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[Jerry Hampton]

I once attended a school that had an honor code.  It stated, " I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor will I tolerate others that do."  

It worked for it was strictly enforced.  Those who violated this code were dismissed in disgrace form the school forever.

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[M. Divine]

The most efficient way to discourage cheating is to design assignments and tests that require specific elements of the course.  While few assignments are 100% cheat-proof, a no-tolerance policy reduces the temptation to behave dishonestly.  My syllabi state in no uncertain terms that any instance of plagiarism or other cheating will result in  an unequivocal "F" for the course, not just for the assignment/test.  Students  must sign a "Student Agreement Form," stating that they have read all course policies in the syllabus, understand them, and agree to them.  When I find evidence of cheating, I confront students with it, along with their signatures.  This discourages whining, rationalizing, and complaints.  The few students who do complain to administrative officers receive very little attention beyond asking "What does your professor's syllabus state about cheating?"  After the president or VP sees the syllabus, assignment, proof of cheating, and the student's signature, he or she announces, "Case closed."

Cheating will continue to corrupt and debilitate higher education as long as professors cave into students’ excuses and worse yet, as long as some teachers are loath to even recognize the very concept of cheating.

[Catherine O'Sullivan, Lecturer]

In Ireland students are clearly told that anyone bringing a cell phone into an examination will have it confiscated.

[John Burningham]

Cheating has always happended, with or without technology.  The pressure on the students for good grades and the expectations of some instructors for students to be walking libraries of facts amplifies the problem.

I found a very easy way to stop cheating on exams; allow it in an controller environment.  I will allow students to prepare a single "cheat sheet" and bring the sheet to the exam.  The cheat sheet must be hand written and turned in with the exam.  I also test for a deeper understanding of the material rather than detailed trivia.  On essay questions I typically allow them to answer X of Y questions, this way they are not pressured to know everything and weakness in one specific area will not have a negative influence on their grade.

The interesting thing I found is the good students produced some very interesting cheat sheets, and the poor student seldom bring one.  The students who do make and bring the cheat sheets to the exam, seldom use them.  I have tricked them into studying!!

[Asst prof too]

"Cheating will continue to corrupt and debilitate higher education as long as professors cave into students’ excuses and worse yet, as long as some teachers are loath to even recognize the very concept of cheating."

This is a very good point to make--I have colleagues who will fail a test if the student cheats but they take the cheating no further because the student must have had a good reason for doing it (sure, laziness, hangover, etc.).  One of my grad students told me last night that a young woman came into the writing center for help that afternoon.  Her composition instructor is having his class read _Richard III_ and is basing a few essays on it.  This woman came in for help with her essay and on her way out of the office, she turned to the grad student and said, "Do you have a copy of the Cliff notes for this play in here?"  The grad student, Steve, asked her why she wanted them.  She said, "I don't want to read this stupid play.  Why should I?"  Steve told her that of course the writing center would not supply students with Cliff Notes for instructors' assignments and that she really needs to read the play so she can pass the course.  She said she'd look for the Cliff Notes at a book store and left.

It may seem a trivial matter, but this attitude is pervasive.  Students don't see why they should do they work if they can find a way around it.  Here this student does not equate reading Cliff Notes instead of the play with cheating, and yet it IS cheating. If we as instructors don't make a big deal about it, why should the students?

[Carlo]

Most people already don't cheat.  Even in the related article, only 12 of the 400 students were determined to have cheated.  So the object is to find out how to stop those 12 from cheating.  I do believe that cheating is cultural or rather environmental.  When students attend school in an environment where cheating is easy to accomplish and easy to get away with, there's little reason to avoid it.  Likewise, when students attend school in a competitive environment, where learning is fun and exciting and cheating is not, it travels with them.  Cheating has gotten much easier with the advent of newer technologies, so we must find ways to motivate students to be proud of real accomplishments so that they will want to do the work themselves rather than have it given to them.

[cheated cheater]

Technology is not the issue. When I was a university freshman thirty-some years ago, I took an art history lecture course with about 100 other students. When we dispaired of getting our foreign-born instructor to modify his accent so we could understand what he was saying, even after complaining to the department chair, we started taking turns coming to class, signing each other in on the attendance sheet he passed around. If he noticed that far fewer students were actually in the lecture hall than the number of names on the attendance sheet indicated, he never let on.

Come final exam day, he distributed the multiple choice test and left the room, telling us (we think) that we were on our honor.  Immediately students started calling out the answers (which were looked up in the textbook). We all finished about the same time, left our papers on his desk, and passed with flying colors.  Cheating? To this day I feel that the ineffective instructor and the indifferent administration cheated us out of part of our education.

[N. H. Jolemore, Tidewater CC]

John Burningham wrote, "I found a very easy way to stop cheating on exams; allow it in an controller environment. I will allow students to prepare a single "cheat sheet" and bring the sheet to the exam. The cheat sheet must be hand written and turned in with the exam. I also test for a deeper understanding of the material rather than detailed trivia. On essay questions I typically allow them to answer X of Y questions, this way they are not pressured to know everything and weakness in one specific area will not have a negative influence on their grade."

One of my anthropology teachers used a similar testing method, and I thought it worked extremely well. I liked this professor's teaching and testing methods so much, I ended up minoring in anthro and taking four classes from her. In creating the cheat sheet, students have to go over the course material and in the process, they solidify their understanding of the material.

