tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post3378122640852678556..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Hector, One of the "Others," Sends in a Big Thirsty on Leaving Class During a Test. (Hector, if You Keep This Up, You Can't STAY an Other...)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-88713063403023141762013-04-13T14:34:49.024-04:002013-04-13T14:34:49.024-04:00Same experience, but not a STEM person. Students ...Same experience, but not a STEM person. Students who do the homework will do better for all the obvious reasons; and it's not worth that much, so I don't police it. Major papers I check for plagiarism. Exams, I stay in the class for classes larger than 20. More than 100 and I bring in a TA to help invigilate.Merely Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00452389428113097744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-43821206375411898062013-04-13T14:31:51.094-04:002013-04-13T14:31:51.094-04:00I cite McCabe et al to my students and colleagues,...I cite McCabe et al to my students and colleagues, but to little effect. Last round of finals, one of my students reported that another student (not one of mine) had been consulting her binder full of notes throughout the exam. The other professor (we were writing in a gym) wasn't around, so I simply confiscated the binder and reported to the professor when he reappeared.<br /><br />He Lucy, Countess of Bedfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07181713706519539554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-55639246809855960572013-04-12T11:58:29.103-04:002013-04-12T11:58:29.103-04:00I've taught at two schools with very strong ho...I've taught at two schools with very strong honor code traditions, so strong that it was considered absolutely unacceptable, a violation of the spirit if not the letter of said code, for a faculty member to remain in the room during testing. In those places, I behaved pretty much as Hector describes (well, plus or minus the Taco Bell run; this was pre-cell phones, so the appropriate locationContingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-41255366307475367962013-04-12T00:08:10.437-04:002013-04-12T00:08:10.437-04:00I'm a wanderer. I can't stand wasting my ...I'm a wanderer. I can't stand wasting my time hawking. My rooms are generally quite small (only hold 35 or so), and all have computers in them. I always bring in a webcam, plug it in, and face it towards them. I make a big show of it for the first exam, and the looks on their faces are fantastic. The camera doesn't even work anymore, it's so damn old. <br /><br />Since I I_am_not_nicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12164044353299362252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-90149426278866847742013-04-11T19:53:28.365-04:002013-04-11T19:53:28.365-04:00Sometimes your favorite, most engaged and thoughtf...<i>Sometimes your favorite, most engaged and thoughtful student is just a D-bag Eddie Haskel. Don't kid yourself that you know them better than you do.</i><br /><br />I can't second this enough. I've been around long enough that I'm no longer quietly shocked or devastated when my "favorite" student lifts a paragraph off the internet, cries through the plagiarism meeting Gone Gradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17545285786616979495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-44232220574427506562013-04-11T17:18:06.148-04:002013-04-11T17:18:06.148-04:00I think students will put in the same relative amo...I think students will put in the same relative amount of effort. Memorizing equations takes more time so all students study more. The best study much more and the lesser students study a bit more. A cheat sheet helps immensely by saving students a lot of study time. The best students still put in the most effort (though less than they would need without the cheat sheet) and the lesser Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-30721354446817345422013-04-11T16:58:30.019-04:002013-04-11T16:58:30.019-04:00Being in Quantitative Rodentology I allow cheat sh...Being in Quantitative Rodentology I allow cheat sheets. One time, hand-written cheat sheets, mind. And I get them spread out and have 2+ versions with scrambled order.<br /><br />So that's the low hanging fruit, and your basic not offer temptation to the weak willed.<br /><br />But then I bring something else to do and may pop out for more coffee or a pit stop (all that coffee). I do move Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-23797047481872940252013-04-11T16:36:12.545-04:002013-04-11T16:36:12.545-04:00I try to make the cheat sheet help them. I insist ...I try to make the cheat sheet help them. I insist that they write it themselves and turn it in so that I can verify this. <br /><br />I figure that working out *what* to put on the sheet ought to be useful study time. Plus I examine the differences between the sheets of successful and unsuccessful students in an attempt to learn *how* to teach the next round of the little buggers.<br /><br />And Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59236976311403521662013-04-11T16:20:15.981-04:002013-04-11T16:20:15.981-04:00Although, as previously and infamously discussed, ...Although, as previously and infamously discussed, I don't really mind if students zone out during class, I do care if they cheat, and I try to prevent it. Not paying attention is one thing, but attempting to fool me as to what you do and do not know is another. Passively disregard the material being put in front of you? Fine, if unwise. Actively attempt to get a grade you don't deserve? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-19385874907911275532013-04-11T16:16:22.804-04:002013-04-11T16:16:22.804-04:00My college and system have a policy that the instr...My college and system have a policy that the instructor may not leave the room while students are there. By state law, we're part of the K-12 regulations. <br /><br />Of course, we do occasionally need to leave (too much chili the night before), but it's rare and fortunately hasn't happened to me during an exam.<br /><br />I'm a relaxed hawk. No cell phones, no calculators, no Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02906546940408742913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-68539864894995572862013-04-11T15:54:50.759-04:002013-04-11T15:54:50.759-04:00"Anyone who looks up is a cheater. Anyone wh..."Anyone who looks up is a cheater. Anyone who keeps their head down is a well disciplined cheater."<br /><br />Cheaters? I love to get some.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06nIz4scvICambridge0101https://www.blogger.com/profile/12153435765355501551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-54294017830716032492013-04-11T15:04:18.578-04:002013-04-11T15:04:18.578-04:00Perhaps one can view cheating as a collapsed wave ...Perhaps one can view cheating as a collapsed wave function, in that the student takes on all possibilities at once. Since one of those possibilities involves the non-existence of cheating, then the student isn't cheating until we observe them to be doing such.