200 students admit cheating after professor's online rant

[joeglow3]

Professor Richard Quinn was so disgusted by evidence that many of his students had cheated in their midterm exam that he gave them a lecture that he hoped would teach them a life-long lesson.

In the lecture, Prof Quinn told the class he had enough evidence from statistical analysis and other investigatory techniques to identify most cheats, but instead of handing the list over to the university authorities for discipling, he proposed a deal.

He said: “I don’t want to have to explain to your parents why you didn’t graduate, so I went to the Dean and I made a deal. The deal is you can either wait it out and hope that we don’t identify you, or you can identify yourself to your lab instructor and you can complete the rest of the course and the grade you get in the course is the grade you earned in the course.”




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/8140456/200-students-admit-cheating-after-professors-online-rant.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4cf281307755eb78%2C0


-Provided the test bank was not acquired through illegal means, I see nothing wrong with this. The CPA exam used to publish prior exam questions and this became the basis of study courses (Becker, etc.). Many of these questions were used again in later exams. However, when you are talking about well over a thousand questions, there was NO way you could simply memorize them all without understanding the material.

Frankly, I think it speaks more to the laziness of the professor than it does anything about the students.

[hayu_lol]

1. Sounded like a pretty reasonable deal to me...

sends a message to future cheaters that cheating will not be tolerated. Also food for thought about right and wrong and graduation in a positive way.

[DrDan]

4. I agree - handled appropriately

went to the Dean and worked out a plan - cheaters came forward and will be dealt with. Hopefully some lessons were learned.

[trumad]

51. Umm---read the whole thread...

[trumad]

2. I live 7 miles from UCF...

and it's the conclusion of those who live around here that the professor is a lazy SOB who took a short cut the students exposed.

Then he tries and blames the students.

He should be fired.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. The professor should be fired because students are cheats?

[Bunny]

6. What short cut did the students expose?

:shrug:

[Goblinmonger]

18. That he used the publishers test bank.

That's my understanding of what happened. There isn't any indication that they got that test bank illegally. If I'm wrong on that, my perception of the situation would change, but if they just got the same databank from the publisher and studied it for the test, then they exposed the prof's "short cut."

[snooper2]

8. huh? A short cut that caused them to cheat?

we really aren't following you here

[izzybeans]

5. If a test bank was acquired at all it was acquired by means violating most colleges

rules regarding academic integrity.

He followed the letter of the academic integrity code of his institution. http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/TeachingAndLearningResources/ClassroomManagement/AcademicIntegrity/

How would you handle such a massive case of cheating?

[joeglow3]

7. Really? I don't see that.

Again, I reference the CPA exam. I understood the material and took TONS of sample tests, which included a test bank that some questions for the exam I took would be pulled from. These questions were released by the AICPA and were a great way to study and prepare for the exam. This is no different than textbooks having questions at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge. Thus, provided the text bank was not acquired through illegal means, I see this as a great study tool. Rather, my concern is with a professor most likely making 6 figures being too lazy to create his own exam.

Second, what all do you think is included in academic cheating? A friend of ours had to write an essay for a course, which she did and received an A. In a different course a couple years later, she had to write a similar paper. She used her original paper and tweaked it to fit the needs of this course. They had a database of papers, compared it and saw similarities with her original paper. They accused her of plagarism. Personally, I see nothing wrong with this. I do tax research all the time in my job. Given that so many tax adjustments are based on the same code section (461), you are damn right I copy and paste what I have written in previous memos, rather than re-write the discussion section on Section 461 every time.

[trumad]

9. Exactly---

My wife is in school get her Masters at a local college---Rollins--- and in one of her classes they discussed this supposed cheating scandal.

Every student to a T---and her Professor--- agreed that the professor fucked up royally.

Here's a good link to what happened...check the comments.

http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/students-respond-to-ucf-cheating-scandal/
Sorry

[Bunny]

10. Where's the link?

Anyway, if this was an allowable study practice, why didn't everyone do it? Why only 1/3 of the class? Seems to me that the other 2/3 knew it was wrong and steered clear. Cheating is still cheating, no matter how much of a dumbass the professor might be.

[aikoaiko]

12. technically, one can plagiarize him or herself.

Generally, when instructors ask students to do the work for a course they are given credit. To submit one paper for two courses is double dipping. The transcript says you did two courses, but really you did less when you resubmit a paper as original work.

