would 2 "independently created" spreadsheets both have a non negative number highlighted in red, I wonder?
So I emailed them that they had better be sure that they were working on the test alone as instructed! I emailed the class the several instructions that indicated that they were to work alone! I highlighted the "Work alone" part in yellow.
I have not heard from the Students in Red objecting to the warning to work alone! I will certainly have to go through those 2 spreadsheets with a fine tooth comb to find similar Divergence from the Instructions!
So, no there are 45 versions of the test in total. One for everyone!
If we were not CV19 separated, I would not have given a take home test! BUT WHEN I DO give a take home test, it better be only the work of the test taker!!
Very nice clean! I also make multiple versions of physics tests and I use spreadsheets to generate numbers for lab exams, etc. This is why I know that more than one person cheated in my class. There were two versions (different numbers) of the same problem online.
Not Chegg, but I often catch students cheating on essays because they have done one of three things:
1) Left obvious traces of cutting and pasting text-- changes to font, and even hypertext links. My students rarely know how to "scrub" text, and my plagiarists are usually too lazy / stressed / clueless to hand-type the original.
2) Copied the same thing as somebody else in the class. Sometimes I wouldn't know to look for a common original if I didn't have the replicants in front of me.
3) Written something that's too good. (One of my Engineering colleagues caught somebody this year for this reason.) I have a friend who was offended that somebody bought the "C" paper rather than shelling out another dollar for the "A", but Stu Dent knew he'd never be able to pass off the A. He didn't even get away with the C.
Hold the line, everybody. Hold the line.
How about posting a bunch of incorrect answers using different accounts?
Quote from: hamburger on May 09, 2020, 08:24:02 AM
How about posting a bunch of incorrect answers using different accounts?
Unfortunately, you need to pay to see the answers and I think the 'tutors' are the only ones who can answer, but I'm not 100% on that.
Just let 'em cheat. Seriously. Most don't do very well even when they cheat, and unless you have tons of evidence, nothing much will happen to them if you catch them.
So, unless you catch an obvious cheater red-handed and/or it really enhances their grade, I'd just drop it.
I just busted 3 of 18 students copying Quizlet answers on their exam. Fail.
But I won;t lose sleep over the thought that someone might have slipped through....
Quote from: FishProf on May 09, 2020, 01:17:25 PM
I just busted 3 of 18 students copying Quizlet answers on their exam. Fail.
But I won;t lose sleep over the thought that someone might have slipped through....
Did any of them admit to it?
One is currently arguing that she "takes academic integrity very seriously" but can't explain how a paragraph answer is verbatim, including the nunbering scheme
QuoteJust let 'em cheat.
Bullshit. Why not just give them all As and cash your paycheck? IF YOU dont care about the quality of the students that you graduate from your institution, then soon enough neither will the employers. The employers WILL find some OTHER institution that DOES deliver an educated work force.
Do the paperwork to report the cheating. Let the word get out that there IS a price to be paid for cheating. IF the price is high enough, students will not risk it.
Im reminded of a quote, "The only thing keeping people honest is the fear of getting caught".
Raise the Fear Factor!
Damn my test must be hard!!
Another student has posted their exam on Chegg!
They are a public company. I may have to look to see how I can cash in on their exploitation of students!
Quote from: clean on May 09, 2020, 06:43:09 PM
Damn my test must be hard!!
Another student has posted their exam on Chegg!
They are a public company. I may have to look to see how I can cash in on their exploitation of students!
Have you contacted your Chair or Dean? They will not tell you anything unless a Chair or Dean contacts them.
Quote from: Ruralguy on May 09, 2020, 12:56:09 PM
Just let 'em cheat. Seriously. Most don't do very well even when they cheat, and unless you have tons of evidence, nothing much will happen to them if you catch them.
So, unless you catch an obvious cheater red-handed and/or it really enhances their grade, I'd just drop it.
Yeah...
if the dean actually goes through with all of this and contacts Chegg, and
if Chegg eventually gets back to you with account or credit card info, there's a good chance the account would just be linked to a random student your student borrowed it from.
