missing honor code

[research_prof]

I personally do not see anything wrong with the honor code. It basically says that "I will not try to cheat in any way", which is reasonable to expect during an exam. There is also something called "academic freedom", which translates to the fact that each faculty member is free to carry out the classes they teach in the way they see fit, because they are the experts. I do not find the honor code offensive to students, so having (or not) an honor code for your course, it falls within the space of your academic freedom as a faculty member.

Now, if the OP clearly said in the exam that "whoever does not copy the honor code to their exams, they will be given 0 points", then the OP can enforce this rule and let students complain to OP's chair. It is that simple. We are losing the fight of academic dishonesty big time, so I personally would do whatever I can to make sure that students do not cheat. Things are that simple.

[Caracal]

In the real world, adults do not have to sign statements indicating intention of obeying the law.

Every training here ends with a statement to the effect that the signer will follow all the rules, unless it is unsafe to do so.

If you think you you haven't signed paperwork asserting you will follow all applicable laws, then you should read your paperwork more carefully.

Here are two other real-world examples:

When I worked for a federal law enforcement agency, there were signed commitments to not only follow the law, but to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. The signed contracts with my current employer include reference to abiding by all university policies, which include obeying the law and not engaging in behaviors that the university defines as moral turpitude.

So maybe your real-world is different from mine.

Sure, but what happens if in going through the paperwork, you forgot to sign the relevant page. Would you be fired immediately? Of course not, you would just get an email that you'd missed a page and needed to come sign it.

This is what I meant about natural consequences. Certainly, there are professional contexts in which failing to sign something could be a real problem.  However, often in those cases, systems are in place to avoid screw ups. When you start a new job and fill out your paperwork, you almost always hand it to someone who looks it over while you're standing there. Obviously there are contexts in which someone would need to be sure they have everything filled out correctly and don't have the same safeguards. But, those are the ones in which some bad natural consequence would result.

It's generally a bad idea to create unnatural consequences in classes, for no particular purpose. The OP does not need students to copy out and sign this statement. That doesn't mean it's wrong to tell students to do it, but if they don't, the easiest solution seems like it would be to just ask them to submit the statement and sign it separately. 

[Ruralguy]

They are that simple if you don't particularly care if you have 0 students, or a job.

I am not saying that all students will run away from an Honor Code or that you'd be fired for enforcing it, just that arbitrariness tends to drive away students.

Academic freedom does not mean that all professors get to do what they wish to do in all instances. There are often school rules, department norms, etc., not to mention contractual obligations related to the school rules.

[Caracal]

I personally do not see anything wrong with the honor code. It basically says that "I will not try to cheat in any way", which is reasonable to expect during an exam. There is also something called "academic freedom", which translates to the fact that each faculty member is free to carry out the classes they teach in the way they see fit, because they are the experts. I do not find the honor code offensive to students, so having (or not) an honor code for your course, it falls within the space of your academic freedom as a faculty member.

Now, if the OP clearly said in the exam that "whoever does not copy the honor code to their exams, they will be given 0 points", then the OP can enforce this rule and let students complain to OP's chair. It is that simple. We are losing the fight of academic dishonesty big time, so I personally would do whatever I can to make sure that students do not cheat. Things are that simple.

But enforcing this draconian rule doesn't actually do anything to prevent students from cheating. I'm fine with the OP requiring students to sign this statement, but it isn't going to make it easier to cheat if they then write the students who didn't submit the honor code and tell them they need to submit their affirmation that they understood and followed the rules before their exams can be graded. Or, they could decide to take off 5 points or something.

Treating students with respect means holding them to standards, but it also means not imposing huge punishments for small, easily fixable mistakes. It isn't hard to see how students could mess this up. They open up the exam, they're nervous, they're hoping that they studied the right things. They see some thing about the honor code, think "yeah, yeah, right, not cheating, but ok, right, here's the question, now how do I do this again..." and then get lost in the problem and never come back to look at the first part about the honor code and don't realize they were supposed to copy it out. I have a real problem with giving that student a zero on a major exam because of that mistake. Just because you have the power to do something doesn't make it right to do it.

[research_prof]

I personally do not see anything wrong with the honor code. It basically says that "I will not try to cheat in any way", which is reasonable to expect during an exam. There is also something called "academic freedom", which translates to the fact that each faculty member is free to carry out the classes they teach in the way they see fit, because they are the experts. I do not find the honor code offensive to students, so having (or not) an honor code for your course, it falls within the space of your academic freedom as a faculty member.

