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How to Catch a Cheater

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Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#31

Post by dagw »

totalc wrote: post #25
wwortiz wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay sure those are simple examples that are probably available in large quantities online, but why should that homework assignment count towards a grade is more of my point. Professors can assign homework that isn't graded and the ones who actually do the assignment will be the ones that learn.

Graded homeworks might be used as checkpoints verifying that students are learning key concepts, prior to the exams that are a larger component of the grade. Without these graded checkpoints, lazy students given only voluntary homeworks might reach the exam with little preparation (lazy student speaking from personal experience. being graded on the homework 'encouraged' learning the concepts!)

lazy students given only voluntary homeworks might reach the exam with little preparation

And that is bad, why exactly? You're unprepared, you fail, you learn a lesson, you retake. Repeat until done. I too was a lazy student and found that failing a few classes and having to resit the exam was a fine way to motivate you to study.

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#32

Post by jemfinch »

pohl wrote: post #12
wwortiz wrote: post #4

> We were explicitly told that searching online for answers to homeworks was forbidden. I might be in the minority but I am of the opinion that if you are grading students on something that can be easily obtained through a google search you probably shouldn't be grading them on that.

I suspect you're actually in the majority. I bet that, rather, the minority position is that the instructor should create whatever conditions they want to so that they can exercise the students as they see fit - and that the students should extend enough respect to consider why those conditions are being created. This is my view. Replace the teacher with a coach in a weightlifting class. One day he wants you to lift…

> the instructor should create whatever conditions they want to so that they can exercise the students as they see fit

I don't disagree, as long as the instructor is able to defend the pedagogical purpose of the limitations he demands. The OP is essentially contending that few situations warrant such limitations, and I agree with him about that.

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#34

Post by xenophanes »

pohl wrote: post #12
wwortiz wrote: post #4

> We were explicitly told that searching online for answers to homeworks was forbidden. I might be in the minority but I am of the opinion that if you are grading students on something that can be easily obtained through a google search you probably shouldn't be grading them on that.

I suspect you're actually in the majority. I bet that, rather, the minority position is that the instructor should create whatever conditions they want to so that they can exercise the students as they see fit - and that the students should extend enough respect to consider why those conditions are being created. This is my view. Replace the teacher with a coach in a weightlifting class. One day he wants you to lift…

Many math teachers ban calculators on math tests. I'm pretty sure this has majority support, not minority.

Google does simple math, so that's basically an equivalent issue.

IMO it's dumb -- in real life you have access to Google. But I mostly wanted to say I think there's clearly majority support for artificial grading conditions, since the no-calculators thing is so popular.

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#36

Post by xenophanes »

He should have put the wrong answer on the website. Anyone who just copies it will get a 0 for being wrong. Anyone who actually thinks about it and notices the difference shouldn't fail, imo, since that's appropriate, thoughtful use of the internet.

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#37

Post by DrJokepu »

xenophanes wrote: post #34
pohl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you're actually in the majority. I bet that, rather, the minority position is that the instructor should create whatever conditions they want to so that they can exercise the students as they see fit - and that the students should extend enough respect to consider why those conditions are being created. This is my view. Replace the teacher with a coach in a weightlifting class. One day he wants you to lift…

Many math teachers ban calculators on math tests. I'm pretty sure this has majority support, not minority. Google does simple math, so that's basically an equivalent issue. IMO it's dumb -- in real life you have access to Google. But I mostly wanted to say I think there's clearly majority support for artificial grading conditions, since the no-calculators thing is so popular.

I suppose it depends on the university, department and teacher, but we were allowed to use calculators on math exams. Of course, they weren't helpful at all - if you knew how to solve the problem the calculations were so simple that you didn't need a calculator, if you didn't, you couldn't solve the problem no matter how good your calculator was.

For similar reasons, we were also allowed to bring in any books, notes etc. to exams. If you didn't have a good understanding of the subject, they weren't helpful at all as there was no time to start figuring out things, but if knew stuff, you didn't need the books and lecture notes at all or only for reference.

Sometimes I miss those times.

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#38

Post by joezydeco »

Semiapies wrote: post #30
dkarl wrote: post #10

My AP (Advanced Placement) Chemistry teacher noticed some cheating on a major chemistry test we took. The cheating was pretty obvious; some kids just decided they were going to fail the test so they might as well have some fun. A week later, after a week of lecturing on a new section of the chemistry book and no mention of our scores, a student asked. No, he hadn't graded the tests. He was sorry, he had been really b…

I wonder how many perfectly honest students did worse on the impromptu re-take two weeks later, with entirely new material on their minds.

If the new material built on the old, shouldn't the old material be a solid lock?

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#39

Post by WillyF »

During my Freshman year of college (2002), I was taking Econ 101. It was a class of probably 500 students, and our tests were multiple choice. By the time I got back to my dorm room, the answers to the test were always up on the course website (I'm not sure when they actually were posted).

After the first two tests, the professor must have noticed that something wasn't right. I finished the third test quickly, and was pretty confident that I had done extremely well. We used scantron sheets for our answers, so we got to take the paper with the questions home after the test. I had marked all of my answers on both sheets, so I loaded the course website and started checking my answers.

My heart sank as I went through the answers. Somehow I had managed to get every single question wrong. I figured that there must have been something wrong with the answers, and when I matched the answers (not the letters), I realized that I had actually gotten every question right.

The prof swapped the letters, so the kids whose friends were texting them the "answers" got screwed. It was pretty funny, even if it increased my blood pressure for a little bit.

Re: How to Catch a Cheater

#40

Post by petercooper »

aplusbi wrote: post #3

That sounds terrible. If I saw something like that, I'd probably do the problem, then look up more information on it. I'd probably start with wikipedia but move onto google (well, ddg these days) if I didn't find anything. The sort of policy that does not allow one to do basic research is pretty anti-academic if you ask me.

The policy's wording also bothers me. There's a massive difference between searching for "the answer" and doing some research.
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