How Would You Handle Students Cheating?

I gave my students a take home exam over spring break. (This is normal where I teach) One of the questions was particulary difficult. It came down to a factor of three in the solution. That factor inexplicably appeared with no justification on many of their exams. I intend to have the students I suspect of cheating come to my office to solve the problem on the board. What would you do?

Edit: I gave them the Tuesday before spring break until the Thursday after. I didn't want it to be right before or right after.

When I say normal I mean giving take home exams.

wuphysics87 OP ,

I appreciate the feedback. Even the negative feedback. You guys really think I'm some kind of asshole 🤣. I typed this from my phone in bed, so now that I'm at a keyboard, let me explain fully.

When I said I gave the exam over spring break, I didn't mean it began at the beginning of spring break and ended at the end of it. That time was available for them to work on it. When I give exams, I give them a little over a week. From Tuesday to Thursday the following week. In this case, it began the Tuesday before spring break and ended the Thursday after. The reason I did this is because, like many of you, I remember papers being due immediately before or right at the end of breaks. By saying I gave it over spring break, I meant I gave them plenty of time.

I am very clear what is and is not permitted for an exam in my syllabus. They get an equation sheet, the allotted time, and they can work with a partner. Nothing else. Except for AI in which case they must screenshot everything. This is mostly for my curiosity. It still doesn't work for physics.

When I say normal at my institution, I mean to give a take home exam. I wasn't deviating from the norm by doing this, and it is the way I typically do it. As we have all experienced, you may have a day when you have 3 exams. Maybe that happens to only a few students. It disproportionately effects them. Giving this time, they can work it into their schedules.

So what did I see that constitutes cheating? It's very clear to me that the students used solutions from Chegg and/or other sites. If you've done this sort of thing with code, you know that folks will change the names of the variables, but not the structure or logic. It reads exactly the same. That was the case here. A few students were so (hilariously) guilty of cheating, they actually rewrote the solution to a similar, but different problem. Those problems had a different number of parts!

This is not my first time doing this. I've done this at several other universities. In those cases, I didn't have the issue of cheating, so I don't have a very explicit cheating policy in my syllabus. I'm taking the advice that some have given and giving them credit for what they've done. I will however be telling them on Tuesday (a conversation I am NOT looking forward to having) that I know many of them cheated, that I have evidence of it, and that I will refer them to the honor council should it happen again.

The part that sucks the most is I trust students. Having done this before, I've found that if you trust students, respect them, they in turn respect your expectations. Given how blatant this cheating is, it feels like a betrayal. Thanks again to everyone who replied, it has given me plenty to think on.

grasshopper_mouse ,
@grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world avatar

Unless you explicitly stated in the exam that they had to show their work with their answer or fail, even if the answer was correct, then I say pass them. It's on you to be specific as to what you want to see on the exam. Maybe they worked it out on scratch paper and didn't turn that part in with the exam?

weeeeum ,

Pass them. Grades aren't proper representation of intellect or ability anyways, and failing students will only hurt their lively hood and chances of success later in life.

Birdie , (edited )

That's a terrible thing to be considered normal. Those students were on break, on vacation. I didn't do work for my job when I was on vacation!
I hate cheating, but I hate that you made them take an exam on break even more.

Edit: "Class, I see some of you did not understand the way I require work to be shown. For this reason, I will reteach my requirements. Those of you who did not understand will be given an opportunity to retake the exam."

Omega_Haxors , (edited )

By giving your students work to do off-time, you are reinforcing the capitalist notion that people should be expected to work off the clock. You can give them supplementary material as an purely optional if they don't have anything else better to do, but by making it mandatory you are robbing them of precious time they have to grow into healthy adults and making them resentful of education as a whole.

Same is true of home work. You're already robbing them of a good majority of their "be a kid" time, don't rob them even more of it.

NauticalNoodle ,

I hated homework as a student, but many people (myself included) will argue for math homework to the bitter end because that material MUST be thoroughly practiced, and worked through for the student to have an effective understanding. Nobody is going to learn math just in the short time teachers get to present it each day. -That said, exams shouldn't be "take-home" if a teacher wants to avoid cheating.

