Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site bu-cs.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!bu-cs!root
From: root@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: students editing output
Message-ID: <647@bu-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 15-Sep-85 16:50:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.647
Posted: Sun Sep 15 16:50:48 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Sep-85 04:46:13 EDT
References: <433@uvm-cs.UUCP>, <1500@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Organization: Boston Univ Comp. Sci.
Lines: 65

As a teacher who has to deal with this problem, when I think there
will be a problem, I am inclined to the following:

1. Tell the students you trust they will not cheat, explain what is and
is not cheating as clearly as you can (you will probably find your own
fuzziness here, so it's a good exercise, invite discussion.)

2. Do not go to extraordinary lengths to prevent cheating with
technological devices, it is a human issue. Once you install such
devices (other than a few obvious things which are ok, like telling
students how to read protect files and recommending they do so without
belaboring moral issues here) you are saying, in effect, 'if you outwit
my elaborate devices then it is probably ok to cheat'. The reasoning in
people's minds (faulty or otherwise) is that if you put yourself up as
having made cheating technologically impossible, you deserve to be
outwitted.

3. Tell your students that being as you have put the trust on them, any
betrayal of that trust will invoke holy hell from you. I usually warn
(when I get into this conversation) that 'I promise you will spend the
rest of your life cursing me, all your friends will agree I was an
unreasonable asshole about that cheating offense, the least I will
compromise on is you get an immediate F and are barred from the
department, I will try to get it on your transcript and you thrown out
of the school.'

I am sure some of my students have gotten away with cheating in my
courses, detection is often difficult and being as I firmly believe that
when I accuse someone I am ready to go the limit with that accusation I
have to be careful with those accusations. I believe a student has a
right to some sort of 'hearing', there is nothing worse than soft edged
cheating policies where you handle it yourself (notice that anything I
would do in response to cheating will be a matter of written record and
completely subject to review at the student's request, no little chats
in my office about how I'm gonna give you a lousy grade on this hwk cuz
I am not sure it is your own work but do well and you can get a
reasonable grade anyhow, sorry, that hides what happened and intimidates
the student.)

Beyond that, detection should not be that hard, spot checking should
suffice with a little wisdom and familiarity with your students as
to their abilities and attitudes.

Another important thing is to try and feel out the support you will
get from your administration in your policies (if they will resist
you you're in trouble, if they have no recourse against you for the
student that's not reasonable either.)

Don't misunderstand me, I don't think I hold a majority view at BU,
tho I am not quite sure what the majority view is, this should in
no way be taken as policies at BU in general, just in my classrooms.

Where I was an undergrad many of the courses (not all) were run much
more like this, exams were given without proctors etc, you got
caught cheating, you were usually out if the prof was willing to press
it, or at least that is how students perceived it. Did that *stop*
cheating? Of course not, but it seemed to me to be at least a moral
system, responsibility not to cheat was placed on the student, not
the professor.

I agree that a lot of this discussion did have to do with detection, but
I sensed an air of replacing moral imperatives with technological
devices, a very bad policy to get into.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com