Space between seats.............this helps alot. Other ways can be to give alternate tests (A/B/C) to students as they sit in their seats (three versions of the exam, so no one has the same one sitting next to anyone).
A program called Lan School Teacher, you can see what each is doing on the screen, if two windows are open the student is cheating. Only one should be open during the exam. No usb, no Internet, no quiz open. You can see the words Exam on the screen with the questions. If you see Quiz or the Net they are cheating.
The best way to prevent cheating is to prepare the students so that they feel confident they can pass. There should be no surprises. Throughout the course the teacher can underscore the critical information that students need to learn. Then too, there are some preventitive measures: hand out two different copies of the test to be used on alternate rows; keep the student desks spaced apart; remain in the room during the test; include some required short essays.
make sure desks are free of books. students spaced apart from each other. and let them know if caught cheating they will get a 0 and possibly dropped from the class.
Make sure no books are on the table. Make sure the students are spaced apart from each other. and tell them if caught, they get a 0 and possibly removed from course
Walking around the classroom helps make students aware of your presence. Taking away materials makes students less apt to cheat. Encouraging honesty at all times is an important part of classroom learning.
Total separtation!!!!! I think it's a good idea to space the students out during any type of exams.
Hi Stephanie,
I like how you take administering a test to a different level. You make them put their belongings up front...great idea, therefore the student is not tempted to cheat!
Patricia
Hi Fredrik,
Most students will do this knowingly it is wrong. They play the "I don't know card" to avoid getting in trouble. College students know about plagiarism.
Patricia
Hi Kenneth,
Students need to know up front if they are caught cheating what the repercussions will be.
Patricia
Hi Francic,
This tactic really works; try it. I've even scrambled questions to get a different order, but it is the same test.
Patricia
Have various test versions.
I agree with Stanley. I give an A, B, C and D test. I make is known to the students that they have different versions upfront. I also change seats during the final exam. All books, backpacks, cell phones, etc must be placed in the front of the classroom
On practical exams, I find that cheating is minimized by grading the results alongside the student. When students know that they will be participating in the evaluation of their product, they are reticent to cheat for fear of being caught "in person". Involving a student in the grading process has other positive side-effects as well.
In some of the other replies i noticed that the most effective way to handle this situation in a full class room is to administer a test that has an A, B and sometimes C variation.
Set the standard and policy from the start!! Make it extremely CLEAR to everyone what the rules are and what is expected!!
I occasionally walk around the class and I also give 3 versions of the test.
We use TurnItIn to assist our faculty in curtailing plagiarism. This service has a hugh database of student papers and searches the web for "similarity" in the student's work. A similarity score of 25% or above is a flag for the instructor to review that paper and determine if there is indeed plagiarism. The students each have their own personal portal, where they can submit their work as many times as they need to get their similarity scores down to acceptable levels, before they submit their work in their assignment drop boxes for grading. At this time the paper will be run through the system for the record and the similarity score will be become part of their submission.
This is a long winded way to bring up my point. Even with this tool and the in-color graphic representation of the offending passages, some students will still try to play the "I didn't know" card. I am not sure if it is truly a case of "I didn't know" or possibly that "they don't care". Any thoughts on this?
Well, if it is a math exam, it is very easy for steps to show their steps to generate the answer to the particular problem given. If students submit answers without any givne work and can partially assume that the students cheat. Also, if students submit asnwers and the work in between not legally correctly to generate the answer, you can definite assume that the students cheated.
To combat cheating--on quiz and test days the instructor probably should have special seating arrangement and two versions of the test.
