Academic Honesty
Once you've viewed the presentations
and completed the cheatability rubric, post to your blog your reflections on
this topic. How did you score on the cheatability rubric? What did you learn
from completing the rubric? How do you know students are completing the work in
your face-to-face class? How is the online teaching situation different? The
rubric contained many techniques to ensure academic honesty in an online
environment. Which specific techniques will you use to ensure an honest
environment in your online classes? If you are not sure, check out the
additional resource below! It is full of techniques for preventing cheating.
Read and comment on 2 of your class members' postings.
Cheating in Online Courses
The Cheatability Rubric was an eye
opener. It never occurred to me that a
student actually spends time trying to find ways to cheat in online
courses. I guess it is in the human
nature and as educational research surveys indicate that 90% of students polled
admitted to cheating at least once in their academic life. I took the Cheatability Rubric survey after I
had viewed the videos. I score high on
the rubric but I think it was because I viewed the videos first. If I were to have an online class, I wouldn’t
have known to look for the items on the rubric.
I learned from the rubric to please aware of things that would make it
easy for students to cheat such as make all assignments authentic. Authenticity meaning assign projects that the
students have to submit in increments. I also learned to state the cheating
policy, defined plagiarism, and have the students to take a quiz to ensure that
they have read the information. I learned to make quizzes short and to make
sure I have a pool of questions so that they are random and no two quizzes are
the same.
In my face-to-face class, currently, I do
have “cheating”. I teach Kindergarten and I send homework with the
students. I know my students fairly well
and I know when their parent complete their homework. In the beginning of the year, I talk to my
students about their parents completing their homework. I also speak with the parents during open
house. Later in the year, I still get
homework done by the parents. I have an
incentive if the students complete 1 week of homework. If their parents did it for them they do not
get the incentive and that makes them stress to the parent not to do the
homework. I also have students that look on each other paper when taking a
test. I just make sure to tell them to
cover their paper so their friends can’t copy their answers and I stress to the
kids there is no copying.
The online teaching situations are
different. As a teacher, I have no
control who logs on and complete the assignments. If I suspect cheating, I
would just need to take the proper protocol like taking screen shots and
keeping evidence so when I confront the student and the parent I will have
grounds to stand on.
The rubric was a great tool for me. I will weigh the percentages of my
assessments with projects and discussions weighing more than online exams. I must make sure the cheating policy is
clearly stated. I will define the act of
cheating. I will define plagiarism. I
will enforce their knowledge of cheating by making them take a quiz online
and/or write a paper. I will make sure
all course assessments are clearly aligned to stated objectives and content. I will make sure my grade book is not online
or I have a separate copy offline. I
will remain present throughout the course by grading assignments and commenting
on discussions frequently just to let them know I am checking in on them. Last but surely not least, I would display an
attitude that would discourage cheating.
I teach fourth grade, and I too see most of the cheating happening with take-up assignments and projects. Unfortunately parents are making it harder for teachers to teach what cheating is and what kids can do to stop it (or not comply to it). My concern is if parents are helping students cheat in a face-to-face environment, how am I to know if the cheating is going on in an online environment? For the younger levels, if there a way we can hold parents accountable?
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Thanks!
I am a high school math teacher and it is getting harder and harder to catch cheating. The students seem to come up with new ways all the time, like the use of cell phones. The big difference I can see is that parents are not doing the homework for the students in high school like they are in elementary. I do like your incentive to discourage the parent do the assignments, great idea. I really liked the rubric as well and learned a lot from it. I hope to use as often as possible to assist me in my online and face-to-face classes.
ReplyDeleteGreat job with the post!
Catrina,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your very thorough post. It looks like you and I both learned a lot from the presentations and the rubric. It's amazing all the extra work online teachers have to go through to prevent cheating, especially the large pool of questions for the online tests. That one seems most difficult due to trying to make them all worth the same amount of points/equal.
I teach first grade and like you, I see cheating in class. Some of it is because students lack confidence and after they write their answer down,they want to check their neighbor's paper to make sure they have it right. -Not OK!!
Some I've deliberately caught cheating by putting their spelling list in their desk for them to double check as they write the spelling words on their tests.
Online teachers have so many things to do to prevent cheating as well as giving feedback often to keep their students motivated, and let's not forget grading work and recording grades.
Do you plan to teach online classes someday? I'm not sure I'd like to. I so enjoy teaching face to face with my little ones, it sure wouldn't be the same for me, not getting the satisfaction of their learning and watching their faces light up when they are proud of themselves. Plus, I love their smiling faces and their hugs when they leave each day. :)