Prof Gives Lecture to Prove He Knows Students Cheated; Over 200 Students Confess

palish wrote: post #5

ghshephard wrote: post #4

Dupe.

Who cares? This is the first time I've seen it. All 4 current comments on this story are completely worthless.

I found the link to the past discussion useful and the gratitude expressed for said link uplifting. :)

Re: Prof Gives Lecture to Prove He Knows Students Cheated; Over 200 Students Confess

#7

Post by gojomo » Sun, Nov 21, 2010, 8:53 AM UTC

But was it really cheating? Some students have pointed out that the professor said repeatedly that he composed the tests himself. Given that, then plausibly, using example tests from other sources would be a legitimate preparation method. (For example, the SAT doesn't penalize people for reviewing lots of practice tests, because it's assumed the actual questions during a real test will be novel.)

See:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101118/21485811928/200-st...

Now, it was probably common knowledge from prior semesters that this professor's exams were from the standard test bank. So those reviewing test bank questions may not have had pure motives in their study strategy. But it makes it less cut-and-dried, especially given that the students may have memorized (for example) 5 answers to potential questions for every 1 that happened to appear on the test. At some point, knowing all the answers to all potential questions is knowing the material... or else the whole idea of formulaic tests is bankrupt.

Re: Prof Gives Lecture to Prove He Knows Students Cheated; Over 200 Students Confess

#8

Post by gacek » Sun, Nov 21, 2010, 8:58 AM UTC

gojomo wrote: post #7

But was it really cheating? Some students have pointed out that the professor said repeatedly that he composed the tests himself. Given that, then plausibly, using example tests from other sources would be a legitimate preparation method. (For example, the SAT doesn't penalize people for reviewing lots of practice tests, because it's assumed the actual questions during a real test will be novel.) See: http://www.tech…

I second that. Using the same questions for a couple of years and blaming the students that they learned the answer to those questions?

questionable.

Re: Prof Gives Lecture to Prove He Knows Students Cheated; Over 200 Students Confess

#9

Post by sid0 » Sun, Nov 21, 2010, 9:12 AM UTC

gacek wrote: post #8

gojomo wrote: post #7

But was it really cheating? Some students have pointed out that the professor said repeatedly that he composed the tests himself. Given that, then plausibly, using example tests from other sources would be a legitimate preparation method. (For example, the SAT doesn't penalize people for reviewing lots of practice tests, because it's assumed the actual questions during a real test will be novel.) See: http://www.tech…

I second that. Using the same questions for a couple of years and blaming the students that they learned the answer to those questions? questionable.

I guess an important question is whether this test bank is supposed to be accessible only to instructors. Presumably a test bank would contain enough questions for several tests, so it isn't necessary that there were any repeats from previous semesters.

Re: Prof Gives Lecture to Prove He Knows Students Cheated; Over 200 Students Confess

#10

Post by jsolson » Sun, Nov 21, 2010, 9:15 AM UTC

So, at least where I went to school (Georgia Tech) it is well known and accepted that students have word of basically every question that's ever been asked for any given course. Professors also commonly post previous exams as study guides for courses.

Is this not common elsewhere?