Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!bu-cs!bzs
From: bzs@bu-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Cheating on Programming Assignments
Message-ID: <6487@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: Mon, 13-Apr-87 22:17:00 EST
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.6487
Posted: Mon Apr 13 22:17:00 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 15-Apr-87 03:27:01 EST
References: <248@rruxa.UUCP> <274@sdacs.ucsd.EDU> <211@axis.fr> <645@ihu1e.ATT.COM> <3891@utai.UUCP> <1368@uwmacc.UUCP>
Organization: Boston U. Comp. Sci.
Lines: 49
In-reply-to: edwards@uwmacc.UUCP's message of 13 Apr 87 14:30:20 GMT
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.41.4 of Mon Mar 23 1987 on bu-cs (berkeley-unix)


>  So now what if we have a graduate and an undergraduate taking the same
>  classes, but since both are taking the full load the undergraduate
>  is taking one more class then the graduate. The undergraduate is 
>  therefore at a disadvantage. This probably is not cheating but .....
>  What about those who are only taking one or two classes ...
>  Another variation that graduates and undergraduates used was to drop
>  the course before the 12th week if they were not doing as well as 
>  they wanted to. They could then take the course again, having some
>  of the programs already written!!

You should bring this up with the faculty, probably the dept chair.  A
typical resolution is to require an extra paper or something similar
from grad students taking undergrad courses. If it's an undergrad
taking a grad course then you knew what you were getting into. At
any rate it's no excuse to cheat, nothing is, so what's the point?

>   I think there are many different aspects to cheating, of which
>   only one, the 100% cheater, is being addressed. What do other
>   people think ? If you get half the program from some one else 
>   is it cheating? Where do you draw the line ? How can you draw
>   the line? I do not think that cheating is so clear cut as the
>   cheated or not, the only problem is that the person who gets 
>   caught is the one who did it 100%. 
>
>   mark

Wrong. Cheating is cheating. It's like asking if it's ok to be just a
little bit pregnant.

I would take full action against a student who "only got 1/2" the
program from someone else. Unpardonable.

The only rule of thumb is "did the plagarized work improve the
student's grade?" If the answer is yes, it is cheating and should be
punished (of course if the bozo copied the wrong solution, as often
happens because bozos tend to come in bunches, it's still cheating.)

The safe thing to do is: When in doubt, point it out.

If a student put a comment above a routine indicating that they had
gotten this routine from another student the worst I would do would be
to lower his or her grade by the same amount as if they had missed it
entirely (the *worst*, more likely I'd try to give them some credit,
or speak with them to find out what's going on.) If you did this it
shouldn't be construed as cheating. Useless, perhaps, but certainly
not cheating.

	-Barry Shein, Boston University