Caught Cheating

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Han, Dec 11, 2003.

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  1. Han

    Han New Member

    When you catch a student cheating, do you give them a 0 on that assignment or an F in the class (when policy let's you do either)?
     
  2. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    Give a zero for the assignment.
     
  3. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I was a grader for a programming class and caught someone that had taken someone else's homework (i.e., computer program) and forged his name on it. It was proven he'd done this on two programs so we gave him a zero for all assignments unless he could provide a shred of proof that an assignment was his own work.

    I think it should depend on the class and assignment though. For computer science, it really didn't matter because he failed the tests because he hadn't done the homework. I didn't want to give the fellow in the above case too much of a break though because the people that he had stolen their homework from had to resubmit their assignments and had to go through the worry that they were going to be counted off for being late, etc.
     
  4. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    12 years ago, when I was hired to write a monograph on the educational system of Germany (for the Australian government), I was charmed to learn that there were two different grades for "Fail" (I wish I could remember the names). One was defined (my wording here) as "You have failed, but there is some possibility of redemption so you can continue in the course or program," and the other as "You have failed so utterly and irretrievably that you cannot go on."
     
  5. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    When I was an undergraduate in South Africa, students caught cheating would be "rusticated." A notice showing the student's name would be posted on public noticeboards throughout the university saying that Joe Bloggs (or whomever) had been caught cheating and was being rusticated for one semester or two semesters or more. Rustication basically meant suspension from the university. But the real punishment was the public humiliation.
     
  6. Professor Kennedy

    Professor Kennedy New Member

    Oxpecker

    Public humiliation risks sanctions from the litigous. Heriot Watt would be more likely to cancel the canditate's exams sat in the same diet at the least, or expel the student, but privately.

    The Disciplinary Committee would not wish its authority to be challenged in a court because, in the nature of these things ,the evidence depends on the statements of the invigilator (student found with crib sheets of various kinds, cppying from nearby candidates, in covert conversations, using text messages, visiting toilets and attempting to recover previously deposited notes, and such like) but the strict rules of evidence in a court may not be met in the standards of a university accusation.

    Most found in these positions admit and blame 'stress' and such like and avert expulsion A few threaten legal challenges but fewer carry out their threats. Those that do, most back off when their advisors see the 'evidence'. Like referees in a football match, the university does not reverse a decision if it has gone this far and they are sure of the evidence. Its credibility would collapse as an attestor of fitness.

    Ironically, where this is evidence of substantial cheating - downloads for off site and out of sigh 'assignments' - the publicity damages the university more than the miscreants. Distance learning bodies should reconsider their security.
     
  7. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    At University of Cape Town, orders of rustication would come from something called the University Court. I'm not sure how stringent the rules of evidence were. Fortunately, I never had occasion to appear before the Court!

    I was an undergraduate 25+ years ago, at a time in South Africa when draconian actions by those in authority were the norm. So things may have changed.
     
  8. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    I give them a "zero" on that assignment, but also give them the opportunity to re-do the assignment, with the understanding that the finished product will get a full letter-grade deduction from what it would have earned, if submitted originally.

    IOW....a re-do that would have earned a "A" grade would get a "B", a "B" would get a "C", etc.
     
  9. gmanmikey

    gmanmikey New Member

    I would give the student a zero on the assignment for the first offense, and a fail in the course for a second.

    There were a bunch of cheaters at a school I attended in the 1980's. The funniest thing happened in a digital electronics course taught by a teacher we nicknamed "Doctor Sominex." (Sominex is an over-the-counter sleeping pill available in the USA.)

    The good Doctor taught two sections of the same class, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Exams were multiple choice, and would be graded and returned to you on the spot. Doctor S. used a piece of paper with holes punched in it to grade your exam quickly.

    I was in the afternoon section. While waiting in line to get my exam graded, I saw the student ahead of me get his exam graded. the Doctor's red pen got very busy, which was odd, because most people were scoring quite well on the exam. Doctor S. was puzzled, too. He then pulled out the morning answer key and superimposed it over the exam. He then laughed, and said: "you would have got a A this morning!"
     

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