Sigh.
A couple days after my last post, I caught a cheater for the very first time.
I’ve caught plagiarism before, for sure. But this was the first time I caught someone cheating in an exam — like with actual notes the student had smuggled in and the whole nine yards.
I shouldn’t actually say I caught it, because I didn’t. I walk the room during exams, but I’ve always thought of myself as walking around the room to see if students needed help. I don’t think I’m passive, but honestly — it just never occurred to me. And now it won’t stop occurring to me!
When the student handed in the exam, a set of notes fell out of the booklet. I mean, I didn’t catch this at all — the student did it, really. And as the notes slipped onto the desk, my stomach lurched. Oh, I thought. Let me be wrong. Let this be… anything but a set of cheat notes.
Of course, there was nothing else it could or would be.
The situation has been dealt with. Dean and memo and consequence. All sorted a few days ago.
But I have had a hard time not thinking about it in the meantime. I can’t help wondering lots of things. Not least, though: why? Because here’s the crazy thing. I perused the notes and they wouldn’t have helped. At all. The notes were written as though the exam was a “gotcha” move — as though the questions would have related to utterly obscure content from the course. And I remember preparing for exams that way: memorizing minute bullshit instead of focusing on larger course concepts. I honestly assumed until well into 3rd year that the exams were designed to trip me up. Like, me, personally. Like the universe and my instructor were conspiring to bring down my course grade.
(It never happened that way, incidentally. I don’t really remember a time when my mark dropped after the exam. And yet experience was never a very good teacher in this regard.)
I’m not blaming myself for the student cheating. (Ok, I did for a couple of days. I’m still mostly a super insecure disaster.) But I am wondering how I can do a better job of getting across to students that their exam is not an attempt to trick or fool them, but a genuine desire to see what they were able to learn in their time in my class. I mean, I say that. Out loud and everything. But it doesn’t stick.
Have you ever caught a cheater like this? Did it push you to rethink how you design your exams? I’m doing a lot of mulling and would love to hear about other experiences.
I let my students bring notes to exams. One page, front and back, 8 1/2 x 11, in their own handwriting. I talk to them about the kinds of things they should put on their notes as I’m telling them (in broad terms) what the exam is going to look like. They call it their “cheat sheet,” and they say I’m tricking them into studying. But it reduces the anxiety significantly for them, and I haven’t caught a cheater since I started this system.
Posted by Heide | April 29, 2012, 7:13 amAh, a good suggestion — one I got from a colleague as well. I do use this with my academic writing students. In the lit exams though… I am a part of the dying breed who still really appreciates quotation identification as a test of engagement with lecture material. Hm. I have to think. I think what I really need to do is read more of the recent research on test writing and taking strategies.
Posted by dr. b | April 29, 2012, 8:10 pmI find students think this about a lot of aspects of academia. As a comp. instructor, I don’t give exams, but I definitely have had those students who want me to justify every point I’ve taken off on their essays–as though I’m trying to fail them.
I never got this as a student, so perhaps it’s generational. But the attitude that academia is really just a set of tricks, traps, and formulas definitely prevails. You hear it in their, “What do I need to do to pass?” questions. Naturally, they don’t believe me when I answer, “The work” :-/
Posted by Ben V | April 29, 2012, 7:35 amI never like the generational argument.
I wonder if it has to do with how much students know about the college experience. I notice the attitude is most prevalent in my first-generation students, who seem to believe most of what goes on is alchemy. (Sometimes it fees as much to me, though.)
Posted by dr. b | April 29, 2012, 8:08 pmInteresting that you say the students want you to ‘justify every point I’ve taken off’. It reflects, to me, their supposition that they start out perfect and then lose points. My reply when they ask why they lost some points is to reply that the proper question is how did they earn the ones they did.
Now ask me how I feel about grade inflation.
Posted by Lea | May 9, 2012, 4:37 pm