Omega_Haxors , (edited )

If you can't get your point across during the 4+ hours you have in class you are failing as a teacher. If you have to repeat a process 300+ times to get it you are not teaching, you are making people memorize shit in the short term and that will kick them in the nuts in the long term.

The stuff I was expected to do the most I retained the least, because instead of learning the general use and application of each function I instead put all my energy on just getting the grunt work over with so I could move on to the stuff that was actually fun. Excessive testing can also completely fuck over student's test scores if they have even one minor weakness. My physics (favorite subject) teacher failed to properly teach Significant Figures, as a result I ended up losing half a point on every question for that reason alone. They just expected me to 'get it' through repetition (spoiler: I didn't) and ended up with a nearly failing grade, even though it was my best subject.

Ultimately I ended up specializing in game design (big mistake, have you SEEN the game's industry? It's basically a fraternity!) because it was the only course that didn't have any busywork. You learned the concept, applied the concept, and then proved you understood the concept, then you moved on to the next concept. At the end you prove that you are able to work everything together and then the course is over and you have everything you need to make a game. It was a really hard course and I almost felt like quitting at times but I don't think I've forgotten even a single it taught me, a point that was proven even further when I took a different game design course and aced it with zero effort.

Couldn't tell you how to do matrix math though. I just remember it being really really useful if only I remembered the rules all those years later.

NauticalNoodle , (edited )

It's funny you mention game development classes because the one game development class I took used a tutorial utilizing Unity and it was fraught with errors that our instructor was often unaware of. In-fact that's the last class I took before deciding to leave college and my formal training in software development as a whole.

I think I get what you're saying. There is no excuse for bad instruction. It sounds like your learning style put's you in the minority. I found repetition helped me understand procedure as applied in math that would otherwise lead to miscounting if I were just winging it. I think the same principle applies to the majority of math students.

Omega_Haxors , (edited )

The way I see it either you get something or you don't. If you're making mistakes it's because some fundamental skill isn't there and all repetition is going to do is entrench you further in whatever bad model you already have. Yes it gets you marks in class but that won't transfer to the real world. For a personal example, the way I count in base 10 goes from 1-3, 5, and then 10. I don't actually have a mental model to count 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, or 9s and because I spent a good amount of my formative years getting by without it, that bad model is now entrenched in my mind and I have a really hard time counting a lot of numbers even though better models exist. Got me great grades, though.

EDIT: For ones I go Inc. Twos is IncInc, Threes are a somewhat awkward IncIncInc, I can't string four Incs so 4 is impossible. Fives is just a Even/Odd modulo followed by 10 which is just an Inc in the next place. I created a model that works off of an even-odd tree with multiplication. I wasn't able to parse it mentally but I did program it into a machine once and it was insanely efficient. It's very easy to find out if a value is going to be even or odd based on its inputs being even or odd, and once you figure that out you've halved the possible values. Turns out that's actually what modern-day ALUs do (with carry bits) in order to maximize processing speed.

GlitterInfection , (edited )

I would parade the cheaters through town naked while ringing a bell and saying "shame" over and over again.

Or just give them a 0 for the assignment if I had evidence of cheating.

Not being able to solve a problem in class that they could solve at home is not evidence of cheating. Neither is not showing your work on hard problems, especially in the take home format where students could not only use other resources, but other sheets of paper, if they wanted.

If showing all your work is required for answers, then I would have clearly stated that prior to giving the students any work and remind them before all tests to do so.

If you are sending take home tests over a vacation, you also need to, as a teacher, clearly define what is and isn't cheating if it's not defined in your syllabus.

As the teacher it's your job to set the requirements and boundaries clearly, and not be reactionary when you've failed to do so.

It's unclear from your description if you gave proper guidelines on all of this, but it does seem like you didn't set up the requirement of "show your work, or I will accuse you of cheating without any evidence," so I would prepare to get much deserved backlash from this.

Getting the problem wrong on the board isn't evidence of cheating, but it might be evidence that you need to cover that subject in more depth for the students. Learning is the point after all, not test scores and your pride.

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

What are take-home exams even for? I've been a flight instructor since 2010 and I've never once given one. I can't see any possible value in them.

