Towards the end of our class tonight, we talked about ways students might cheat on a test. I remember way back in high school when a test was coming seeing and hearing of people cheating on tests. These attempts were mirror state of ametuerism as opposed to the YouTube videos I watched on the subject this evening. Sure, everybody has heard of somebody writing answers or key words on their hand or on a crib sheet. The ways kids think of them now and the use of computers are very complex.
The one that stands out the most is of a guy taking a plastic bottle of Coca-Cola and carefully removing the plastic sticker. He uses a scanner with hi resolution to copy the sticker. Then by using programs like Adobe Photoshop, you can edit out the text that was originally on the bottle and add your own cheat notes. This he says is the coolest and most proficiant way to cheat.
After watching these videos and especially this one, I see that some people will stop at no limits to give themselves an unfair advantage. This is a genius way to be dishonest in school.
As future teachers the technology will only get better giving some dishonest people more ways to get ahead. Teachers must be aware of this. This might be avoided by disallowing drinks, phones, or anything other than a pencil and the assessment on the desk.
The school is a place for students. But after watching these videos, the teachers may have to take back what is theirs — a safe and fair learning environment.
3 Comments
April 29, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Knowledge is power, right?
May 1, 2008 at 1:18 pm
If you haven’t already taken the L.A.S.T. test for grad school you will. The extremes that they go to to prevent cheating are immense. No drinks, no phones in the room, etc. At first I could not understand the lengths they went to but after the videos in class last week I now know why.
May 4, 2008 at 9:06 am
I find it amazing the lengths that students go to to cheat. It they only took that energy to study they would be so much further ahead. America might not be failing………..
I gave a pretty simple quiz in my classroom last week and while walking around I notice two girls nodding at each other. I stood close by and kept a watchful eye on them. After grading their papers “amazingly” both papers were exactly the same, the sad part was they both received a 65 (D). How sad that was. I was so distraught and sought advice (how to handle the situation) from several sources, other teachers, and my principal. I had written a note on each paper when I graded them to “see me after class”. I decided to re-arrange my room (once again) and for their “warm-up” I wrote “If you were a teacher and suspected a student “might” be dishonest on a quiz, what would you do”. I gave them time to write their answers. 98% said they would fail them and send them to the principals office. So.. with all of that being said, one of the girls came up to be during class and said “you want to see me after class”, I said yes and went about working with the students on their projects. So,, after class finally came. I closed the door, sat the girls and myself down and asked them to look at each others paper and compare them. I asked them what happened,, they gave replies such as we didn’t study, we didn’t answer everything etc.. it was painful to start.. I then simply said would you like to know what i noticed? of course they said… I said well, every single answer is the exact same (right and wrong once alike)… hmm… I wonder how that happened………… they sat their… I said look girls… let’s be honest here.. tell me what happened… one of them sang like a bird.. we cheated she said… I said “really”…. Anyway.. they admitted it and said they were sorry.. they actually said they thought I didn’t notice and thought I would help them by giving them extra credit.. I chuckled.. and replied why would i do that when you cheated? Anyway. I did thank them for their honesty and talked to them about they are the loosers in all of this that cheating cheats them out of information that is important, “even in Art”. They asked if I would consider extra credit and I said I would think about it.. Well..I have and decided I would give them a research paper to write with specific criteria such as citing their sources.. it is going to be a learning experience for them. I spoke to my principal with the outcome and he is just thrilled and said i have good instincts. More than that, I am just happy the girls were honest with me.. that is rare as I have come up against problems before. I actually had a student steal a book of mine because I commented that he needed to write the paper in his own words.. Instead of working it out, he stold the book. Very dis-heartnening.. Anyway.. my advice is just that, get all kinds of advice, search your soul and go with your instincts. Not all students are the same and if these girls would have been snippy with me or gave me an attitude I might not have been so forgiving.