As I understand it, Clean gave individualized exams (different numbers for each student) so does not have to contact Chegg to determine which student(s) have posted. If the next step in the reporting process is a conversation with the suspected students (as is the case at my institution), Clean can probably get a confession and will not need "proof" from Chegg. My experience with these conversations is that most students, and in particular the ones who are fully aware that what they have done is cheating, are willing to confess when prompted.
I have to recant my accusations. Students DID have directly quoted material from Quizlet (et al.), but the showed me their notes, created Pre-CV19 that they used to answer the questions.
So, yeah, they copied, to their notes, before they ever had online open-note exams.
Can't really drop the hammer here.
QuoteAs I understand it, Clean gave individualized exams (different numbers for each student) so does not have to contact Chegg to determine which student(s) have posted. If the next step in the reporting process is a conversation with the suspected students (as is the case at my institution), Clean can probably get a confession and will not need "proof" from Chegg.
I did give individualized exams, so with all of the different combinations of numbers, each one has a very unique exam. Every exam, like fingerprints, is unique.
The one I caught first has confessed, apologized and will be getting a much reduced exam score rather than an F in the course. The other student was caught only yesterday and has not replied to my email.
I have communicated with Chegg to remove my exams from their site. The first email got a response yesterday that they got my request and that it takes a few business days to conclude. (Why it takes days to take off, when I understand from here that students can post and get answers in as much time! is a frustration).
Quote from: arcturus on May 10, 2020, 04:53:23 AM
As I understand it, Clean gave individualized exams (different numbers for each student) so does not have to contact Chegg to determine which student(s) have posted. If the next step in the reporting process is a conversation with the suspected students (as is the case at my institution), Clean can probably get a confession and will not need "proof" from Chegg. My experience with these conversations is that most students, and in particular the ones who are fully aware that what they have done is cheating, are willing to confess when prompted.
oh yeah, wasn't referring to Clean, but was talking about the other cases.
Busted 2 more students.
This is just sad!
I got lucky. They sent me the timestamps and I was able to match them up with students. Some questions had unique numbers as well and only one student had them. I'm preparing all of the paperwork (pain in the ass, but I can't stand cheating, so I do it) and will send it off tonight.
Tomorrow should be interesting.
And it's already interesting...
I actually do a lot to prevent cheating, such as changing around problem set questions and using problems from older books that don't have widely distributed , etc. and so forth. But chasing after every possible Chegg cheater? There's a point at which I refuse to chase after every possibility.
Quote from: Ruralguy on May 10, 2020, 08:58:09 PM
I actually do a lot to prevent cheating, such as changing around problem set questions and using problems from older books that don't have widely distributed , etc. and so forth. But chasing after every possible Chegg cheater? There's a point at which I refuse to chase after every possibility.
This was so blatant, that I could not ignore it. This kind of stuff just sets my soul on fire- in the bad way. Anyway, the main issue was wrangling the info from Chegg. After I had that, it was easy-peasy to connect the dots.
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 10, 2020, 06:42:12 PM
I got lucky. They sent me the timestamps and I was able to match them up with students. Some questions had unique numbers as well and only one student had them. I'm preparing all of the paperwork (pain in the ass, but I can't stand cheating, so I do it) and will send it off tonight.
Tomorrow should be interesting.
I'm still a little bit concerned about the validity of that as evidence. Yes, the unique numbers part is convincing and if only one student had accessed the test, or a version of the test when a question was posted, that is enough evidence to show that the student did something wrong. However, be careful not to assume that just because only one student had the exam open at that time, that they are the only ones who could have access to questions. If your students are posting questions on Chegg, there's no reason to think they aren't also sending questions to other students who could put them on Chegg before they open the actual exam.
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 05:07:42 AM
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 10, 2020, 06:42:12 PM
I got lucky. They sent me the timestamps and I was able to match them up with students. Some questions had unique numbers as well and only one student had them. I'm preparing all of the paperwork (pain in the ass, but I can't stand cheating, so I do it) and will send it off tonight.
