<p>My TA suspected that some students had copied HW answers from similar problems given to students in the class the year before. I wrote to them all saying that if they fessed up, I wouldn't fail them and have them expelled. I told them I was about to do a deep dive into the assignment and if they had cheated, I'd surely find out.</p>
<p>Shockingly, although I was looking for one group of cheaters, half the class ended up confessing.</p>
<p>What's the right answer? I could give the cheaters all Cs or Ds or just lower their grades a notch. I'm inclined to give Cs to the cheaters. What do you think?</p>
<p>It's business school after all. Ethics are important. I warned them in the first class that I'd deal harshly with cheaters.</p>
<p>Try also asking this on the forum over on Chronicles of Higher Education “In the Classroom” …many other professors there.</p>
<p>I think they would say “Don’t give HW just like last year”…
Is that indeed cheating? Is it looking for material that was explained before and using it?
And if they are just copying and not learning, then you will indeed find out if they understand by giving them a test on it.</p>
<p>At my private LAC with its honor code, punishment for cheating on an assignment would at the very minimum result in a 0 for the assignment cheated on and a referral to the judicial board for honor violation. </p>
<p>That board will determine additional penalties.</p>
<p>I should also mention that it’s rare for large groups or moreso, half the class would be involved with cheating at my LAC as even merely knowing about someone cheating and not reporting it in a timely manner is itself an honor violation which could result in serious penalties and a possible notation on one’s transcript. </p>
<p>Was it clear to the students in advance that using similar (but not identical) problems/answers from the year before would be considered cheating?</p>
<p>(In the future, could the TA keep the completed homework and tests so students don’t have the unethical opportunity to gain an advantage from studying from or using last years coursework).</p>
<p>It’s only the second year I taught the course at this school. I’m made it very VERY clear in the first lecture a) how I defined cheating and b) what the consequences would be…</p>
<p>Zero for the assignment and refer them to the administration on the cheating charges. Although, I do have to say I hope the expectations and standards of conduct for HW assignments was both in writing and made very clear.</p>
<p>I’d wager that the vast majority of students if given access to previous year’s questions are going to study them in the hope that the format of whatever the professor gives them is going to be similar. </p>
<p>It’s actually incredibly frustrating for students in the class who don’t want to ‘cheat’ or bypass the learning process to find out that exam/homework questions mirror questions from the previous year. Frankly I think you have to chalk this one up to learning and next year make sure any questions you use differentiate enough from the ones you used in past years.</p>
<p>C’s to those who confess, F’s to the cheaters who don’t.
Exception: B’s to those who confess but also turn in students who didn’t confess.</p>
<p>This is a case study? For homework with right/wrong answers, many times the profs would leave previous homework assignments and answers on their website to download.</p>
<p>Second year teaching the same course and you are already self-plagiarizing your assignments? Make new assignments every year, and let the students study from previous years’ student work.</p>
<p>The professor needs to come up with new material each semester. Often, just a part of the problem or assignment needs to be changed in order to determine if the students really understand the material or if they are just writing the answers from previous semesters without understanding how your changes affect the expected answer. </p>
<p>If half the class admitted to using material from the previous year, I think there was something lacking in the ‘very clear’ instructions at the beginning of the year. Was this ‘very clear’ information part of the syllabus? In writing? My daughter just did a writing assignment and thought she was following the instructions to cite materials used ‘so far’ in her drafts, but the prof marked her down for only using 2 sources, not 5. She looked for the instructions on line and couldn’t find them, but the prof did admit that other students did the same thing and so ‘thought he must have not been clear.’</p>
<p>My other daughter went to an official study session and they reviewed material from prior year exams. The next day she took the exam and it was the same exam! She said she felt like she was cheating, but had done nothing wrong since it was the TAs who presented the material.</p>
<p>I’d ask a few student what their understanding of the rule was about using any materials available for doing homework. If they admit that you are correct, that what they did they knew was wrong, then follow the school’s honor code or whatever you said the consequences of cheating would be. If several say they thought it was fine to use any source for homework, including material from last year’s class that must be widely available for that many students to have access to it, I think you need to examine your very clear instructions.</p>
<p>^ Using materials from previous semesters as a study guide is considered by many students and faculty to be a good pedagogical practice. It is awkward for your students when you define this as cheating.</p>
<p>I didn’t provide the material from last year. Whoever used it had to seek it out from one of the students who took the course last year. The questions are data-intensive and fairly detailed.</p>
<p>Well, if you are convinced they cheated and knew they did, give the consequences that you told them at the beginning of the year. A zero on this assignment? A drop in the final grade? The only thing you must honor is that you said you wouldn’t fail them if they admitted their cheating (not fail them on the assignment or for the course? You weren’t clear on that, at least here).</p>
<p>Don’t be surprised if the class doesn’t think you are fair and won’t take other classes from you. I find it hard to believe that half the class cheated and knew it. If so, I think you need to bring this to the administration and inform them there is a VERY big problem at the school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What definition of cheating did you give at the beginning of the course, and what penalties did you specify for cheating? Seems like the obvious penalty to give them would be the one you specified before.</p></li>
<li><p>Make major assignments and tests each semester that are different enough so that using the old ones as study guides will not be cheating. Hand out the old ones or put them on the course web site so that access is equalized among all students.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Not changing the assignment from year to year and then threatening students will large penalties for having familiarity with the old assignment is a hill that your teaching evaluations are going to die on. Have your TA write a new assignment each year under your supervision.</p>