Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!watdragon!gvcormack
From: gvcormack@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Gordon V. Cormack)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: looking for cheating detectors
Message-ID: <7971@watdragon.waterloo.edu>
Date: 24 Jul 88 16:56:02 GMT
References: <1403@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <2920@utastro.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 28

In article <2920@utastro.UUCP>, nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) writes:
> In article <1403@sbcs.sunysb.edu>, paco@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Francisco J Romero) writes:
> > 
> >   I am looking for a program which detects similarities between/among C 
> >   programs, and can be used to detect cheaters.  
> > 
> 
> What on earth are you teaching?  A class on re-inventing the wheel?  Perhaps

This is a bit unfair.  One can spend a lot of effort deriving just
the right set of labs to illustrate the material in the class.  Of 
course, they are re-inventing the wheel, but why shouldn't they be in
undergraduate classes?  Ad hoc assignments made up every term just to
be different are unlikely to be as good as ones that are carefully 
thought out by competent course designers.

The only problem is in encouraging students to *do* the assignments.
This is why I give marks for them, and try to discourage cheating.
It is well and good to say "they do it for their own good -- they will
fail the exam if they don't", but I do not think a responsible educator
can fail 50% of the class just to make this point -- especially not
in a vacuum.  If our society chose to wean the students from this hand
holding throughout the educational process, then maybe this could work.
Maybe the universities on the honour system have successfully done so.
-- 
Gordon V. Cormack     CS Dept, University of Waterloo, Canada N2L 3G1
                      gvcormack@waterloo  { .CSNET or .CDN or .EDU }
                      gvcormack@water         { UUCP or BITNET }