Tomorrow should be interesting.
I'm still a little bit concerned about the validity of that as evidence. Yes, the unique numbers part is convincing and if only one student had accessed the test, or a version of the test when a question was posted, that is enough evidence to show that the student did something wrong. However, be careful not to assume that just because only one student had the exam open at that time, that they are the only ones who could have access to questions. If your students are posting questions on Chegg, there's no reason to think they aren't also sending questions to other students who could put them on Chegg before they open the actual exam.
I agree. I'm sure I missed some. All I can do is present evidence that suggests something odd is going on. Oh, and I already had one of the students confess.
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 05:07:42 AM
However, be careful not to assume that just because only one student had the exam open at that time, that they are the only ones who could have access to questions. If your students are posting questions on Chegg, there's no reason to think they aren't also sending questions to other students who could put them on Chegg before they open the actual exam.
Well, the whole point of this is that the student who
posted the exam is guilty of abetting cheating, at the very least. And that's more egregious than copying answers from someone else.
Quote from: marshwiggle on May 11, 2020, 05:40:50 AM
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 05:07:42 AM
However, be careful not to assume that just because only one student had the exam open at that time, that they are the only ones who could have access to questions. If your students are posting questions on Chegg, there's no reason to think they aren't also sending questions to other students who could put them on Chegg before they open the actual exam.
Well, the whole point of this is that the student who posted the exam is guilty of abetting cheating, at the very least. And that's more egregious than copying answers from someone else.
Yeah, there's just always the chance that a student just happened to be logged on when somebody else posted answers they had received from a different student earlier. Two students doing something wrong in this scenario, but the one taking the test is totally uninvolved.
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 06:21:36 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on May 11, 2020, 05:40:50 AM
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 05:07:42 AM
However, be careful not to assume that just because only one student had the exam open at that time, that they are the only ones who could have access to questions. If your students are posting questions on Chegg, there's no reason to think they aren't also sending questions to other students who could put them on Chegg before they open the actual exam.
Well, the whole point of this is that the student who posted the exam is guilty of abetting cheating, at the very least. And that's more egregious than copying answers from someone else.
Yeah, there's just always the chance that a student just happened to be logged on when somebody else posted answers they had received from a different student earlier. Two students doing something wrong in this scenario, but the one taking the test is totally uninvolved.
Now with the unique tests; the only way a
particular test can be uploaded is with some knowledge of the student
whose test it was. (Unless you're going into tinfoil hat territory for subterfuge.)
Some of the posters on this thread seem overly defensive for the students here. My experience is that some students cheat. It is our responsibility as faculty to minimize the opportunities for students to cheat and to report them when they do. Most universities require a conversation between instructor and student before students are reported for misconduct. If the wild scenarios that have been proposed here were in fact the case, that would likely come out during such a conversation. My experience is that most students confess when prompted, so there is not much ambiguity in the cases I report. Of course, most of the cases I detect are the straightforward copying-from-the-internet types of plagiarism.
I would be amused (but still report it) if a student responded by saying that they heard from Jim Cramer on CNBC that Chegg was a good (monetary) investment because it is just like a university and education never goes out of style. Thus, it was not cheating since they were simply taking a class on Chegg that had signicant overlap with the one that had test questions posted there.
Quote from: arcturus on May 11, 2020, 07:13:57 AM
Some of the posters on this thread seem overly defensive for the students here.
Agreed. When questions are unique to a given student, the time of posting is irrelevant.
The only ways to know those questions involve malfeasance of some sort:
* peeking over someone else's shoulder
* receiving questions from someone else
* being the person who was assigned the questions
It doesn't actually matter which is true in any given case. The fact remains that cheating in some form occurred.
Quote from: polly_mer on May 11, 2020, 09:47:05 AM
Quote from: arcturus on May 11, 2020, 07:13:57 AM
Some of the posters on this thread seem overly defensive for the students here.
