I teach a class of 120 Master's students. There are two sections-52 students registered in one and 68 in the other. The material pertains to distributed computing. We talk about architectures, communication protocols, file systems, synchronization, concurrency and replication, fault-tolerance and so on and so forth. There are several in-class quizzes, a midterm and a final exam and a semester long project in the course.
So here is how the exam(s) go - I walk into the class, with/without proctors (I get proctors for midterm and finals, but not for the quizzes). In a loud and clear voice I announce, 'Please keep all bags and electronic devices including laptops, cell phones, pdas, ipads, etc. up on the dais. You are not allowed any additional piece(s) of paper as a cheat sheet or for rough work. You can only have a pencil/pen to do your exam.' I wait for a few minutes and watch as the students lazily put their things away-or so I think.
After the first quiz, some students reported to me that a few colleagues had apparently not kept cell phones away near the dais, it being 'an essential tool' that they wanted to hang on it even during the exam. These students managed to take pictures of the exam and email it to their friends in the next section, who start their exam 10 minutes after the first class is done. Well. Smart thinking.
I cannot combine the classes for the exam-it is a scheduling hassle. Only the final is scheduled ahead of time and both sections take it together.
I have separate exams for the two sections, knowing I cannot trust anyone. I learnt the adversarial setting I was working in/against.
Looking into your neighbors work is the old style of 'copying'. Quite effective, however. When you do not know something, glance at your neighbor's work and see what s/he has. Each student gets a different exam (there are usually two sets of questions I prepare for each section!). Good luck, trying to see what your neighbor has. You will first need to tally the questions, then the answers. For the midterms, my Teaching Assistant figured it would be wiser to put together a 'randomized' seating arrangement. Friends are no longer next to friends.
The random seating arrangement was a huge success in curbing cheating. But then, the 'restroom break' requests emerged. The first time around-I allowed those. I was too nice. My proctor ended up discovering that the ladies room was becoming more like a student dorm with books, electronic devices openly being used and discussed. There was even a social circle (a miniature version of a facebook friends list) setup to discuss and answer questions in the exam! Question papers were taken away and perpetrators brought to task. Since then, I allow 'No restroom breaks' by 'class policy'. Actually, feel like an autocrat of sorts with that rule in place.
Now, it almost became a power struggle. The naysayers go their way. I go mine.
In the recent midterm, I had a student come in with a knitted cap with a stiff peak projecting in front. Think baseball cap. My proctor complained he was not able to see her eyes and hence could not decide whether she was doing her own work or not. I watched her from a different direction and noticed she was not. The idea was to use the cap as a cover for looking into her neighbor's work. No digital enhancements - simple old fashioned style. And gives her quite the look. I am technically not permitted to ask her to open a head dress or cap since one may have his/her own need for it. We just moved the students around and made them sit further from each other. But hey - buy a new cap for the exam versus study hard for it?
Moving students around did not work too well either. The proctor was flabbergasted to hear one student question 'There are common questions in the two groups. Why can I not look and learn?' Excuse me? This is supposed to be an exam!
So that was for the in-class exam(s).
For the project, they are required to submit a proposal, an intermediate report and a final report. About 60% of the class wanted to do 'sentiment analysis on twitter data'. One of my colleagues got so amused, he asked them what motivated their choice and if 'sentiment' meant anything more than being positive or not. I sighed. Where does it all begin (or end)?
The Student Handbook - code of conduct. Amen.
So here is how the exam(s) go - I walk into the class, with/without proctors (I get proctors for midterm and finals, but not for the quizzes). In a loud and clear voice I announce, 'Please keep all bags and electronic devices including laptops, cell phones, pdas, ipads, etc. up on the dais. You are not allowed any additional piece(s) of paper as a cheat sheet or for rough work. You can only have a pencil/pen to do your exam.' I wait for a few minutes and watch as the students lazily put their things away-or so I think.
After the first quiz, some students reported to me that a few colleagues had apparently not kept cell phones away near the dais, it being 'an essential tool' that they wanted to hang on it even during the exam. These students managed to take pictures of the exam and email it to their friends in the next section, who start their exam 10 minutes after the first class is done. Well. Smart thinking.
I cannot combine the classes for the exam-it is a scheduling hassle. Only the final is scheduled ahead of time and both sections take it together.
I have separate exams for the two sections, knowing I cannot trust anyone. I learnt the adversarial setting I was working in/against.
Looking into your neighbors work is the old style of 'copying'. Quite effective, however. When you do not know something, glance at your neighbor's work and see what s/he has. Each student gets a different exam (there are usually two sets of questions I prepare for each section!). Good luck, trying to see what your neighbor has. You will first need to tally the questions, then the answers. For the midterms, my Teaching Assistant figured it would be wiser to put together a 'randomized' seating arrangement. Friends are no longer next to friends.
The random seating arrangement was a huge success in curbing cheating. But then, the 'restroom break' requests emerged. The first time around-I allowed those. I was too nice. My proctor ended up discovering that the ladies room was becoming more like a student dorm with books, electronic devices openly being used and discussed. There was even a social circle (a miniature version of a facebook friends list) setup to discuss and answer questions in the exam! Question papers were taken away and perpetrators brought to task. Since then, I allow 'No restroom breaks' by 'class policy'. Actually, feel like an autocrat of sorts with that rule in place.
Now, it almost became a power struggle. The naysayers go their way. I go mine.
In the recent midterm, I had a student come in with a knitted cap with a stiff peak projecting in front. Think baseball cap. My proctor complained he was not able to see her eyes and hence could not decide whether she was doing her own work or not. I watched her from a different direction and noticed she was not. The idea was to use the cap as a cover for looking into her neighbor's work. No digital enhancements - simple old fashioned style. And gives her quite the look. I am technically not permitted to ask her to open a head dress or cap since one may have his/her own need for it. We just moved the students around and made them sit further from each other. But hey - buy a new cap for the exam versus study hard for it?
Moving students around did not work too well either. The proctor was flabbergasted to hear one student question 'There are common questions in the two groups. Why can I not look and learn?' Excuse me? This is supposed to be an exam!
So that was for the in-class exam(s).
For the project, they are required to submit a proposal, an intermediate report and a final report. About 60% of the class wanted to do 'sentiment analysis on twitter data'. One of my colleagues got so amused, he asked them what motivated their choice and if 'sentiment' meant anything more than being positive or not. I sighed. Where does it all begin (or end)?
The Student Handbook - code of conduct. Amen.
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