) at Tufts University, about professors' attitudes toward cheating on homework:"The profs tell me to ignore it."The article goes on to say that students and faculty are often "cavalier" in their attitudes about cheating on homework because the former group views it as busy work, and the later group knows that students will rarely pass if they cheat on homework. My guess is that some professors are scared of student retaliation, especially at some universities that offer little support for academic ethic violations. And many professors would rather be performing research, not parenting a 20 year-old; afterall, tenure committees don't count the number of students you've busted for cheating. It is certainly easier to abdicate our responsibility of shaping our students' character and look the other way.
What I found most interesting about the article was what Trevor Harding (California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo) coined technological detachment phenomenon: the moral detachment many experience in an ethical situation when introducing technology into the equation.
For example, Harding found that most students would say they are cheating if they brought a cheat sheet to an exam. But those same students would not consider it cheating if they brought to the exam a graphing calculator with the same information secretly stored on it. The use of technology, for whatever reason, makes students view the ethical situation quite differently.
Are there other areas of life where technological detachment phenomenon applies? I couldn't help but think of how mobile devices have altered what is acceptable in social situations. For example, many of us allow our devices to interrupt our conversations with others, even at the dinner table, but we would think it rude if a live person barged in between us and a friend while talking.
One last item: the article briefly mentions cheating websites like Course Hero. They have over 250K "fans" in Facebook (see the image below).
I lifted this from Course Hero's Facebook fan page:
Course Hero is the leading social learning network that strives to accelerate and maximize education breakthroughs of students -- the persistent learning gap between theory and application via a content sharing network.Brilliant marketing: a carefully crafted statement that avoids the use of "dishonesty", "plagiarizing", and "shooting yourself in the foot".
I would argue that cheating isn't so cut and dry as you say. I would argue that the real problem is testing. The current state of testing usually involves a student proving they have memorized information and can regurgitate it on paper during a fixed time period. I've been working as a software engineer for 5 years now and know how to teach myself new concepts in order to get the job done. However, I find myself failing my Algorithms and Data Structures course because even though I understand the concepts, I can't replicate them from memory on paper.
ReplyDeleteSo, I think your focusing your time on the wrong problem. Cheating isn't the problem, it's testing.
So it's the professor's fault that he/she asks questions that students can't answer that makes cheating OK? Hmm... I'd have to side with your professor on this one.
ReplyDeleteIf you were unable to write a for loop from memory, should you pass a programming class? Just because the subject matter is much more difficult, should different rules apply?
That's not to say you can't apply advanced algorithms and data structures into your programs just because you can't remember some of the details. Obviously you are a really good programmer, and I'm sure you have the ability to implement and understand the concepts from class. But to be truly proficient with the class material, some memorization is likely going to be necessary. (Ever have a class where the prof didn't know the course material and just read word-for-word from notes? Not fun.)
Of course you could have a prof that writes really bad exams, but cheating isn't the answer. A better route would be to talk with the prof about why certain material is on the exam and to ask how you can better prepare for the next exam.
I'm not condoning cheating, I'm advocating better testing. I think your time could be better spent addressing testing concerns than trying to catch and prosecute cheaters. You said so yourself, cheaters are cheating themselves, so who cares if they do it?
ReplyDeleteYou're right... profs should always be looking for better ways to assess students' knowledge rather than putting huge amounts of time into catching cheaters. But having a don't-care attitude toward unethical student behavior in regards to homework can inadvertently send the wrong message to students... that faculty doesn't care about ethical behavior in general as long as you do well on exams.
ReplyDeleteThis can be found on the Application page for Course Hero on Facebook.
ReplyDelete"Intellectual honesty and integrity is a #1 priority of Course Hero. We DO NOT support any and all use of user submitted educational materials for unethical purposes, such as plagiarism or other forms of cheating. The educational materials found on www.coursehero.com should be used to supplement current study efforts within the defined limits of each student's respective university code of academic integrity." - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/apps/application.php?id=18834560452&ref=ts