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Message board > What can we (teachers) do to prevent cheating in class? Do you find any interesting and effective ways to stop cheating at school?
What can we (teachers) do to prevent cheating in class? Do you find any interesting and effective ways to stop cheating at school?
Yes, it is posible that 95 percent of the students hace cheated, here in Argentina is very common to have sts who misbehave or cheat. The thing is that we�ll never be able to prevent them from doing that.... what I usually do in this situation is to open my eyes widely and if it happens to talk to the student in front of the class, so he�ll be so embarrased that probably will think it twice before doing it again...
Another thing is to mark his paper and at the moment of putting a mark, I give him/her a mark below from what he should receive.
I don�t know, there�s a lot of things to do with sts who cheat, the thing is that is a problem that I think it will never end
Here a solution of sorts if you have a HUGE problem. Two different exams. You sit the student in rows, in such a way that each student has a different exam in front, behind and to the side. The way to do this is alternating who gets what exam at the front of each row. it would go ABABAB for one row and BABABA for the other... It�s an extreme thing to do and more work for you but it prevents a lot of copying from others.
Cheating in Chile is rampant, and to the point where I think it�s unfair to single out one student for doing it. �The 95% of students that "have" cheated figure, in Chile I think this is "are cheating". �Not only in school but University too. �Zora�s suggestion of two exam papers is good, I�ve tried three or four exams with a little success. �If you�re concerned about the extra work, you can simply change the order of the questions (especailly if it�s multiple choice). �Also project work. �People talk about "copy pasting" on this site, well you haven�t seen anything until you teach in a Chilean school. �Maybe I�m being unfair, is this a problem in other countries too?
I think that the problem we should be targeting is not cheating, but the underlying cause. Sure, you can give them different exams, and it�s an effective way of stopping them from copying off each other. but there are other ways of cheating. (e.g. cheat sheets). A student who studies regularly, is confident, and thereford doesn�t cheat, the same goes for students with high moral values. So those are the two things we should be looking into.
At one of the universities here in sweden last week 75 people out of 157 on one course were found to have plagiarised their essays. The university caught them by using some type of software that can identify copied work. It�s big news here and they are all international students too... So they are trying to downplay it... foreign relations and all, but hey cheating is cheating right? And you can�t tell me that by uni level you don�t know that its not ok to copy from a book, author or study... shheeeeshhhh!That you actually have to use your own brain!!! :-)
Generally though swedish people are very rule minded, in that "these are the rules, the rules must not be broken, we all follow the rules...( repeat 100 times as a mantra if you will) " Seriously they think you are the mad one if you suggest an alternative to the "rules" which have been around for years..
So while I am sure a bit of cheating by the Swedish does happen, I would hazard a guess and say it�s not that likely because of the following the rules mentality.
Another poem also appears on the classroom�s wall:
"The proctor looks at me (a candidate) and smiles,
I look at him and my tears stream out,
How high are university�s gates!
There is only way for me to come back the immense rice
field."
Is there any guarantee that the changes of testing (multiple-choice,
seat arrangement, etc.) will restrict cheating if we don�t change the ways of
evaluation and students don�t know the value of integrity and self-respect?
I find that English speaking countries as well as Nordic countries (here I will include Germany) seem to cheat less. I�m guessing that it is something looked down upon socially. It doesn�t mean that it doesn�t happen but just to a lesser degree - also teachers in Canada for example, stress "express in your own words concept" - so copying with cheat sheets is not a good idea...
In Spain though, cheating and new ways to cheat seem to be on "the menu of the day". If my students spent a third of their time studying as they do toward making a "cheat sheets", they�d all be genii (geniuses).
It�s a cultural thing and trying to change an accepted way of thinking is hard. That is why I think you need to be one step ahead of your students all the time and the two or three exam policy works quite well - also I�d suggest the teacher walk around the room and not sit at their desk... sitting at your desk gives them the impression that they can cheat easier because you are not paying attention or that you simply don�t care what they are doing... (and this last part, I have heard from my own students. Teachers that sit at their desks are considered "stupid" because they are basically allowing for the cheating to happen.)
I hate stereotyping and generalizing but I have to say that in my experience of teaching in Chinese Universities for 12 years and five years working with teachers in Malaysia, I too am disappointed and shocked how blatant and prevelant cheating is in examinations. And without wishing to come across as being �superior� or �better� than Asians, I do think that cheating is taken much more seriously in the West than in the East.
I know that in China some teachers are paid bonuses according to the results of their students, so it is in their interest to give easy exams and to turn blind eyes at cheating. Unfortunately it also develops a mentality that �everyone does it and if I don�t allow my students to cheat then they will not get as many marks as those teachers that do allow cheating. - so it is done to help the students�.
I am sorry to be western and imperialist about this, but I had a strict no cheating policy in the examinations i set at university level and instructed the class throughout the term that if even one person even gave a hint that they may be cheating, then I would embarass them in front of their peers and give them no marks for the exam. It seemed to work, but I was dealing with small classes of post graduate students. Larger classes may be much more difficult.
It may well be regarded as cultural, but I still think there are some things we can accept and adapt - but cheating just is not one of them
Oh, just remembered something... pop quizzes! Those wonderful things are a cheater�s bane - if the teacher doesn�t warn them first that they are going to have a pop quiz - never quite understood THAT. A pop quiz is supposed to be a surprise test, you do not warn the kids that you are having one tomorrow or whenever...
But anyways, pop quizzes are great. Surprise them every so often with them and they should start taking things more seriously and start studying on a daily basis - or at least looking over their class notes every so often...
re the software, the accuracy of some of the plagiarism detecting software can be quite suspect. I�ll have a look through some of the different stuff I have about it & PM you during our winter break!
- never quite understood THAT. A pop quiz is supposed to be a surprise test, you do not warn the kids that you are having one tomorrow or whenever...