Now, if the OP clearly said in the exam that "whoever does not copy the honor code to their exams, they will be given 0 points", then the OP can enforce this rule and let students complain to OP's chair. It is that simple. We are losing the fight of academic dishonesty big time, so I personally would do whatever I can to make sure that students do not cheat. Things are that simple.

But enforcing this draconian rule doesn't actually do anything to prevent students from cheating. I'm fine with the OP requiring students to sign this statement, but it isn't going to make it easier to cheat if they then write the students who didn't submit the honor code and tell them they need to submit their affirmation that they understood and followed the rules before their exams can be graded. Or, they could decide to take off 5 points or something.

Treating students with respect means holding them to standards, but it also means not imposing huge punishments for small, easily fixable mistakes. It isn't hard to see how students could mess this up. They open up the exam, they're nervous, they're hoping that they studied the right things. They see some thing about the honor code, think "yeah, yeah, right, not cheating, but ok, right, here's the question, now how do I do this again..." and then get lost in the problem and never come back to look at the first part about the honor code and don't realize they were supposed to copy it out. I have a real problem with giving that student a zero on a major exam because of that mistake. Just because you have the power to do something doesn't make it right to do it.

Well, my experience (and the experience of others based on their previous posts) actually shows that such honor codes prevent some students from cheating (they will think about it twice). Of course, some students will still cheat, but if caught, it is easy to take disciplinary actions, because they signed that they will follow the honor code. Believe or not, I have seen students making the excuse that "I did not know I had to work on the exam on my own without asking other students". So, with this honor code, you actually make sure that if students come up with such an excuse, you will have a way to refute this argument easily.

I also do not see why asking students to follow such an honor code shows disrespect to them. It actually shows that you expect them to be ethical, so nothing to do with disrespect. I agree though the OP could simply say that "here are the rules of the exam" and "by submitting this exam, you acknowledge that you have understood and followed these rules", so probably no need to copy the honor code in their exams.

[research_prof]

They are that simple if you don't particularly care if you have 0 students, or a job.

I am not saying that all students will run away from an Honor Code or that you'd be fired for enforcing it, just that arbitrariness tends to drive away students.

Academic freedom does not mean that all professors get to do what they wish to do in all instances. There are often school rules, department norms, etc., not to mention contractual obligations related to the school rules.

So you are basically saying that you are ok compromising the academic ethical standards just to keep your job? Students are not customers because they happen to pay tuition and the university is not a "degree issuing" business (it is a higher ed institution). To be honest though, in the US, it is unfortunate to see that even faculty members have this belief. Definitely, this is not the case in Europe and probably money (i.e., students paying tuition so universities need to keep customers happy) is the main reason for that in the US.

This honor code does not need to be arbitrary--you can enforce it for every course you teach. I have seen excellent teachers in the past asking students to sign such an honor code at the beginning of the semester for all the assignments and exams of a course. If students refuse to sign, then their assignments will not be graded and they will receive an incomplete grade at the end of the semester (until they sign). The matter of fact is all students usually sign this honor code in the first week of the semester.

[marshwiggle]

This honor code does not need to be arbitrary--you can enforce it for every course you teach. I have seen excellent teachers in the past asking students to sign such an honor code at the beginning of the semester for all the assignments and exams of a course. If students refuse to sign, then their assignments will not be graded and they will receive an incomplete grade at the end of the semester (until they sign). The matter of fact is all students usually sign this honor code in the first week of the semester.

I think the problem that many people see is "boilerplate creep". People have discussed on here how in many places syllabi contain dozens of pages of standard stuff, all of which is "really important" to someone, but which means students never read any of it. By definition, there can only be one most important thing. And the more short and sweet it is, the more possible for people to remember.

[Puget]

Some posters here seem to have lost track of the fact that students *violating* the honor code is not the same thing as students *forgetting to copy and sign* the honor code.

A zero for a careless error, when you have no evidence of actual cheating, is disproportionate to the crime. It would be like charging someone for tax fraud because they forgot to sign at the end where you attest you have been accurate. That's not what happens-- your return is just rejected and you have to re-file it-- a hassle but not a disaster.