[joeglow3]

13. So, am I cheating my employer?

Should I get fired for copying and pasting applicable information from previous memos I have written?

[aikoaiko]

14. Are you cheating your employer? not if you're meeting the expectation of the product.

[Goblinmonger]

16. Oh, please.

If two profs are giving assignments that can be given the grade wanted without making changes to the same paper, then that is the profs fault. What if the paper is going to be different but I can use an article that I researched for another class--do I have to reread that article for the second class or can I just go off my other reading?

[trumad]

21. Check this out.

http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/students-respond-to-ucf-cheating-scandal/

[aikoaiko]

26. In my syllabus, I specify the authorized resources...

...to include the text, lecture notes, power points slides, and other media shown in class. All other resources are unauthorized unless the student asks for permission to use another specific source.

I didn't like putting that in my syllabus, but I had to cover the situation the clever ways that students cheat.

[Goblinmonger]

30. So they can't read other texts about the subject?

Can't read journal articles?

[aikoaiko]

34. Yes they can if they ask for and receive permission.

I have to limit the resources because of unethical students who find stolen exams, test banks, or any number of other illegitimate resources.

[Goblinmonger]

36. I would drop your class.

If you are seriously telling me that if I were reading the text book and found something interesting that I wanted to know more about but had to email you and get permission before I went on the internet and found a journal article that expanded on it, you have got to be kidding me.

[aikoaiko]

38. I would be fine with you dropping. The other professors in my dept have the same or similar policy

[Goblinmonger]

41. How can you do that as a teacher?

You only want them to see one little glimpse of you subject matter?

Sorry it if sounds like I'm going off. I've taught for 20 years. 8 of that at the college level (rest at high school). Create an assessment that makes it difficult for them to cheat. I teach English. Of course I don't ask them what the theme of Huck Finn is because they can google that. Create something more specific to your discussion. Something.

I just think that telling students they can't read anything else sends the message that further exploration is wrong.

[aikoaiko]

47. Because of unethical cheaters like the students in the OP.

Further exploration is fine. They just have to ask. If they don't ask (and I suspect many do not), they run the risk of me not being OK with their extra resources.

For example, if I caught students with a test bank, then I could fairly discipline them. They wouldn't be able to play dumb (like the students in the OP) and say, "gosh, we didn't know the test bank was off limits".

I can enforce this policy because I need to protect the honest student who earns his or her grade honestly.

[izzybeans]

40. The poster is referring to teacher's manuals and instructor test banks that

textbook publishers provide that are not freely distributed and not for sale. The ones I used to get with textbooks would basically say that students found with them are violating academic codes of conduct and could face expulsion.

If you find a citation in the textbook that you would love to follow up on than you would be a model student. If you find a textbook instructor's text bank that says as plain as day on it that is confidential than you are violating codes of conduct.

Personally, that's why I believe any class over a 100 level course (outside of the hard sciences and mathematical disciplines) probably should not use textbooks. Use original works instead. Take the time to grade essays. etc.

If these students have gotten a hold of the particular "test banks" that I think they did then they knew full well they were cheating. But I'm basing it only on what he said regarding informing the textbook publisher which do not sell test banks to the public through Amazon.

Again most colleges view these, even informally derived, test banks that you can purchase on the web, unfavorably. Using the ones meant solely for the instructor are clear violations plain as day.

Study aides are one thing, but getting your hands on test questions without the instructors knowledge prior to the test is cheating regardless of whether it is legal or not.

[Goblinmonger]

42. Nope, that's not what's being said.

The response to my question seemed to indicate I couldn't do that.

I have no problem saying the test bank is off limits (though if that is the basis for your test I would recommend you work a little harder on your assessment creation, but that is a different matter).

[LoZoccolo]

64. If they already knew the material from having studied it before

would you chop off their head and give it back to them at the end of the semester?

If they overhear students from a higher-level course talking about the subject matter are they supposed to cover their ears?

[izzybeans]

27. I know of no college that finds sharing of past exams acceptable.

And I know of no college that finds disseminating an instructors test bank without their knowledge anything but expulsion worthy.

If I am a professor and I hand out a practice exam that includes questions that I plan on asking in the end that is my choice, but when a test bank is disseminated without the consent of the instructor...we are talking about academic fraud. Most do so because they know their tests would be difficult to pass if they didn't (e.g. anatomy, physics, etc.).

