Today is our last day of classes before final exams, and it's looking like this semester is notably different from the nine semesters that came before it:
As well as I can ascertain, none of my students have committed plagiarism in any of their assignments for me!
Yes, that should be the normal state of affairs, but we are painfully aware of the gap between "is" and "ought", are we not? Some semesters, I've had to deal with multiple plagiarists. This term, no cheating-related paperwork for me.
Thank you, students, for restoring some of my faith in humanity. Be sure to eat healthy food, get adequate sleep, and kick ass on your finals.
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The comments on post about final exams seem to be bringing out related questions about all the stuff that happens (or doesn't) in a course before the final exam. They're important questions that deserve their own post.
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I believe that if students are passing their classes with a B and above they should not have to take final exams.
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I'm sure there's a thoughtful post that could be written logically connecting these points and shedding light on a "big picture" issue or two that needs to be tackled. However, I'm heading to class (to talk about the Strong Program in the sociology of science and return midterms), so I can't crank…
Becky Hirta is thinking about exams:
For the giant calculus class I'm starting to write multiple choice questions. For a class like that, really the only issues for me to consider about the final are how to avoid cheating (change the order of the MC questions and the numbers in the long-answer),…
As well as I can ascertain, none of my students have committed plagiarism in any of their assignments for me!
Cool! They're getting better at it. This means that they're more likely to have success cheating in the world of business and getting away with it.
-Rob the cynic
So.....yay?
See, this is why I'm not a teacher: I don't think I have any faith left to restore. Given the same information (9 semesters with, now one semester without), I'd assume that either I'd simply missed something, or the cheats had found a new trick.
Yeah, Bill says basically what I was getting at with my cynical comment.
I hope that Janet is right, and that the students didn't plagiarize.
However, whenever professors are sitting around talking about how obvious it is when students cheat, how stupid they are at it, it strikes me that we're talking about the ones we catch. Given cheating statistics-- which we all read and are horrified by, and which don't match our own experience-- there must be a lot of students out there getting away with it.
-Rob
I never plagerized while in college or grad school, Janet. However I graduated from college nearly 25 years ago. Back then it was nearly as much work to copy something as it was to figure it out yourself. I really don't know if I'd be able to resist cheating if I was in school now. Computers and the Internet just make it so damn easy...
do any of your students claim copyrights to their papers?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070330-high-schoolers-turn-in-pl…
Janet,
reading your site brings back a little of the undergraduate days (general requirements), so thanks for that.
question: in the scenarios you ponder the issue is, on face, what is the proper overt behavior. in most science ethics situations, this is not a real question, that of what one is supposed to do. most people know this on one level or at one time. this is why one gets much rolling of the eyes during the training-grant-mandated science ethics "training classes" for pre- and post-docs. the overt acts are obvious.
the critical issue (and one that relates to the plagiarizing undergrad) is why people of otherwise good character start to slip. no? why are those decisions made to go with slightly shaky data? to unjustfiably hammer that competing grant or paper in peer review?
but you don't seem to ponder this part of the issue which, in my view, is the important one.
Though I am one of the students you bemoan when you talk about attendance, I am proud to say I don't plagiarize; if there isn't enough time to do a paper or project, it simply goes undone. I cannot understand those who are so desperate to maintain a certain GPA that they would risk the serious consequences that are associated with academic dishonesty, perhaps because of my slacking ways! I know, it's a hard pill to take: "At least those who skip probably don't cheat!", but there are still students who do neither. Kindly instill in those honorable few a sense of wonder about the subject matter (as too many of my professors have failed to do with me).
We didn't have Google when I was in college. I can't imagine how hard it must be nowadays to try and figure out whether some student's work is original or not.