Hearing about yet another cheating incident causes the same reaction as a running sonicator: it makes me feel like my brain membranes are about to explode.
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a great article about essay mills. (yes, you need a subscription to access, so VPN thee over to the campus network!)
Many of us teaching in the sciences don't have to worry so much about paper mills as what *awesome* cheating method our students will turn to next. (and if you think you are at a school where cheating is not a problem, then by all means, invite me to your utopia. Yes, I trust my students, but I still make them sign an honor code before taking each exam. And I don't think EVERY student will cheat. I never did. Even my graphing calculator-- see below-- stayed clean.)
I like to call this segment, "how can thee cheat, let me count the ways...from youtube"
- graphing calculators. Graphing calculators should not be used in classes unless you are completely okay with students storing equations on their calculators. And constants. Doesn't matter because you supply equations and constants to them anyways? Okay...are you alright with uploading pages of text from the book?
- ipods (yay. See above for graphing calculators.)
- clear pens. This one is just sad. Pop off the top, slip in a cheat sheet, cover with hand when the prof is looking. A functional cheat sheet! (see youtube video here: best quote around 2:35 "hopefully none of my teachers see this video because that would be really awkward... I don't think any of my teachers go to youtube.")
- water bottles? (See video here to see what I mean) If anyone has actually caught a student doing this, please share. I don't worry about this one, but mostly because our desks are barely big enough for their exam books, let alone a coke bottle.
- cheat sheets??! Seriously, this tutorial has received over 90,000 hits! ...and lots of comments-- which are very fun reading if you are on, say, spring break!
But my favorite youtube cheating clip???
Have you caught a cheater in the classroom lately? With the exception of cell phones and graphing calculators, I think these clips pertain just to high schoolers. But, dear readers, if you have evidence to the contrary, do share!
