<p>^ How would that be grounds for violation of academic integrity? Is it that easy for a professor to report on hunches rather than evidence beyond reasonable doubt?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No one said the curricula got shallower or that universities offer less courses. Obviously as science progressed, engineers were expected to understand more. You cannot seriously expect engineers to lag behind as R&D explodes. </p>
<p>A dense curriculum is not a hard curriculum. It’s the tests that determine how much the students actually need to know and study. These days, if you don’t force a student to study something (by testing them), they’ll just skim it over and move on. </p>
<p>Even engineering schools, which aren’t known for grade inflation, typically have 2.8-3.0 GPA averages. This whole B = average is a new trend; look at any university with a history: [url=<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/Ucberkeley.html]UC-Berkeley[/url”>UC-Berkeley]UC-Berkeley[/url</a>] , [url=<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/harvard.html]Harvard[/url”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/harvard.html]Harvard[/url</a>]</p>
<p>It’s easier than ever to get a good grade because more good grades are being given. You can argue that younger generations are smarter (Flynn effect or some other crap), but this is irrelevant. You can’t say that students are pressured into cheating if more and more of them are being offered A’s and B’s. If you can’t keep up with your peers even though there’s massive grade inflation, then don’t be an engineer. </p>
<p>Just because there’s more material to learn nowadays doesn’t change this simple fact: if your job affects other people’s lives, then you should be good at your job. Cheating in thermodynamics and o-chem won’t make you good at your job as an engineer.</p>
<p>It would be awesome if the colleges caught the cheaters like on the show Cheaters. </p>
<p>They should have a panting camera guy run up on the kid cheating and have a pssed off professor and a host in a leather jacket confront the cheater. </p>
<p>Bonus points if the cheater is either naked when caught, or attempts to stab the leather-clad host.</p>
<p>I prefer when tests are designed in such a way that cheating is pointless. I would feel really intimidated taking a test in an environment like the one described in the article. Testing conditions like those create a divide between the instructors and the students, since the students feel like they’re constantly being monitored for everything they do. Even if students don’t cheat, they’d still feel weird about being suspected of it all the time. Having a cops and suspected robbers relationship in the classroom probably isn’t the best environment for students to learn.</p>
<p>I think a lot of people cheat in college but I feel that its foolish. I mean I’ve though about cheating before but getting caught (which rarely happens) would be really embarassing and trouble. idk why cheat when you need to learn to succeed in life.</p>
<p>^ As well, how about simply rearranging the order of questions. This would also produce an intimidating sensation, where one would realize cheating would be pointless.</p>
<p>Plattsburgh – I think you have the making of a new reality show on your hands!
You could have a high school version too. :>)</p>
<p>I would hate taking tests like they described it… Makes me twitchy just thinking about it. </p>
<p>My school uses an online data-base for people to submit their papers through. I personally find THAT scary because it takes your paper and compares it to everything it can possibly find. I’ve never seen a report for it but my TA described it as showing the percentage of the paper that is considered plagiarized. She said unless it was extremely high would then even look into it but it still makes me nervous to submit through it. Even though I know I haven’t cheated, it makes me feel like they suspect me anyway… It’s not a nice feeling. It might be better if they allow the students to see the reports (I think its an option but my professors don’t utilize it).</p>
<p>Well, in my experience, those systems are usually pretty accurate. I see no reason for students to be able to see the reports… if the percentage is high, then the professor can look at it and see that you either used a lot of cited quotations or that you genuinely plagiarized. There’s nothing to worry about if you did not plagiarize.</p>
<p>(unless of course your professor accuses you of plagiarism just because you have a high % and does not even look at the full reports. But there are ways to deal with that.)</p>
<p>Sithis, that’s pretty much my fear. Especially when the professor instructs you to use a lot of quotes in the papers because he/she prefers it.</p>
<p>Edit- And when you do submit, the footnotes do not appear… So unless you use MLA citations (which are generally only for English classes and not history) the quotes look unattributed.</p>
