Here's how I try to eliminate cheating. All my exams are "open book", "open notes". Students are allowed to consult any source, including the internet, except their classmates. You might think this only works for abstract essay exams, but it works just as well for multiple choice exams (time limited). By "it works", I mean that by comparing multiple choice exams taken within the same course as "open notes" to those that are "closed", the correlations in performance are higher than .90. In this environment, crib notes simply become good notes. In the real world, we are not prohibited from using references to come up with the best answers to problems.
I'll admit to possible bias. The questions in my open-notes exams might be a little bit "harder" than a closed-book exam but I honestly don't think they have to be. Paper assignments are progressive. Students have to submit a topic, then an outline, then a set of drafts (sometimes with peer review in the class, which I look at), followed by the final paper. Each step requires them to revise their work according to comments. It would be difficult to buy a paper that would conform to these steps. If the student were to ambitiously cheat, e.g. buying a paper ahead of time, then rewriting in order to pass the steps of the process, it would probably be as educational as writing the paper in the first place. Plagiarism is something we work on during the process of re-writing the drafts, but "lifting" of material is not, in my experience, eliminated by these procedures. I would appreciate suggestions about this. I tend to believe that a course in "information literacy" would help all of our first-year students. I don't see how any of our students here can learn anything from "Caught Cheating" that will help them to short-cut to a better grade, except maybe the secret instant messaging on the cell phones. BTW. If I give a closed book exam of 60 items in a 50 minute class period, they all finish well in time. If I give the exact same exam as an open book, open notes exam, then I get many complaints of not allowing enough time for such a long exam. Bill Scott --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