Students' unsupervised time is for discovery and practice. "Here are some questions. The answers are in FAR Part 91. Read the Part, answer the questions, we'll discuss them next class." Or, "That concludes computing wind correction angles. Here are some practice problems just like ones we've done in class today, take them home, work them yourselves, get comfortable with this process. Questions?"

Exams are for determining the students' current knowledge and abilities. What ability does a take-home exam test for beyond "Can you cram for a test given a copy of the test?" Is that what you're testing for?

Fermion , (edited )

Hold an in class quiz with essentially the same problem but with different values. The students that actually worked through the problem should be able to do it again with the changes. Those who didn't understand and just put down what their peers got will struggle with a quiz. Bonus points if you can restructure the problem in a way to elucidate which specific aspects you think the students were skipping over with help from their peers. Feel free to have specific requirements assigned point values in the problem statement.

Don't call them into your office and put them on the spot. That will make this adversarial. Your job is to teach them how to solve problems and communicate their methods in a clear fashion. You should reevaluate your problem writing and grading policies if just looking up answers can earn a passing grade. If you give a quiz, be up front with them that you have concerns about some students skipping the work and copying answers. Reiterate that the point of the exam was to make sure they can solve problems, the correct answer is merely a byproduct.

I will add speculation that there is a difference between what your students think you expect from an answer and what your expectations actually are. Mismatches in expectations are immensely frustrating for both parties. So don't leave your students guessing. Give them specific examples of work of different quality and what aspects earn full points and what things might lead to point deductions. Some of the best professors I had would publish all the prior year exams with their solutions. That gave everyone the opportunity to mimic the workflow and match the level of detail expected. That also elliminates the concern of students finding the answers online or from prior year students for exams as the teacher will have had to avoid reused questions entirely.

BreadOven ,

This is pretty much what I've done previously. I'd say the best way to go about it. Bonus points if it's on a final haha.

kandoh ,

I'd praise them for answering the difficult question correctly and then ask if they'd mind giving a short presentation to the class on how they reached to solution... for tomorrow's class.

You're highlighting the issue. Allowing them to save face. And now they're forced to really understand it well enough to give a lesson on it to their classmates.

hperrin , (edited )

For the students that can’t solve it in person, explain why cheating is bad and that they’re only hurting themselves, and give them a 0 on the exam. That’s probably enough for them to get the picture.

Also maybe focus on them a bit more, since they’re struggling. If someone cheated because they can’t do the assignment, then they’re struggling. So maybe offer them extra credit to make up for the exam if they come in after school to study with you where you can answer their questions.

sleepybisexual ,
@sleepybisexual@beehaw.org avatar

Do nothing, first of all any homework is open book, no buts

Second of all it comes down to not being a dick

You do realise that even if they do cheat, since its a take home you likely won't face any negative consequence, its just a win win in general

shinigamiookamiryuu ,

The schools in my area have a partner system for almost all homework assignments. This system was made so that all homework had a co-op style and so that anyone who was cheating risked being told on by one of the other students in a co-op. The penalty would be a zero for all participants in that co-op except the snitch. It was like that one episode of Naruto.

emergencyfood ,

First of all, school or uni?

As many others have said, don't give a take home exam during a break, however 'normal' it is considered in your community.

Second, have clear guidelines on what is allowed and what is cheating. We never had take-home exams in school, and in uni every take-home exam was open book, open internet and open discussion. In the absence of any statement to the contrary, your students would also be justified in assuming so.

Asking someone to repeat the answer is fine, but it doesn't really prove anything - they might have simply forgotten all the formulae over their break.

The best option at this point would be to cancel that question and conduct future tests during class hours, under your supervision.

xkforce , (edited )

First thing I would do is not give students graded homework/exams over spring break. What the hell did you expect OP? You dont respect them enough to let them have one week off unmolested.

sloppy_diffuser ,

If the curriculum format teaches students to be test takers, I'd give them extra points for working smarter.

If my job gave me work while on my vacation, I'd be talking to the labor board if they didn't pay me at my consultation rates.

wuphysics87 OP ,

See edit please

TexMexBazooka ,

Your edit isn’t winning anybody over.

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