<br /><br />Theorem: We cause students to cheat by looking at them.Emergency Mathematical Hologramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15873569623797587860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-7875694593671806782013-04-11T14:56:53.008-04:002013-04-11T14:56:53.008-04:00There's some awfully interesting research on c...There's some awfully interesting research on cheating in college: McCabe et al., Ethics & Behavior 11 (2001) 219 <br />gives a fairly interesting summary. The most notable take-away for me is that the prevalence of cheating is most influenced my contextual factors - i.e., the perception of peers' behavior. <br /><br />STRONG evidence that if student PERCEIVE that others are cheating, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-40109310934148388532013-04-11T14:02:35.928-04:002013-04-11T14:02:35.928-04:00"My students don't cheat. I know this be..."My students don't cheat. I know this because I've never caught any cheaters in my classes." Uh huh. <br /><br />There are basically three types of cheaters: Sweathogs, Grinders, and Sociopaths. The Sweathogs are the ones who usually get caught because they're as stupid about cheating as they are about studying. The Grinders are high-achievers who cheat because they Surly Templehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05057191570792423261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-65540752542345028232013-04-11T13:45:21.380-04:002013-04-11T13:45:21.380-04:00I remain in the class during a test. I look up oc...I remain in the class during a test. I look up occassionaly from what I am doing (usually correcting) to see what they are doing. <br /><br />I would never leave during a test, but I don't stroll around looking for cheating, either. <br /><br />So I guess I am neither a hawk nor a stroller.<br /><br />I don't agree, though, that if you trust them they won't cheat. But I also see Bellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15686242633678466958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-530165104828612612013-04-11T13:43:27.116-04:002013-04-11T13:43:27.116-04:00By the way, Cal, I love that graphic. Another coll...By the way, Cal, I love that graphic. Another collage-y masterpiece!College Miseryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01371354682300032653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-19944051840553336482013-04-11T13:39:28.853-04:002013-04-11T13:39:28.853-04:00I always give two or three versions of the same mu...I always give two or three versions of the same multiple-choice exam (I don't give multiple-choice in all my classes, but I do in Non-Majors' Cricetulotextilology with 80+ students in the lecture room). The questions are the same, and the possible answers to each question are the same, but arranged in different orders on the different versions. And I don't color-code them; I'll Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-76136140065052935912013-04-11T13:27:03.512-04:002013-04-11T13:27:03.512-04:00What about the other way around?
The way students...What about the other way around?<br /><br />The way students treat the class and the professor is how the instructor responds in turn.<br /><br />Be a lying, cheating douchebag, you get treated as such.<br /><br />Because let's be clear... if we all had classroom full of honorable, law-abiding scholars, we can be lenient and lax and trusting. Not every professor has a classroom full of thoseThe_Mythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10621186404597424842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-8994937480059345202013-04-11T13:22:00.215-04:002013-04-11T13:22:00.215-04:00I do some of both. I stroll around, but I feel di...I do some of both. I stroll around, but I feel disruptive doing it in my tiny sized classroom. I have small classes, so I worry less. When I was a lowly TA at my big Uni proctoring large class exams in lecture halls...I was a stalker! Frennahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17126693773120200776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-5831575313453570482013-04-11T12:50:37.340-04:002013-04-11T12:50:37.340-04:00Don't kid yourself: it works for any sort of e...Don't kid yourself: it works for any sort of exam that involves more than half-a-dozen questions. I use this all the time. (I have been known to change things up a bit, so that I might have questions in which the concept is the same but the phenomenon is different e.g. "define the word up" vs. "define the word down."introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-89072391008340873372013-04-11T12:33:09.942-04:002013-04-11T12:33:09.942-04:00Well, then you are making the right choices for th...Well, then you are making the right choices for the kind of students your class draws.<br /><br />I've been in the business quite a while and have never heard anything like your tale. I'd swallow a bottle of pills before I dealt with that college.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64507294346717837482013-04-11T11:49:04.434-04:002013-04-11T11:49:04.434-04:00As I said above, I think the patrolling is for the...As I said above, I think the patrolling is for the benefit of the students who AREN'T cheating, not to save the cheaters from themselves.<br /><br />And if I see a cop at the side of the road around here, I'm surprised (the UK's Economic Efficiencies and swingeing cuts seem to lead to less police around. Who'd'a thunk it?)Grumpy Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02896982515031823267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-4226208280754517002013-04-11T11:45:49.606-04:002013-04-11T11:45:49.606-04:00Me too on the homework. Wonder if we're all S...Me too on the homework. Wonder if we're all STEM people?Grumpy Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02896982515031823267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-77637590022044277782013-04-11T11:44:46.762-04:002013-04-11T11:44:46.762-04:00With you on that - whilst the cheating is the stud...With you on that - whilst the cheating is the student's loss, the effect of not controlling cheating is to overall devalue the module/degree for all the other students who studied and didn't cheat. Like it or not, the credentialling part of our job is key to our function for students and for employers or graduate schools or whatever who use the qualifications as a measure of the ability Grumpy Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02896982515031823267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-42010689555927732412013-04-11T11:04:01.516-04:002013-04-11T11:04:01.516-04:00Sorry, but this 'treat them with respect and t...Sorry, but this 'treat them with respect and they'll behave' stuff sounds on the very far side of ridiculous for anyone teaching a large class, particularly for a 1st year course that is a mandatory prerequisite, as opposed to small upper-year course taken out of personal interest. After nearly 10 years of teaching a 1st year class of 500, I'd be pleased if average attendance Prof Poopieheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00997969128824319914noreply@blogger.com