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With increasing using of online content and the greater use of technology in the classroom there has been more and more talk about preventing cheating. Now I am not convinced that online content or technology actual increases cheating though it does present new opportunities. In this piece from the Huffington post Dr Denise Pope suggests that attitudes to learning may be important. "Research shows that students cheat more when they believe that grades and performance are valued in their classrooms and less when they believe that learning, deep understanding and mastery are valued." -- Dr. Denise Pope http://www.huffingtonpost.com/c-m-rubin/education-cheating_b_2156034.html

A while back I put together a collection for my preservice teachers on cheating and plagiarism, Pam. Here is the link: Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
Carolyn

An interesting question Pam. What I am finding with my middle school students is not so much an increase in cheating, but what I call plagiarism by default. In the old days when I had a report to do, say on Saturn, I would hike my body up the stairs to our encyclopedias, plop down at the kitchen table and promptly begin writing my paper by mostly copying out of the encyclopedia. I would add a few words here and there that were mine, but for the most part I copied. Kids now are doing the same thing, but the difference is they are cutting and pasting, which doesn’t even require them to necessarily read what they “writing”. At least we had to read the text as we copied it onto our notebook paper. We are in the finishing stages of writing our research essays on storm water runoff for the Future City competition, and truly some of my students are doing an excellent job of paraphrasing what they are reading, citing correctly using the bibliography tools in Word, and overall doing an absolutely outstanding job. There are many though that are just copying and pasting. A question I am pondering is whether or not what Pam poses is more true the higher the level of student. Are my middle schoolers just going through the motions of learning? My goal is to teach them the value of lifelong learning and providing them with the tools for success long past my classroom and into their adult lives. It’s hard though when it’s easier to just go for the grade. Even as a University Professor, I still get looks from adults when I try to help them write their papers for their classes and they want to do the same thing – copy, paste and claim the writing as their own. I know for many of my adult learners they just want to get through the class and get a good grade because their GPA matters for reimbursement for the class. At both levels, middle school and adults, they feel entitled. I paid the money, or I am trying hard so you have to give me a good grade. I am not sure how to change the thinking, but until the student, regardless of the age values learning for learning’s sake, I am not sure they will truly internalize how cheating only hurts themselves. I am curious on others thoughts and observations.

I do believe that technology increases the amount of opportunities students have to cheat. When I was in school, and even now in college if I know that all I am aiming for is a grade, I will do as little as possible and put in just enough effort to get the grade. However if I know that I will have to explain something or use it in context, I am much more likely to study and make sure I have an understanding. I think another thing teachers can do to make children want to learn is not to give up on them. keep asking the same question over and over again.

As a student and as I go out an do my field experience toward my teaching degree, I can honestly say that the amount of cheating that I see is minimal. When I do see the students they are trying to do it the old fashioned way by writing on a small piece of paper or on their skin. I can only assume that technology cheating will be happening more on a high school and college levels. In some of my classes I can see students using their cellphones to assist in test taking. The more freedom that a student has to use technology in the classroom during a test can present an increased risk of cheating.

'Research shows that students cheat more when they believe that grades and performance are valued in their classrooms and less when they believe that learning, deep understanding and mastery are valued.' -- Dr. Denise Pope

There are as many methods out there to prevent cheating as there are ways to cheat, and I think every teacher should evaluate what method(s) might work best in their classrooms. However, I truly agree with the statement quoted above that students cheat when they're only concerned with the final grade and not the process of getting there.

One of the ways I've addressed this (with great success) in the past is through the 'oral defense.' Once students complete an assignment, I administer a short oral quiz on the topics covered. I don't ask for the answer to #6, but I'll ask a comprehension-type question that forces them to demonstrate their understanding of #6. I don't do this for the entire assignment, just enough to make sure they get it. They only get credit for the assignment when they can answer my questions - and I am able to easily differentiate based on the ability of the student - and I'm not carrying home tons of papers to grade either.

What I've found is that students are so accustomed to getting credit for putting down answers they don't understand that they often don't even realize the purpose of the assignment is to learn from it, not to put down what they think the teacher wants to hear. It's a real eye-opener for my students.

What are some of the creative ways you've found to shift the focus away from the grade and back to the learning process?

I recently did an Atomic Theory Brochure project. The amount of blatant copying and pasting was astounding to me. I remember being taught in my freshmen composition class how to do a research paper/project. It was a big part of the 2nd semester. We were taught how to do the research, how to take information we are reading and synthesize it into our own thoughts. These are skills that kids really lack. I'm also amazed at how much they rely on answers websites. answers.com, wikianswers, yahooanswers. I have had a few instances where students have tried to cheat on tests with their cell phones. I generally catch them however. I had a student last year who had a 79% and really wanted a B, so during the final I caught him on his phone looking at the completed study guide from my website. Our school policy is the final is 15% so instead of getting a C it dropped him all the way to a D. My school/district puts a lot of emphasis on kids getting good grades/ pressure on teachers that grades need to be good. I don't know if it is a result of it being a small district in a major metro area, where open enrollment is ridiculous. (Half of our students are open enrollment) In AZ, more than I've seen elsewhere the parent outlook is if my kid isn't doing good at School A...I will move them to school B, and then school C..eventually the kid ends up in a charter school where everyone gets A's and the parent is happy. Again as mentioned previously, does the emphasis on kids getting good grades lead to the lack of skills of the students? We are excited because the district is finally going to a move on when reading program next year, where if the student isn't reading at grade level, they don't move on. We are building middle schools, where we've been K-8 in the past and so the high school teachers that change of culture will send us better kids.