It was clear from the video he believes someone defrauded the textbook company and received an instructors test bank manual illegally or stole it from him or another professor.

It is clearly expulsion worthy. He did the students a favor. I flunked students for much less.

Your comparison is closer to a professor handing out a practice test. It's an honest use of freely available information. The difference would be if you stole Kaplan test prep's entire test bank and then took the exam after you sold it to your fellow test takers. This is what seems to have happened in this class.

Anyone involved cheated. Was the professor lazy by relying on a prepared test bank? Sure. Other than that there is nothing to complain about. He could have flunked anyone who received the material if he wanted to.

Plagiarism is a thorny subject, but most colleges have higher standards than most employers. You can usually see plain as day, however, if someone lifted material from another source. Most of the time it is likely a failure to adequate cite a source and can be fixed with simple editing.

In graduate school, a classmate of mine got into some trouble for basically trying to pass off the same paper in different classes because it was required to write original work for each class in our department. That meant one original work for each class. He didn't get disciplined because that was a departmental philosophy that was far stricter than the school's. But each school has a code of ethics that must be followed.

Ethics in academia are fairly straightforward and much more rigorous than your typical institutional rule.

[Goblinmonger]

31. He may think that

but he doesn't have proof from what he says. You can buy test banks on Amazon, half.com, other places.

If they got it illegally, then I agree. If not, his problem.

[petronius]

43. Regarding your subject line, when I was an undergrad (early 90s) there was a file

of past exams at the copy shop in the University Union, created with the participation and permission of faculty. I don't think it's that uncommon to allow such a thing (if only to level the playing field for students not in the Greek houses or athletic dorms), and it help students as well as faculty who don't need to go through the exercise of making a practice test. Of course, professors weren't reusing those exams, and they were only included with permission.

As a professor, I tacitly expect that everything I hand back will be shared to some degree, which is why I keep a tight lid on things I want to protect and constantly revise...

[aikoaiko]

11. classic game theory approach

Light but certain punishment versus heavy by uncertain punishment. It is the basis for all plea bargains.

[Goblinmonger]

15. Assuming the test bank was not acquired illegally, I agree with you.

Even if it was, I have a lot of problems with this teacher (based on 20+ years of teaching myself):

1. He is obviously just giving a multiple choice test which is just lazy to begin with.
2. He assumes that his classes need to match the bell curve.
3. He assumes that the bell curve indicates he is doing a good job ("this is what it ought to look like")
4. He is tossing out the grade when 2/3 of the class didn't cheat. That sucks for the majority of the students.
5. He uses a test bank.

If the students figured out that he used a test bank and got a hold of that test bank legally (like buying it from the textbook publisher which wouldn't be hard) then they did nothing wrong. If he can't create an assessment that is unique, then it is his problem. OK, you're going to tell me that he is teaching 600 kids and what else can he do--don't teach 600 kids in one class/program. Or have your GTAs grade.

[tammywammy]

19. Yeah, I thought some of the same things you did

Especially the bell curve. While none of my classes are that big (a "big" class is 30 students), there are obviously classes with more As and less failures. It's not because we're cheating, it's because we understand the material.

Also, I've had professor that used a database for questions, but THEY made up the database and adjusted it as needed. Oh and the class wasn't solely based off how we could answer questions to the database, there are ALWAYS presentations and other methods that the professors use to grade us on.

And I also noticed that it wasn't HIM that comes up with the questions either, it's a test lab. Seems lazy.

[trumad]

20. Check the link I posted...

There's a video of the teacher saying he wrote the questions himself...... but---it was bullshit.

The students went in thinking they were going to get original questions but got test bank questions the teacher picked up off the Net.

http://castingoutnines.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/students-respond-to-ucf-cheating-scandal/

[Goblinmonger]

24. I kind of figured that was the case.

So he's lazy, they figured it out and didn't do anything illegal, and he gets on his high horse.

[Poll_Blind]

17. What is a "test bank" and why shouldn't students be able to get ahold of them?

:shrug:

PB

[Goblinmonger]

22. Here's the test bank for the Speech text U of Wisconsin uses

and I have used in my high school classes (not currently because I don't really like the text). For sale on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Test-Printed-Accompany-Public-Speaking/dp/0073216372
If students know that I only pull questions from that test bank and they can find the text bank legally for sale, why shouldn't they get the test bank and study the questions?