Agreed. When questions are unique to a given student, the time of posting is irrelevant.
The only ways to know those questions involve malfeasance of some sort:
* peeking over someone else's shoulder
* receiving questions from someone else
* being the person who was assigned the questions
It doesn't actually matter which is true in any given case. The fact remains that cheating in some form occurred.
To be clear, I'm not saying Evil Physics Wizard is doing anything wrong, I can't tell from the details provided exactly what is happening here.
1. Yes, obviously if you got the account information from Chegg of someone who posted the exam and it matched with a student in your class, that person cheated.
2. If the version on Chegg is unique, then you can identify the person who cheated.
3. If only one student had access to an exam or a version of the exam at the point it was posted, that person cheated.
The problem is that if one of those three things isn't true, it actually isn't very clear. The fact that only one student was taking the exam at a time when the question was posted to Chegg is enough to cast some suspicion on that student, but I really don't think it is enough to accuse them of anything by itself.
The scenario where a student gets the exam from a person who had taken it earlier and then puts it on Chegg to get the answers before they actually start taking their own exam seems totally plausible. I would be sort of shocked if students didn't sometimes send their friends screenshots of the exam, and once you have that, why would you wait till you start taking it? And yes, in this scenario there would be two guilty parties, but the person taking the exam when the question was posted to Chegg could be entirely innocent.
And yeah, I actually do think it is very important not be accusing students falsely. I'm not going to bring a case of cheating unless I'm convinced that there's no reasonably plausible way the student didn't cheat.
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 12:43:42 PM
Quote from: polly_mer on May 11, 2020, 09:47:05 AM
Quote from: arcturus on May 11, 2020, 07:13:57 AM
Some of the posters on this thread seem overly defensive for the students here.
Agreed. When questions are unique to a given student, the time of posting is irrelevant.
The only ways to know those questions involve malfeasance of some sort:
* peeking over someone else's shoulder
* receiving questions from someone else
* being the person who was assigned the questions
It doesn't actually matter which is true in any given case. The fact remains that cheating in some form occurred.
To be clear, I'm not saying Evil Physics Wizard Witchcraft is doing anything wrong, I can't tell from the details provided exactly what is happening here.
1. Yes, obviously if you got the account information from Chegg of someone who posted the exam and it matched with a student in your class, that person cheated.
2. If the version on Chegg is unique, then you can identify the person who cheated.
3. If only one student had access to an exam or a version of the exam at the point it was posted, that person cheated.
The problem is that if one of those three things isn't true, it actually isn't very clear. The fact that only one student was taking the exam at a time when the question was posted to Chegg is enough to cast some suspicion on that student, but I really don't think it is enough to accuse them of anything by itself.
The scenario where a student gets the exam from a person who had taken it earlier and then puts it on Chegg to get the answers before they actually start taking their own exam seems totally plausible. I would be sort of shocked if students didn't sometimes send their friends screenshots of the exam, and once you have that, why would you wait till you start taking it? And yes, in this scenario there would be two guilty parties, but the person taking the exam when the question was posted to Chegg could be entirely innocent.
And yeah, I actually do think it is very important not be accusing students falsely. I'm not going to bring a case of cheating unless I'm convinced that there's no reasonably plausible way the student didn't cheat.
I see your point and this is why I initially hesitated since I couldn't narrow down the students; however, the time stamps helped greatly and more information is on the way. One student confessed, which IMO strengthens my case for the other, but I could be wrong... however, the other student has exhibited radio silence. I'm sure that info was probably shared, but it just seems very, very odd that every time Student A took a test the questions from his/her test appeared on Chegg during that hour of test-taking and ONLY that hour. Same for Student B.
Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on May 11, 2020, 01:44:32 PM
Quote from: Caracal on May 11, 2020, 12:43:42 PM
Quote from: polly_mer on May 11, 2020, 09:47:05 AM
Quote from: arcturus on May 11, 2020, 07:13:57 AM
Some of the posters on this thread seem overly defensive for the students here.
