Addressing Cheating Students
It is important to address the issue of cheating at the beginning of class to set the expectation of the consequences.
Hi Carey,
I can certainly see how this practice can cut down on absent days. I do not think that it is fair for students to have the same exam when they are absent with no penalty.
Patricia
I agree, it is important to address cheating the very first day of class. We do have the consequences outline on the syllabus for each course as well as the student catalog for the college. After outlining my expectations for the class I do let the students know that if they miss an exam for whatever reason, they will be taking a different exam all together. This cuts down on the cheating as well as the absent days.
Carey Gallatin
Hi Frankie,
With today's technology creating various versions of a test is painless. The different versions of the test make it difficult for students to cheat.
Patricia
The two exam system does work well. We have a bank of questions from which we choose to construct our exams, so it isn't so difficult to do. Most of the questions are the same, but are in different order so cheating is very difficult.
Hi Crystal,
Being proactive is a good thing when it comes to the students knowing the honor code; they then realize for every choice there is a consequence.
Patricia
By addressing cheating before it even happens, they will know the consequences before it even happens. If you are clear on the consequences from the start and they know how serious it is, they are less likely to even attempt to cheat.
I certainly agree with having more than one exam. I have even found that putting a label at the top such as, "Test A", "Test B" is helpful. You can also alternate the pages and still have same questions.It is also very necessary to make the students aware of yours and the institution's cheat policy.
Have a definite universal policy on cheating for all programs of study. This is true at my school and all faculty and students are made aware of it at Orientation and the first day while discussing course syllabi.
I agree that while time consuming, different versions of the same exam will eliminate almost all "copying" from other students. As far as using their study notes or electronic devices, does anyone know of any other ways to get around those?
I agree addessing cheating is very important. I have found using different exams help eliminate the problem in my classes. I know two exams are time consuming , but it has always worked for my classes.