[trumad]

25. Damn right....

and that is exactly what happened.

I've seen this story pop up several times in the last month here on DU and some members knee jerk right off the bat with their belief that it's all the students fault.

The way I see it---this Professor is 100 percent to blame.

[trumad]

23. It's simply a place where past tests are uploaded...

it's on the net and easy to access.

The teacher claimed he writes the test himself---but later it was proven he used the test bank for the test.

[Heidi]

28. Legal does not mean ethical. (nt)

[Goblinmonger]

33. So he can screw 400 students

that didn't do what he is pissed about and screw another 200 for doing something that "might" be unethical? This guy needs to work on his assessment practices.

[Lucian]

29. If he was too lazy to make new tests, it says a lot about the Prof., not the students.

I don't blame the students in this one.

[hyphenate]

32. I think those students beed some kind of shock

to wake them up, and this could do that. The humiliation of having to present themselves to their class might make them a little more reluctant the next time something like this comes along.

I cheated in high school. We had a teacher who was elderly, and who was nearly blind. She used to write on the blackboard with her eyes only a couple of inches from the board. We couldn't learn anything at all, and people were shooting spitballs across the room, and others were sending paper airplanes around. Even worse, it was Beginning Algebra, which meant that later on, we were going to suffer from lack of knowledge in the subject. We found where she kept the tests--she evidently used the same tests over and over again, so it wasn't difficult to find them. She finally figured it out--either that, or one of the other students' parents gave us up. So we all had to get questioned, with one of the questiond being who was the ringleader of the group. I think I was instrumental in the scheme, but I didn't give myself up.

[Goblinmonger]

35. There is no indication that the kids stole anything

much less the test. They found, perhaps quite legally, the test bank that he uses and studied it. OR they took him at his word that he actually writes the test and used the test bank for the text book (which wouldn't be the test since the prof claims to have written the test) as a study guide.

Either way, it isn't breaking into his office and stealing the test.

[GrpCaptMandrake]

37. That prof

looks and sounds like a lazy slob who's peeved over the fact that his students outwitted him. He's a hack for using multiple choice tests in the first place. Having the students write essays would've eliminated cheating as a possiblity in the first place. Yet our good authoritarian professor (or, more likely, his Grad Assts) would've had to spend precious time actually reading and grading the essays, and we can't have that.

Some teachers, including college professors, get lazy over time. Because of that, they use "test banks" or simply recycle their own material. Assuming as the OP does that the test bank wasn't obtained by illegal means, there's no issue. Back when I rode a dinosaur to class every day, every fraternity and sorority on campus maintained test files as study aids. There was no "cheating" involved and the U never once criticized those files.

Sidebar: isn't the Telegraph a Murdoch organ? As such, consider the source of such approving coverage of the professor's position.

Finally, why am I not surprised that something like this would occur in the School of Bidness?

[aikoaiko]

39. More indication that the students are unreasonable.

From the end of their "clever" subtitling of the professor's video.

[Swamp Rat]

45. I agree with the students.

This lazy teacher merits some form of discipline and reassignment.

[Goblinmonger]

46. I agree that statement is unreasonable.

The rest of their subtitles are dead on. Do you agree? Do you have a problem with the prof claiming that he writes all the questions when he doesn't? Doesn't that open up some ethical grounds when he says the questions are his but then when the students get a test bank from the publisher (which presumably the prof didn't write so it can't be the test questions) they are threatened with great consequences?

[aikoaiko]

50. He didn't say he writes all the questions - he said that hemay write a question he couldn't answer

There is a difference.

Unless I missed a different part of the video, he didn't say he "write all the questions".

edited to answer your question: I don't think the professor said or did anything unethical. He gave students a choice to confess and attend an ethics workshop or face the school's disciplinary process where they may or may not receive consequences.

[trumad]

52. He gave a strong impression that he writes the questions...

he gave no impression that he ripped his tests from test banks.

He's a lazy SOB riding a high horse.

[aikoaiko]

56. I don't think he is required to say he uses a test bank in order for it to be implictly off limits.

And I don't think using a test bank means the instructor is lazy, either.

[joeglow3]

58. Is using questions at the end of a chapter off limits?

How is this any different? They are sample questions used to make sure you understand the material. There is NO WAY a student does not comprehend the material, but managed to memorize 700 questions, thereby unfairly increasing their scores.

