[Bioteaching] advice for addressing widespread cheating on exam

[Mark Carrier]

Hi Kelly,

I'm so sorry to hear this, and not in the least surprised.

We used a combination of proctoring, the fabricated story that we were making use of a new Canvas academic integrity tool set (fooled my TAs even), lots of Canvas formula questions, lots of similar looking but different questions between versions of the tests, puzzles using data from recent papers but with the gene or protein names changed, and a relatively time-constrained open-notes exam format. I'm pretty sure we thwarted most cheaters from cheating productively on exams.

But on all the other assignments (like homework sets and lectures embedded within quizzes) they cheated with gusto. We had access to a social media site a large number of students were using, using Discord software, and even though I was very specific about what sort of group work was encouraged and what constitutes cheating, they cheated.  They shared confirmed answers, for instance. My putting the homework problems on an exam and pointing out that by cheating they had shot themselves in the foot only pissed them off. By "them" I mean a small loud set who behaved disgracefully all term. It was as depressing to witness as national politics, with conspiracy theories and vaguely threatening posts directed at those who might consider "narc-ing" about what was being posted. Social media really brings out the worst in people.

To counter this we are setting up the Discord site ourselves next term. Students can go form a different site of course, but by creating the default place to go chat about the class we hope to keep those less motivated to cheat and bully from participating in the worst behavior.

I just keep reminding myself that most of them don't cheat. In a class of 360 the number of bad actors feels large, but is still a relatively small fraction of people in the class. At least on assignments on which cheating is inconvenient.

Mark


On Mar 18, 2021, at 4:31 PM, Kelly Sutherland <ksuth at uoregon.edu<mailto:ksuth at uoregon.edu>> wrote:

Hi all,

I am grading the Canvas online final exam for BI357 (Marine Biology) and there’s evidence of widespread cheating.  I don’t think it’s realistic to pursue each student that I suspect of cheating and it can also be hard to prove.  For example, some students had answers that were technically correct but included information that we never discussed in class.

I am not shocked but definitely disappointed and am wondering what other folks have done to address instances of widespread academic misconduct, especially this year.

Would people be willing to share their experiences/approaches?
Many thanks,
Kelly

________
Kelly R Sutherland, PhD (she, her)
Associate Professor of Biology
Oregon Institute of Marine Biology
University of Oregon

Office: 473B Onyx Bridge
Phone: 541-346-8783

sutherlandlab.org<http://sutherlandlab.org/>
@SutherlandLab

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