Chris You have touched on an important issue; the emphasis on performance over master learning. Performance based learners care about how they look to others where as mastery learners care about growth. https://americanheritage.byu.edu/Pages/LearningTips/Attitude/Mastery-vs--Performance-Goals.aspx Carol Dweck has taken this further in her book Mindset http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICILzbB1Obg http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Success-Carol-Dweck/dp/0345472322 This would be on my list of must reads in education. Now the elephant in the living room here is that our obsession with standardize testing undermines a mastery outlook. :( If only we could solve that one!

It is insane now the things the students can do in the way of cheating, not just the plagiarism but in the class room also. I am going to school for teaching and I was informed that students will use disposable bottles to make glue fake labels on them with answers. Also they will cut out erasers and put small pieces of paper in them with the answers, then place the cut out piece back in. All the energy they use to make these things, why not just study???

You have to watch out for hand signals as well with cheating. I had a smart kid willing to pass the answers to another to try to broadcast it to more students. So many students want the high grade, but do not take the time to study or see me for tutorials before the test. They wonder why they are not doing well. They are not taking advantage of the resources available.

Amanda wrote, 'I had a smart kid willing to pass the answers to another to try to broadcast it to more students. So many students want the high grade, but do not take the time to study or see me for tutorials before the test.'

Hi Amanda,

What did you do to put a stop to this practice?

I just finished a large project that required students to write a 1,000 word essay. It was amazing to me how many students merely copied and pasted “stuff” from a variety of websites, knitted them together adding a few transition words and claimed the work as their own. Somehow they get the idea that if you add a few words of their own to an idea that someone else had, this makes everything original. I spent several days with my middle school students modeling researching, capturing information, citing and using the information to develop their own ideas and support those ideas with evidence. About 40% got it. They wrote outstanding essays that may have been flawed in the science, but well written nonetheless. There is nothing “prettier” than a well written essay with cites and a bibliography done well. What amazed me the most I suppose was the 20% of the parents that complained about my scoring their student work low because the work obviously was plagiarized. They didn’t understand the purpose of the essay was not for them to copy and paste information, but to interact with it. They really didn’t think there was anything wrong with what their student had done. Guess they were the ones in school that went to the encyclopedia and copied everything word for word as well. I was intrigued by the offshoot of the discussion in terms of the blatant cheating done in classrooms just to get a higher grade. In the “old days” you sat next to someone that had large, legible handwriting and copied answers onto your test. Now, there are fewer and fewer students with legible handwriting, but that is overcome by other, more devious, methods of cheating as shared about the bottles and erasers. I suspect as we move to a more paperless society and bring your own device to school, a whole new generation of cheating will emerge. I agree with Janelle, if you can dream up all of these ways to cheat, you are most definitely capable of studying and doing well.

Hi everyone, I think this is an important discussion to have. With the advances in technology and increased access to information, we do see an increase in the number of students who plagiarized and cheat. I think sometimes the kids don't even necessarily realize they are cheating when they copy information off the internet without correctly giving the author credit. I think this is a problem that starts in elementary school. When elementary students write a report or complete a project, there is no expectation of providing a list of resources. Kids learn from a young age that you take the information and turn it in as your own. My middle school son just completed a project for Spanish where he had to find pictures of Christmas traditions in South America. I made him copy each url where he found a picture. He was the only one in his class who gave credit to the internet sites where they found the pictures. This is a problem because when we as teachers do not teach or expect our students to provide "Works Cited" information with their assignments, they get into the habit of not crediting for the information they use. I attended a college that was at the other extreme. Our plagiarism policy was so strict that we even had to credit other students or professors who proofread our papers or helped us with homework. Yes, this was extreme, but necessary since when someone else proofreads a paper or helps you with an assignment, the product you turn-in is not strictly yours. This is definitely an important topic to address, and I appreciate everyone's input! Maureen

This is every interesting thread; cheating is something that occurs at all levels; I have a daughter who has witnessed this at the post graduate level. One thing that I feel teachers can do is to provide creative assignments where kids have to take text and apply it to creating products such as videos or podcasts (although even this is not fool-proof). I also think that by reviewing or teaching skills (such as how to paraphrase) within our content area is important. It helps students to understand how to transfer these skills outside the English classroom and it reinforces the idea that plagiarism won't be tolerated.