Agreed. When questions are unique to a given student, the time of posting is irrelevant.
The only ways to know those questions involve malfeasance of some sort:
* peeking over someone else's shoulder
* receiving questions from someone else
* being the person who was assigned the questions
It doesn't actually matter which is true in any given case. The fact remains that cheating in some form occurred.
To be clear, I'm not saying Evil Physics Wizard Witchcraft is doing anything wrong, I can't tell from the details provided exactly what is happening here.
1. Yes, obviously if you got the account information from Chegg of someone who posted the exam and it matched with a student in your class, that person cheated.
2. If the version on Chegg is unique, then you can identify the person who cheated.
3. If only one student had access to an exam or a version of the exam at the point it was posted, that person cheated.
The problem is that if one of those three things isn't true, it actually isn't very clear. The fact that only one student was taking the exam at a time when the question was posted to Chegg is enough to cast some suspicion on that student, but I really don't think it is enough to accuse them of anything by itself.
The scenario where a student gets the exam from a person who had taken it earlier and then puts it on Chegg to get the answers before they actually start taking their own exam seems totally plausible. I would be sort of shocked if students didn't sometimes send their friends screenshots of the exam, and once you have that, why would you wait till you start taking it? And yes, in this scenario there would be two guilty parties, but the person taking the exam when the question was posted to Chegg could be entirely innocent.
And yeah, I actually do think it is very important not be accusing students falsely. I'm not going to bring a case of cheating unless I'm convinced that there's no reasonably plausible way the student didn't cheat.
I see your point and this is why I initially hesitated since I couldn't narrow down the students; however, the time stamps helped greatly and more information is on the way. One student confessed, which IMO strengthens my case for the other, but I could be wrong... however, the other student has exhibited radio silence. I'm sure that info was probably shared, but it just seems very, very odd that every time Student A took a test the questions from his/her test appeared on Chegg during that hour of test-taking and ONLY that hour. Same for Student B.
Sure, yes, a repeated pattern certainly strengthens the case a lot. One time it is posted while he's on it...well somebody is often taking an exam...twice would be quite a coincidence if he's innocent.
I'm sure that some of my students have leaked answers to sites like Chegg or Quizlet over the years. Honestly, I don't worry too much about it, because (1) I have large question pools that are randomized, (2) quizzes are worth at most 15% of the course grade in my classes and (3) at least in regular semesters, the quizzes are meant to be prepratory work for major exams and papers. If they cheat on quizzes, they aren't likely to do well on the major assignments.
I'd also add that universities have a responsibility to deal with cheating at an institutional level. When administrators (a) choose LMS platforms that lack secure quiz features, (b) don't provide access to software like Respondus Lockdown, or (c) allow students and parents to bully their way out of "minor" cheating charges, they contribute to that school's overall academic culture. And yes, I've been at pleaces where these things all happened.
Quote from: pepsi_alum on May 11, 2020, 09:35:25 PM
I'm sure that some of my students have leaked answers to sites like Chegg or Quizlet over the years. Honestly, I don't worry too much about it, because (1) I have large question pools that are randomized, (2) quizzes are worth at most 15% of the course grade in my classes and (3) at least in regular semesters, the quizzes are meant to be prepratory work for major exams and papers. If they cheat on quizzes, they aren't likely to do well on the major assignments.
I'd also add that universities have a responsibility to deal with cheating at an institutional level. When administrators (a) choose LMS platforms that lack secure quiz features, (b) don't provide access to software like Respondus Lockdown, or (c) allow students and parents to bully their way out of "minor" cheating charges, they contribute to that school's overall academic culture. And yes, I've been at pleaces where these things all happened.
This is the main reason there was so much cheating this semester. We were not allowed to use Respondus Lockdown OR webcams due to the coronavirus outbreak. Admins reasoned that students might only have phones to use, so we could not require Repondus, etc.
Normally, I give tests in class (face-to-face and not online), but this situation was a bit different.
