High Tech Cheating

<p>While I have heard many of these "ideas" discussed on CC before, this is one of the more comprehensive articles on cheating in the high schools that I have seen in the mainstream media. </p>

<p>More</a> high-tech cheating - and rationalizing</p>

<p>While the technology is new, the goal remains the same - get good grades without doing the work. The question is - who are they really cheating? If you don't know how to do the math problems without cheating, how will you make it through the next math class which builds on this one? </p>

<p>On the other hand, many of the techniques used in this article are easily prevented - if students are sharing photos of exams, make up tests with subtle differences - e.g. flipping the words of a true false question or rearranging the answers on a multiple choice test. Have a few extra calculators and make random students use the teachers calculator on the test. Have students check their cell phones at the door. Why don't teachers do more to make it more difficult?</p>

<p>How about when students google the answers to the quiz that are posted online?
It’s considered cheating too, rght? But isn’t it the prof/teacher’s fault for not making their own test questions?</p>

<p>^Do professors not create their own tests?</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if my kids have cheated a little, the low-tech stuff like asking friends what’s on the test. They don’t have texting enabled on their phone, so that’s not an issue.</p>

<p>What surprises me is the number of kids who help their friends in later classes. You’re just hurting yourself.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, none of the teachers at my public high school give a damn if you pass or not, let alone whether or not you are cheating. My math teacher actually told us he was only there for June, July, and August. There is a LOT of apathy in school, from the students, parents, teachers, and administrators.</p>

<p>applicannot:</p>

<p>Sad state of affairs. </p>

<p>Vicks:</p>

<p>I can’t see how cheating is ever the teacher’s fault. I do think they should do more to prevent it - but ultimately it is the student’s who are to blame for cheating.</p>

<p>What about someone else doing your homework for you - is it cheating? I keep telling my H that he is enabling cheaters by answering their (sometimes very trivial) homework questions on a science forum.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, this. The year I had AP Bio, the 3rd period class averaged 10% higher on tests than the 1st period class.</p>

<p>I think the worst method of cheating is to pay someone to do the work. This includes college admission essays.</p>

<p>I once help a friend pass an introductory writing class. Big mistake! She took the second written course twice now, and still failed.</p>

<p>qwertykey, nope my prof have a hard time posting her questions in blackboard, so she uses the test bank questions.</p>

<p>S2 says cheating is rampant in his HS. He is not happy. He says many of the “A” students in AP Calc, AP History, etc. cheat and it aggravates him because he has to work so hard and knows so much more, but has a lower % than most of them. I told him I understood, but that he answered his own implied question. The real knowledge he has will serve him well and is AP test scores will likely be more valuable as well. He also reports that the second period on courses all have it easier because of texting of questions and answers.</p>

<p>Teachers frequently get tests and homework from publishers. </p>

<p>Rather than making the kids check cell phones at the door, teachers can ask kids to leave the cell phone on the desk, face down and don’t touch it.</p>

<p>I love your suggestion of simply changing the wording on the test! If publishers offered teachers 4-6 different versions of a test, would parents and kids protest that some versions were unfairly more difficult? (Keep in mind, the SAT test is offered in multiple versions and some people even have more sections than other people! Is that justification enough for kids getting different tests in their classroom tests?)</p>

<p>Yeah, telling friends in later blocks the questions is pretty much the norm here.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Cell phones have definitely changed things! I wouldn’t let a cell phone near any test. Maybe the AP test rules have it right. Cell phones can’t be anywhere near your person. I read on one CC thread that one young lady was able to text her friends in class without ever looking at her phone!</p>

<p>I know it would be more work for the teachers but it seems to me that something like this would not be hard in this day of computers:</p>

<p>1a) (T/F) George Washington was the first president of the US
1b) (T/F) George Washington was the second president of the US
1c) (T/F) John Adams was the second president of the US
1d) (T/F) John Adams was the first president of the US</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Well technically, at my school, the rule is no cell phones on at all, but that doesn’t work very well. Also, I think most kids can text without looking at their phones. I can type without looking at the keyboard… just imagine not being able to see the screen as well. In my Spanish class, one of my friends sent about 130 texts per class (blocked class = 95 minutes).</p>

<p>It goes back to the rote learning and lack of creativity of much of US education? Too many multiple choice tests, too much grade-grubbing, too little thinking and writing.</p>

<p>I can attest that cheating is rampant at my (somewhat competitive public) school, but it’s mostly low-tech. The only really high-tech cheating used is SparkNotes, and that’s really widespread- most of the upper-level English students use SparkNotes instead of actually reading the assigned books, and almost all use it to review before tests. Besides that, much of it is pretty informal- sharing test questions and difficulty to those in later periods, splitting up work. One scandal that just erupted occurred when several students split up a take-home packet which was part of the class final and worked on separate parts, and many others used Internet info to prepare notes for that packet. On the other hand, the teachers should anticipate some of this stuff- a long, difficult take-home final was wide open to such cheating, which is why few teachers use them in the first place.</p>

<p>^^</p>

<p>We called it playing halfsies. But sometimes you’d do it with more than just one other student.</p>

<br>

<br>

<p>During AP tests, you cannot have a cell phone on your person. It has to be in your backpack which is then put in a pile far from where you are taking the test, or it has to be collected by the proctors. </p>

<p>D told me that one of her teachers who has 2 periods of English told her classes that she curved the test between the two classes. So if you helped a later class, you only hurt your own grade.</p>

<p>Why is it a problem if you use internet info to prepare notes for a packet? Isn’t it like using an AP review book to prep for a test? Am I missing something?</p>