[Assistant Professor]

The last post by "Asst prof too" highlights a point I made in my original post.

I don't condone the actions of the student who wanted to read the Cliff's Notes instead of _Richard III_, but I would argue that the student implicitly knows something the instructor apparently does not know--that _Richard III_ is a lousy choice for a required reading assignment in a composition class. And to make it the basis for "several essays" only compounds the error. (Of course, if this were a course in Shakespeare, or British Literature, or even methods of literary analysis, the play would probably be a wise and sensible choice.)

My original point was that a good deal of cheating is invited by poorly-designed or ill-conceived assisgnments. This is a prime example, but sadly, also symptomatic of many English departments' tendencies to equate "writing" with "literary analysis."

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[J.R. Price]

I agree with Carlos' point: Cheating seems to be related to the environment a student is entering in addition to the environment that individual is coming from. Many students are already under alot of external pressures (family, financial, peer), and to add on to this pressure of academics only places more stress on the student. Now, I am in no way dismissing those who do not take their academics seriously, but I do wonder; do we ask our students why they cheated? Professors expect alot from their students; they want full attention and participation from them. Nonetheless, our professors have to realize that our students have a life outside of the classroom, and although we would like to think academics and social activities are two separate entities, in reality they are not. So ask yourself this: what lives do my students bring with them to the classrooms. Maybe, after answering this question can we begin to understand this "trend" in technological cheating.

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[J.R. Price]

I agree with Carlos' point: Cheating seems to be related to the environment a student is entering in addition to the environment that individual is coming from. Many students are already under alot of external pressures (family, financial, peer), and to add on to this pressure of academics only places more stress on the student. Now, I am in no way dismissing those who do not take their academics seriously, but I do wonder; do we REALLY ask our students why they cheated? Professors expect alot from their students; they want full attention and participation from them. Nonetheless, our professors have to realize that our students have a life outside of the classroom, and although we would like to think academics and social activities are two separate entities, in reality they are not. So ask yourself this: what lives do my students bring with them to the classrooms. Maybe, after answering this question can we begin to understand this "trend" in technological cheating.

[Pamela Peterson/FSU]

As many of the previous posters to this discussion have indicated, cheating has been around a long time and, no matter what we devise to prevent cheating, students will try to cheat.  It's unfortunate, but it's a reality.

Therefore, it is important for faculty to devise tests and establish testing environments that discourage cheating.  This means that faculty must be aware of the advances in technology that would allow students to share information and devise tests in which students would not gain an unfair advantage by sharing information with other students.  And it is not just the act of catching cheaters that is important, but establishing testing that is perceived as fair and just.

I agree with others posting to this discussion that faculty have to develop good testing techniques -- being lazy with testing invites mischief among students.  We also have to remind students of the university's honor code.

Probably the best deterent is to enforce the honor code and make sure that students know that you will.  It is very time-consuming (and, at some universities, quite difficult) to report cheating.  Assigning an F for the course and other such grade penalities are usually simple for faculty to accomplish.  The tough part is going beyond the grade penalities to report the infraction to the university and extracting a penalty, such as dismissal from the university. Far too many faculty members simply institute a grade penalty -- without realizing that many of these student are repeat offenders.  And many universities make it difficult to report violations of the honor code.

My experience has been that it is rare that it's a student's first tme cheating.  The very few students who cheat tend to be repeat offenders. But because faculty members often do not report cheating, the student is rarely taken to task for these infractions.    Universities need to help out in this regard, making it easier for faculty to report cheating. Also, universities need to take a closer look at students who have multiple offenses.  Even one offense it terrible, but multiple offenses need to get the universities' immediate attention.  

It bothers me a great deal to think of a student who cheats in one or more classes, graduating and working, say, for a bank.  Would you like them managing your money?

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[Raymone "Baby Boy" Jenkins]

I agree that "high-tech" accessories should not be used on exams in college, but we as a society have become so technological-dependent, that without it we as a society would feel handicapped. Furthermore, there is no use of trying to prevent the use of technology in classrooms today, because as time passes we are coming out with so many high-tech accessories that they will be used in classrooms all across the country in the future and so advanced that they are making high-tech accessories small enough to use without anyone around us knowing about it...So lets just accept high tech accessories in society as a way of enhancing the knowledge of the "millineum generation"... Just for the record in no way, shape, or form am I condoning cheating on an exam...I am just saying that we should just look at it as a way of providing some creative studying for the millienium students of today...

[Pascuala]

To avoid this kind of cheating, teachers shouldn't allow anything but a #2 pencil in the testing room.

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[N/A]

Honestly baiting the hook or not the problem still is that the student cheated.  Futhermore, if the student is looking online for the answers during the course of the exam then, that is CHEATING!.  

There is no blame on a professor for posting fake answers on the web.  If the student is so brave as to access these answers then he or she never learned the material in the first place.  I mean do you really want this type of person to be the 'so-called leaders' of our country?  What kind of example does that set for our youth?  That it is o.k. to cheat, even if baited?  Besides, what do you honestly get out of the material that you can take on with you in your prespective jobs?  

To employ such a cut throat individual can threaten a company's intergrity, much less the institute that let them get that far.

So sometimes people make mistakes,  well nip it in the bud now while the student is young before it is to late.