Give them some equivalent of that and be done with it. Is this really a hill you want to die on?

[AvidReader]

I have nothing to add for the dealing-with circumstance, as I think this thread covers every conceivable opinion already.

Could you do one of the following in future?

1) Move the statement to the end of the test where it must be signed as part of completion (doesn't work if someone runs out of time, but would help with the initial rush/panic described upthread).

2) Make the statement its own separate test that auto-grades and must be passed in order to open the actual exam.

3) Make the statement the first page of the test, and the only thing on the page. Set the LMS to allow multiple takes on that question only and to mark the question as "wrong" if the student does not paste the text correctly.

4) Make it a multiple choice question:
a) Yes, I have read the honor code in full and will not give or receive help on this exam.
b) No, I have not read the honor code, but I will not give or receive help on this exam anyway.
c) I plan to give or receive help on this exam, thereby violating the school honorcode. I understand that by ticking this box I am acknowledging intention to commit academic dishonesty and may receive a 0 on this exam if I continue this course of action.

AR.

[Ruralguy]

I  never said anything about lowering standards, unless you think arbitrary copying (and penalizing the full score) is a somehow a "standard." There are many options between  a complete free for all (or not even bothering with assignments!) and this sort of Draconian penalty for a minor infraction. I was pointing out that such unfair penalties are what drives away students a lot more than handing out a few F's who earned them fair and square. Its this easy: Make it about learning, punish the cheaters, and forget this other nonsense that makes it all overly complicated.

[Caracal]

This honor code does not need to be arbitrary--you can enforce it for every course you teach. I have seen excellent teachers in the past asking students to sign such an honor code at the beginning of the semester for all the assignments and exams of a course. If students refuse to sign, then their assignments will not be graded and they will receive an incomplete grade at the end of the semester (until they sign). The matter of fact is all students usually sign this honor code in the first week of the semester.

Seems fine. But you're describing a system in which students are reminded throughout the semester to complete this task. The student who forgets to sign the code in the first week gets a reminder when they don't get their exam back with everyone else and the professor tells them he'll do it just as soon as they sign the statement. Once they do that, they get their grades and everything is fine.

[Ruralguy]

I think the sort of requirement Caracal discusses is perfectly reasonable. Somewhere along the line it seems as if people have equated such a reasonable policy with "giving a zero" for the assignment.  That is to say, a zero is averaged in with all else, probably giving the student an F in the course if its a major assignment. I just don't think that can be defended, but yeah, sure, if it goes unprotested, I suppose it can "legally" continue.

[ciao_yall]

A few of my students - I swear they must be plagiarizing. I can feel it. But my usual quick Google suspicious phrases strategy is not working. Maybe they are really doing a great job? Or do I need to up my plagiarisim search game?

Ugh.

[Ruralguy]

You might wish to randomly keep copies of assignments and digitally file them. If something seems weird later, cross check with the file. I haven't done this as much as I should, but at a small college, we get lots of siblings, cousins, children, etc. of alums and I have the feeling sometimes people pass on graded assignments like heirlooms. Which gets to the importance of maybe changing at least the details of assignments from time to time, and less frequently, make more major changes.

As you can tell from previous posts, I'm not big on spending too much time chasing cheaters, so at some point you have to just say that you've done enough or your best, or whatever. But if you feel that something isn't right, upping the game a bit can't hurt anyone and won't take up too much time.

[polly_mer]

Prytania isn't here to point out that if someone cheats and gets caught, then that person should get a penalty for cheating and then a second penalty for cheating so poorly.

dismalist's point about much of college being sorting for people who can follow arbitrary rules resonates with me.  I would add the need to be conscientious on all the details.  Those engineers and nurses better follow everything, especially when there's no one to double check.

I will also point out that rules are only needed when the undesirable behavior has been observed.  You don't need an explicit rule when people are already doing what is desired.

As a mean side note, I am not surprised at the people here who frequently wonder why they can't get what they want and yet argue at length against enforcing a rule that only requires a few minutes to meet.  Why is it a zero to not do a couple minutes work?  Why is it a big deal to be asked to do the couple minutes of work?

Writing the paragraph would be the least effort I've been required to do in a given day.  Do heads explode upon being assigned mandatory training with less than 24 hours notice with said training being a minimum of one hour?  Shesh, life is easy for some people if a few minutes of writing is an unreasonable ask.