I have had very similar experiences this semester (my first semester with a cell phone policy similar to Paul's). I had a seminar with 13 students that met twice a week. Only one person texted (actually sent a bunch of texts during one class). I emailed her right after class reminding her of the policy. It worked very well. Marie
**************************************************** Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Psychology Kaufman 168, Dickinson College Carlisle, PA 17013, office (717) 245-1562, fax (717) 245-1971 Office hours: Mon/Thur 3-4, Tues 10:30-11:30 http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.html **************************************************** -----Original Message----- From: Paul C Bernhardt [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 8:38 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Cell Phone Use My new cell phone policy was very effective this semester. The policy was: If I see your cell phone at all (on your desk, visible within your book bag, in your hand, etc.) or hear it ring, you will be counted as absent for that day. Attendance was about 7 to 10% of course grade. I entered their 'cell phone absences' as a separate line item in the online gradebook within 24 hours of the class, never confronting them in class or after. Never got a complaint. Not only was attendance up, but cell phone use plummeted. I had 3 instances in one class of 29 students. I had 1 instance in one class of 22. I had 3 instances in one class of 26. All classes met twice a week. Doubtless, I missed a few instances, but my perception was much less usage or they were *much* better at hiding it. -- Paul Bernhardt Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD, USA On 12/17/09 10:55 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > I HOPE the 2 students did not conspire. The better student is one of our best > majors. But cell phones are becoming a problem. I've emailed both and I'll try > to settle this quickly. I'm going to explicitely ban them next semester. The > only cell phone incident I had recently was when a student in class told me > her mother disagreed about what I had just said in class - she was texting her > mother during class! > Sent from my BlackBerry(r) wireless device from U.S. Cellular > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gerald Peterson <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:47:24 > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)<[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [tips] It's that plagiarism time of year again... > > > Did they use cell phones to take a picture of one exam and send to the other? > Apparently, that is becoming a big problem in some classes. That, and texting > each other. I ban cell phones during exams, but it is very hard to police in > large classes. Anyone have a problem with cell phone cheating? Gary > > > > > Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. > Professor, Department of Psychology > Saginaw Valley State University > University Center, MI 48710 > 989-964-4491 > [email protected] > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Kulig" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 4:00:04 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [tips] It's that plagiarism time of year again... > > > Yes, that time of year again! I have never used Turnitin.com but I want to > introduce another problem I just encountered ... > > Two students in stats both turned in an exam with the exact same multiple > choice answers(35 out of 39 correct, and both the correct AND incorrect > choices were identical). I have never seen this happen before. One student was > aceing the class and the other was on the verge of failing. I have a pretty > solid case of copying not just on this point on other parts of the exam > because the poorer student also had correct AND incorrect answers on the > computation part out to two decimal places (including a "proportion of > variance" effect size of 2.15 which is bogus), all without computation, just > answers written down. Because I am grading non-stop and need a diversion, I am > intrigued with guestimating the probability of the MC being identical on all > 39 given no cheating. It's obviously a low probability as my MC scores average > close to "optimal difficulty" level (in the 60 - 70% range), so it's not the > case that most people get most of them correct. > > Anybody ever try to model this problem? I can assume they both knew 35 > answers, get the frequencies of all the wrong answers for the class, and > assume people guess randomly when they don't know. But they only missed 4. I > can also regress this exam on previous exam scores and show that the poor > student getting only 4 wrong is an outlier, but that may not be convincing > enough .. and thoughts would be appreciated. > > If the student were brigher they should have changed a few answers and > scribbled a few computations here and there on the sheet! > > -------------------------- > John W. Kulig > Professor of Psychology > Plymouth State University > Plymouth NH 03264 > -------------------------- > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DeVolder Carol L" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 2:56:53 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: [tips] It's that plagiarism time of year again... > > Hi, > I have a student who has done poorly on his exams but has turned in a > stunningly good paper. Frankly, I don't think he wrote it but I'm having > difficulty showing that. I have Googled key phrases but nothing has turned up, > so I don't think he copied and pasted, I think he bought it. Can anyone give > me some idea of what Turnitin.com charges for an individual license? It's the > only thing I can think of, other than confronting the student, which will most > likely be my next step. I hate this stuff, it takes so much time and really > takes a toll on my enthusiasm for grading. > > Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. > Carol > > > > > Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > Chair, Department of Psychology > St. Ambrose University > Davenport, Iowa 52803 > > phone: 563-333-6482 > e-mail: [email protected] > > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
