This may be a touchy subject
and is open for debate. Let me start off by saying that I am in no way
advocating cheating or the behavior that a student is displaying when they are
attempting to get answers to something by means of something that is not
allowed. I also want to preface that I am discussing cheating in regards to cheating
on a homework assignment or a test, quiz, whatever it may be.
A few weeks ago, I was
studying for a quiz. I was not happy with the way that I had to learn the
information. I basically forced myself to memorize what needed to be memorized.
For example, I needed to be able to completely draw a chart on a blank piece of
paper. This was not required, but the chart was the only way that I felt I
understood how to use the information given. On one side of the chart, I needed
to know the words going down the side. So I took the first letter of each word
and put it in a different word (such as the word stop, I took the s and made
the word Sally) and created a phrase. I then memorized the phrase. My phrase
was: Sally fed alligators nineteen little geese. It helped me remember the
information and in turn I remembered what each letter stood for. But looking
back now, I do not feel that I learned the information. I memorized it, used it
for the test, and now two weeks later I had to look up what Sally stood for.
I went off on a tangent
there, but the night I was studying for my quiz, I decided to Google
memorization and learning. I wanted to see if there were some opinions on
memorization and how it is not learning, but the fact that students have to use
it anyway. I came across a blog post that was done by an educator and speaker;
her name is Kelly Tenkely. She has her own blog, but this specific post was
about cheating in the classroom, why students do it, and whether or not using mobile
or electronic devices is truly considered cheating.
Tenkely talked about how she
was responding to posts and someone mentioned the use of mobile devices in
classrooms. Another user specifically added that they worried about cheating
becoming even more prevalent if such devices were to be allowed. Tenkely
writes, “I mentioned that maybe we needed to redefine cheating. In
my mind, if a student is using the resources they have available to find an
answer, and they are successful at it, we shouldn’t call it cheating…it’s
smart!” (Tenkely, 2010). The use of electronic devices brings back calculators
in high school. There are the teachers who will say calculators should not be
used on tests and the teachers that say they should. There are the people that
say “smart” people do not use calculators. I think people need to catch up with
the times.
Technology is on the forefront in our times. I’m sorry that my
grandfather did not have a calculator in high school, but the point of the
matter is that we have a calculator now. It should be utilized; especially in
the classroom. Technology is the future of this world. Students are going to be
using even more technology as they grow older and by teaching them how to use
it we are preparing them for what is to come. If our students know how to
effectively use the technology they have available, and if they know how to research what they are learning and how
to cite specific evidence to back up that research,
then why should that be considered cheating? I think that technology should be
allowed going forward on essay tests or tests that require well thought out
answers.
Tenkely goes on to suggest the use of using electronic devices
on multiple-choice tests. Why should the students be forced to memorize every
single fact? How is learning taking place? I think it could be effective in a
classroom to allow students to attempt the entire test, circle questions they
are unsure of, and then allow them to get out their electronic devices and look
up answers. If I were to do this in my own classroom, I would probably do
something like half credit on the answers that they looked up. The point of the
matter is why should students be penalized for attempting to find the correct
answer. They are attempting to do well unlike the student across the room who
has been asleep all year and could care less whether he gets an A or an F…and
they do exist!
Another point that Tenkely makes is that if students are
cheating on a test that a teacher creates, could it be possible that the
problem exists within the test? Perhaps as teachers, we need to take a step
back and evaluate the test that we have presented to students. In core 2, I
loved learning about the item detail analysis where we analyzed multiple-choice
questions and how challenging they were based on the student’s answers. If I do
multiple-choice testing in my own classroom, it would be something that I would
like to try. But the point is, if students are cheating on a test that we
created, could there be a problem there? Finally, I enjoyed the point that
Tenkely made about how creative students who cheat are. They truly will find
creative ways to not get caught. My final thought is, how do we penalize the
cheater?
I want to be more than the teacher that gives them a zero and
sends them to the office. I want to find out why they felt the need to do it.
Did they not prepare? Did they prepare and just feel helpless? Did they feel
surprised by the test? I do not want to abandon the student by putting them in
the category of the cheater for the rest of the year. I think that is a
disservice to the teacher. I’m not saying that students should not be penalized
for their actions, but I do think that we should try to help them in whatever
way possible. I believe in forgiveness, and I feel that I will always forgive
my students for their actions. I want to help them succeed; I want to help them
not to cheat again. That is after all, why we are there.
I want to end by saying again that I am not advocating cheating.
But I wanted to present the thoughts of Kelly Tenkely because they got me
thinking about cheating and the use of electronic devices. I think that
technology should be allowed more in classrooms and more importantly, if we do
have students who cheat, we should find out why they did it and help them to
not do it again.
References:
Tenkely, K. (2010, August 3). Redefining Cheating. Retrieved
September 25, 2015.
First of all, I like your countdown you have going on. It's cool, but at the same time its scary because its going to be a huge deal for us.
ReplyDeleteI think that your idea that is being focused on in this blog post is interesting in ways that it makes us redefine or craft our own meaning of cheating. I agree with Tenkely that if students are able to showcase their ability to use electronic resources to help guide them throughout their homework, then by all means let them use it. Notice how I said "help guide" and not "give answers" though. Even if students show that they are able to use electronic devices in conjunction with homework, it isn't productive in learning if they are straight up copying down answers from the internet.
I learned today during my observations that sometimes, you have to give the students a chance to struggle, because this struggle is what's going to help them learn. When you struggle, your mind starts to think, "okay, let's break it down. Where can I start? What should I not do?" and these are questions that help our brain get active and grow.
I like your idea that sometimes, we just have to take a step back and analyze how we assess our students (was it effective? If not, how come?), but also keeping in mind that sometimes it is out of our hands. Students need to meet us halfway. We can try anything we want, recreate a test, or reword a question on a test, but if students aren't willing to put in effort to study or get in touch with the material, then no matter what we do, we're back to square one. So, I guess the idea here is maybe asking ourselves, "how can I produce materials in a way where students will want to understand?"
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ReplyDelete(I found a few errors and couldn't find a way to edit my post so I copied it and re-posted)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you brought up those points. Like you, I am not advocating cheating but sometimes the smart thing to do is to utilize your resources. I also love that you (and your research) talked about the fact that if the answers are plainly out there, then there is possibly something wrong with the test.
Story time -- I once took a somewhat uninteresting class at a University. This particular instructor did not seem to want to be spending three hours of their evening in a classroom anymore than we did. At the start of each class period, they would spend over fifteen minutes struggling with the technology, but that is getting away from the point. On the first or second day of class, we were discussing the correct version of the textbook (the bookstore had given us all the wrong title), and the instructor explained that they always use the newest version of "this book" because it is the most used book across the country. Big mistake, if you ask me, especially if all of the quizzes are going to be online and all of the quizzes and exams are very direct and quite possibly from the book (or someone else's lesson plan that also happens to be online). After a few weeks the instructor began class by lecturing us about cheating and how they knew that some of our answers were not our own, but they had no way to prove it. In essence, it was an "I'm watching you" lecture. But was it cheating? In some ways, yes: especially if students were using the copy and paste functions.
I never felt comfortable utilizing Google in this situation but it was more than tempting and yes, I did on occasion check my answers after completing a question. But the point, or more or less the lesson here, is that if it is out there, it can be found. This is true of more than just test or quiz answers.
I think that as teachers, we need to very seriously consider the choices we make when it comes to what we're asking our students to do. If we don't want Wikipedia regurgata, then we need to go beyond the surface with our questions and not blame technology and/or our students for utilizing their resources.
I really enjoyed your post, Mr. Naylor. Thank you for sharing.