Quote from: clean on April 30, 2020, 11:43:33 AM
Set exams so that they are in a short time frame and everyone takes it at the same time. If no one has the exam before anyone else, and only has 75 minutes to answer the questions, (and add Examity or Respondis Monitor and Lock Down Browser) then there is no time and reduced ability to post or search Chegg for answer.
My own class' textbook has a test bank. I have found the test bank has been turned into Flash Cards!!!
I am in finance, so I have taken the test bank questions and changed one number in every problem! I have warned the classes that there are test banks available BUT that they should not learn the answers to those questions. IF, on test day, they see the same answer that they found online, THAT is the ONE answer that they can be sure is wrong! When there are "which of the following are correct?" questions, I have modified the original correct answer to be incorrect and fixed one that was not, to be correct now. In addition, I have merged some of the questions so that there are now more than one correct answer and added "Both A & B" (for example) are correct, or None of the above is correct. In some I didnt change anything other than add "none of the above or ""Both A & B" ... just so they do not think that IF they see that, it is the new correct answer.
So My suggestion is to take the advice given earlier. Copy the answers from Chegg and punish anyone using them for 'plagiarism' at a minimum. Otherwise, change your tests so that YOU reduce the opportunity to cheat.
Finally, Dont worry about student evaluations. IF you have bad evaluations because you punish cheaters, then whoever looks at evaluations will reward and not punish you. When evaluations are measured (in annual evaluations or tenure and promotion purposes), make sure that you highlight the comments about reducing cheating!
Finally, Finally, When classes resume, whether face to face or online, make it a point to point out your academic honesty policy on your syllabus. Make a big deal that you care not one bit about cheaters. What you care about are the honest students that the cheater is stealing from ! Someone cheating is stealing a degree and cheapening it from those that have actually learned the material and THAT you will NOT tollerate!
Good Luck! Tow the Line!
I just posted a question today about what I believe to be brewing insurrection. This is what started it. I have always timed the online reading quizzes for precisely this reason. They've always not liked it, but since the quizzes were doable within the time frame (with time to spare), they've just dealt with it.
BUT, I got an email from a group of students at the start of the course this semester demanding that remove the time restrictions. They said they have many commitments and need to be able to the take the ten-question quizzes in "spurts." I said "nope." I've had nothing but trouble since then.
The problem is that they want time to google stuff or share answers via phone messages. The timer is preventing this. This tells me that the timed quizzes are, to some extent, a deterrent. The fact that two students plagiarized afterwards anyway tells me it is nothing more than a deterrent.
:(
We also have the ability to use Respondus lock down Monitor. It records them while they take the quiz. It also locks the screen so that they can not go somewhere else while in the quiz. It is not very good, but the thought that they are being recorded will keep them from blatantly cheating. (the lockdown browser keeps them on the quiz and the video monitors if they try to use another device).
My university has a subscription, and it is free for the students to use.
Not great, but it would reduce the problems (but not the complaints that you are keeping them from what YOU think in 'cheating'... I dont know what students think what they are doing is).
Quote from: clean on June 22, 2020, 06:38:24 PM
We also have the ability to use Respondus lock down Monitor. It records them while they take the quiz. It also locks the screen so that they can not go somewhere else while in the quiz. It is not very good, but the thought that they are being recorded will keep them from blatantly cheating. (the lockdown browser keeps them on the quiz and the video monitors if they try to use another device).
My university has a subscription, and it is free for the students to use.
Not great, but it would reduce the problems (but not the complaints that you are keeping them from what YOU think in 'cheating'... I dont know what students think what they are doing is).
I had the lockdown browser on the last quiz just to test it out (we don't have the monitor). Woke up to five emails telling me it was "not letting them in." I just took it off. Then they wanted extra time because they had been "locked out." I said "but you we—never mind." Gave them an extra day.
I am getting worked over this semester.
I don't know how long your reading quizzes take to complete, but if they do take a fair amount of time to complete then perhaps you could call their bluff and reduce the number of questions (and time limit accordingly) so that they can answer the questions in a "spurt."