[aikoaiko]

59. One is assigned (the text with the end of questions chapters) and the test bank is not

Where did the reference to 700 questions come from? That's a pretty big test bank. Some are much smaller.

[Goblinmonger]

60. Yes it does mean he's lazy.

I'm sorry, but it does. He can't even bring himself to write his own questions and instead uses some bank of questions that some random turd wrote for a publisher. Please. That is the definition of a lazy teacher. This guy just wants to lecture and then have a computer do all the assessment and is happy when his results reflect the bell curve. Lazy, lazy, lazy. How about engage the students in learning and assess them in a manner that actually reflects what the students have learned and not how well they can take an objective test. I know that may be asking a lot from someone with no background in education. Show me one relevant, modern educational expert that says objective testing is a great tool for assessment.

[aikoaiko]

61. Standardized testing, which is better phrase than objective, I think, is a useful tool for assessmen

I give essay and multiple choice exams to my students in survey courses and there is always a strong correlation between the two. Using multiple choice tests always me to cover more ground in the examination period, but the essays allow me to see how the students assimilate the knowledge. Average multiple choice questions are fine for assessing content, but great multiple choice questions can assess critical thinking. The Miller Analogies Test is good example of one.

[Goblinmonger]

53. He makes a pretty clear implication he writes the exam.

1. If there is a problem with a question that might be true because I'm not perfect.
2. I may write a question I can't answer (what the hell does that even mean? He's clearly writing an objective test. If he's writing a question he can't answer, how does he put the right answer into the computer for it to grade).

If he had said somewhere that the publisher test bank was off limits (again, assuming the students got it legally which is possible), then he would have a point. He seems to be saying that he writes the test. Which he doesn't.

[joeglow3]

54. EXACTLY. How can the students even know they are cheating?

He told them he writes the questions.

[aikoaiko]

57. That's not exactly waht he told them, but what he said could give that impression.

[aikoaiko]

55. I would say he did write the exam even by using a test bank.

I've written multiple choice questions where, after analyzing the students' responses, that it was poorly written and I couldn't point to a single correct answer.

There were test banks and old exams available to me from other students and organization in college 25 years ago. I assumed that they were off limits.

I think we'll disagree about the whether the students' and professor's responsibilities here, but the students are entitled to the due process of their honor court (or whatever academic discipline policy).

[cherokeeprogressive]

48. "frustated" Smart kids with mad proofreading skillz.

Not.

[Swamp Rat]

44. Lazy teacher + oversized class = poor results

The students who were not suspected of cheating are also being punished, which is yet another very poor decision. The teacher should be disciplined and reassigned, and required to take two 4 hour courses on ethics in teaching.

So-called "test banks" should only serve as templates for creating unique tests that cover a single instance of a course/semester.

Even as a very poorly paid TA, when I had over 300 students, I only used pre-concieved tests as a template to create my own, unique tests. Though it was hard grading so many tests, and I did discover a few cheaters, I was able to handle the situation to everyone's satisfaction (and I successfully argued in favor of light discipline for those who cheated).

[trumad]

49. Bingo...

[alcibiades_mystery]

62. Total fucking bluff

Game theory stuff, for sure.

No "forensic analysis" was going to track down individual cases, and he wouldn't make the offer if it could.

[petronius]

63. Yeah, I was trying to figure that one out myself. I imagine all he could point to

would be that grades were higher then usual overall, and some students made big improvements from previous work. Even if those numbers were statistically significant, no disciplinary board would accept them as evidence of cheating (rightly so). The students got conned...

[Catbird]

65. How not to handle "cheating"

I'm a professor. I can't imagine handling a situation this way. I always assume that at least some students have access to old exams. So I make sure that all of them have the old exams to use as study guides. I also assume that they have access to test banks, which I don't generally use. My undergraduate college collected exams from almost all courses and put them in the library! We used them, but they weren't sufficient to pass a course by themselves.

I try not to set rules that I can't enforce. It's hard enough to keep people from using notes during exams!

I reuse questions sometimes. And what I find discouraging is when students can't answer them the SECOND or even THIRD time after having been told they would be reused in a subsequent exam.

And why is a CAPSTONE course using a test bank in the first place? Maybe because it has too many students for a real CAPSTONE course!