<p>Well, usually if you are accused of plagiarism there is some sort of review board and you are allowed to gather evidence to defend yourself. If the physical copy you turned in to the professor has the footnotes you would have a good defense. In no reasonable school would the professor just be able to say “Oh, it looks like you plagiarized 45% of your paper, therefore you fail” and have that actually happen.</p>
<p>I don’t doubt that there is more cheating. It’s simply easier than ever to cheat these days with the internet, cell phones, cameras on hand, photo pens, fax machines, copiers and all of these toys that make it just that much easier.</p>
<p>In the old days, if you were cheating, you at least had to write out the danged thing like a monk. Now days a few clicks of the keyboard or buttons and you are set.</p>
<p>“At every institution where I have taught, the professor does not determine guilt or decide on the punishment. At my current institution, as at so many others, those are decided by an honor council comprised principally of students.”</p>
<p>At the college where I teach, when I catch students plagiarizing, I put the original paper and the student’s paper together and send them off to an asst. vice president who calls the student in and decides the punishment. I never accuse a student of cheating if I suspect it, but if I catch them, I turn them in. </p>
<p>My students now do an on-line tutorial about plagiarism and I am very clear about it. In the ten years I have been teaching, it seems to have gotten worse. The Internet makes everything soooo easy. A few years ago, I had the student’s paper and a version off the Internet. Her response: “That isn’t where I got it.” Oh, that somehow makes it better.</p>
<p>Tests are just too easy. If a test required students to really do hardcore creative thinking, then having a text message from another student or a sheet of crib notes wouldn’t matter. Seriously, I’ve had professors let students use laptops during tests if they agreed not to use instant messaging.</p>
<p>As a student I have seen many things first, cheating does happen but many professors have been able to minimize it. In many of my classes I have to leave my cell at the front of the room, allso some professor have the class take off all hats at leave their books in the front of the room. As for plagairism that is simply student lazyness if it is a research paper all that is needed is proper quotes direct and indirect and citations, which online is the easiest thing in the world with easy bib and similar sites.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I graduated in May. A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail where a professor accused me of violating the Academic Honor Code, and reported it to the Office of Academic Integrity. It “had been brought to her attention” that I’d shared code with another student in a computer science course last fall. </p>
<p>What had really happened was that I’d helped another student out with an assignment, but neither of us had copied the other’s code. I know there are some professors who allow no collaboration at all on assignments, but I hadn’t thought that this professor was one of them. I explained myself, and thankfully, my professor dismissed the charges (though there’ll still be some record of the incident with the Office of Academic Integrity). </p>
<p>If this had happened while I was still in school, I would definitely be scared to work with other students in the future!</p>
<p>BookAddict- even the deans of the school viewed this as completely ridiculous. It’s so rare for 2 students to get sent to academic integrity from one class each semester, let alone 7 or 8. </p>
<p>I believe that nearly everyone (who had gotten a second 0) signed a form saying they cheated (even if they hadn’t) rather than face/fight the academic integrity board. Personally, I would have fought it, but as I stated, I was never even close to having that happen to me.</p>
<p>The repercussions were “minor” if they signed the form - just a zero on the homework. However, it will remain in their record that they admitted to it.
Had they fought it and lost, I think they would have automatically failed the class or worse.</p>
<p>I’m a CSE major and at my college, if you’re caught ‘working with another student,’ you have to retake the course. </p>
<p>I can see how thye want to minimize cheating, and I think it’s a good thing to separate those who work for the 4.0s and those who copy for the 4.0s… but at the same time, for things like working together (so similar ideas) but not just straight off copying, there’s a fine line. I want to work with people, but I’m scared to. What good does that mindset do to the students for the future?</p>
<p>“If you’re going to cheat, don’t get caught.”</p>
<p>Amen to that.</p>
<p>Cheating is an addiction, trust me, students will always find ways to get around anti-cheating devices. And the problem is, a lot of teachers are too lazy to do anything about it, some of them simply don’t care. Also, cheating in any math/science related field is pointless. It will catch up to you very fast and you will fall behind.</p>