Academic Dishonesty (Cheating)

[Liberaliter]

From the sounds of it a few people did better than you in class which has resulted in you wanting to take your anger out on future students by punishing everyone, so that's a no to choice B from me. You should probably get down from your high horse, concentrate on teaching and let the University handle the cheating.

 

[Bluelaughter]

My University had a policy of assigning a -100% grade for the first assignment you cheated on, and expulsion on a second instance. 70% seems too charitable.

Group punishment is a bad idea. The onus is on the teacher to prevent cheating where possible, or make it not worth the effort. Also, tests themselves are not a fully accurate dataset of how all students perform. Instead of devising this punishment system, improve your tests to accurately capture the knowledge of the students better.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

I approve of the option to let cheaters redeem themselves once after admitting to the class that they cheated. Sometimes it takes a bit of public embarrassment for a person to either decide it's not worth breaking rules or to do so much more subtly. Either way, they'll end up using that one last chance and if they do decide to keep cheating will be faced with failure and all that time wasted.

Of course I do see some clear problems with forcing the whole class to take a test again for having one or two cheaters caught:

1) The students who may have pointed the cheaters out will be less likely to do so if it means they get punished too.

2) Some students may try to help hide the cheater without actually cheating themselves. Would you auto-fail them too for being an accessory to cheating?

3) Enough students may complain about having their time wasted by taking tests over and over until you're told to drop the practice.

 

[Terminate421]

Being some one who did cheat their way through some classes, I would actually encourage cheating. BUT if you are caught cheating I would recommend an instant fail on that test/paper/ect. There is no rule that says once your in the job you can't use all the resources at your disposal to solve a problem even if it means doing some research. Some of my teachers used my method and honestly I was quite fond of it. IMO it's more intellectually stimulating to have to cheat and be unable to get caught. Ironically it turned out that only the smartest people in the class were smart enough to cheat. The stupid people had to learn everything by repetition.

I can partially agree with that.

Cheating should be allowed, but only if caught. I understand if someone worked hard and they were cheated on, but technically its their fault for not using scratch paper to cover their answers.

I sound like an Asshat saying that I know but in all seriousness, I don't hate cheaters, some important people probobly wouldn't be where they are if they had not of cheated.

With that said, I actually stopped cheating, as of my junior year in high school (I am currently a senior)

 

[Princess Rose]

I came up with a plan where the student has two choices, since I am the kind to give people a second chance to redeem themselves. Keep in mind that a student that is caught cheating may only choose choice B once, to avoid abuse of the system.

Choice A: The student fails the test, administration is notified, the student will be removed from my class with a non-replaceable F, and the administration can decide whether or not to kick them out of the college essentially ruining their academic career.

Choice B: The student that cheats has to come up to the front of the classroom, rip up their test, announce to the class that they cheated, and everyone must take a re-take. In this option the student that cheated can get no higher than a 70%.

The general consensus so far is that my plan is too draconian

As a college professor who has had students cheat before (and caught them), I agree, your choices are too draconian. Humiliation, while a good anti-motivator, makes the student (and the rest of your class) feel like you are a cruel dictator who takes pleasure in their pain.

Here's my policy on cheating (specifically plagiarism, since I teach English):

First Time: Fail the assignment with no chance to make up those points. Department head notified, but no other actions taken.

Second Time: Fail class and removed from class. Department head notified, student must repeat class, future instructors aware of previous situation.

Third time (in make up class): Explusion or some other legal or academic action as handled by the Department head.

 

[Jodah]

Being someone who didn't cheat but allowed his friends to cheat off his tests I honestly have no problem with people cheating.

Rather than punishing them for cheating it may behoove you to look at why they cheated. Was the subject matter poorly taught? Is it too difficult? Are there people taking the class because they need to but don't really care about it?

Often times teachers wonder why their students cheat or do poorly. They fail to see the common denominator in the equation.

Also keep in mind that testing peoples knowledge of equations or dates is a poor examination. Rather you should be testing whether they can apply that information. It doesn't matter if you know the equation to figure out the future value of an investment off the top of your head. What matters is if you know where to look for said equation and then how to apply it to the situation.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

And I don't do poorly in class either, it's just the cheaters seem to do better than me.

So that's pretty much all it bottles down to really? You're jealous because the cheaters get more recognition than you do?

Listen, if we're talking university grade physics then the cheaters are only punishing themselves. Physics, along with mathematics, chemistry and biology are subjects you just can't "fake" yourself through your entire life. If you plan to actually work with anything involving these subjects and you faked your way through them because you're just too lazy to do them, then your career will eventually suffer, along with your reputation.

So really, just drop the jealousy. It doesn't matter if these cheaters get undeserved recognition in an academic setting, because it will most likely come back to bite them in the ass "in the real world" (meaning: the world outside the safe little comfortzone we call "the academic world"). And trust me, that pain will be much worse than any classroom humiliation wil ever be.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

I feel that the system we have now is too harsh. Getting expelled from the university basically destroys your dreams, what you have been working all your life to achieve. Simply voiding the character should be enough, I think.

I have to admit that I agree with you.

One thing important to remember here is that not all cheaters are just "lazy assholes who can't be bothered to study".

Some people are driven towards cheating through desperation as well. They might have severe difficulties with a certain subject, but can't afford to pay for tutoring or have any real chance of getting any other kind of special help.

If they're desperate enough to cheat so they can actually get a degree, then their determination alone should show that it's unnecessary to expell someone from the university altogether.

So a certain degree of judge of character should come into the consideration when deciding if someone should be expelled for cheating or not. In the odd chance that it's just a poor student who needs extra help.

 

[lacktheknack]

It's a horrible idea. You should strive to make your students LIKE you (or at least tolerate you) so you don't get them telling everyone how much you suck (a death sentence if you aren't tenured).

Also, take me. I use the local disability services, write a test separate from the rest of class and get double time to write it (why isn't the issue here), and I send a good chunk of paperwork through the system and get myself slotted into a precariously balanced, maximum efficiency system come any major tests. Imagine the havoc you could wreak on equivalent services with this idea.