“Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious — students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing students could text message the answers to each other,” The Associated Press reports.
“Now, schools across the country are targeting digital media players as a potential cheating device. Devices including iPods… can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say,” AP reports.
“‘It doesn’t take long to get out of the loop with teenagers,’ said Mountain View High School Principal Aaron Maybon. ‘They come up with new and creative ways to cheat pretty fast.’ Mountain View recently enacted a ban on digital media players after school officials realized some students were downloading formulas and other material onto the players,” AP reports.
“Some students use iPod-compatible voice recorders to record test answers in advance and them play them back, 16-year-old Mountain View junior Damir Bazdar said,” AP reports.
“Others download crib notes onto the music players and hide them in the ‘lyrics’ text files. Even an audio clip of the old ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ take on how a bill makes it through Congress can come in handy during some American government exams,” AP reports.
AP reports, “Kelsey Nelson, a 17-year-old senior at the school, said she used to listen to music after completing her tests — something she can no longer do since the ban. Still, she said, the ban has not stopped some students from using the devices. ‘You can just thread the earbud up your sleeve and then hold it to your ear like you’re resting your head on your hand,’ Nelson said. ‘I think you should still be able to use iPods. People who are going to cheat are still going to cheat, with or without them.'”
“Still, schools around the world are hoping bans will at least stave off some cheaters,” AP reports.
Full article here.
Taking bets on how fast this thread degerates into a brawl about teachers, administration, yadayada….
anyone want some action?
iPods don’t cheat. Lousy, rotten kids who shoot pool and listen to rock and roll music like the Beatles and say swell, instead of buckling down to work cheat.
I say they ban children and just teach the iPods….
Sure beats buying a Bic Finepoint to write really, really, really, teeny letters on a tiny piece of paper like I had to do. And I still failed Geometry.
Walked to school uphill both ways too.
They couldn’t do that with a Zune. Too frickin big!
Damn kids today. I used to write the answers on my shoe and I was lucky to have that! Now get the hell off my lawn!
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The other one I enjoyed was years ago a certain professor allowed students one 3×5 card with notes when they took an exam. My buddy used a LaserWriter to jam as much info as possible onto the 3×5 card–even at only 300dpi, 6 point fonts were still readable. The professor let it slide, but next year he allowed only handwritten 3×5 cards.
I cannot understand how any invigilator can allow an electronic device or anything other than a pencil and an eraser at an exam except for maybe a calculator?
@MacRaven…
in the snow, with no shoes?
Buster, can I say that I’m seriously impresed at the use of the word “invigilator”, and suggest at the same time that you get out a little more? ;-p
american school system @ it’s finest!
@gman
What in the world does this have to do with the American school system? Isn’t this more a reflection on American Society?
@peter:
one year in calculus the teacher allowed 3 x 5 cards in the exam. as a joke my wife brought in a sheet of microfiche – just the right size – and occasionally held it up to the light and squinted.
@Jim…I do get out more…to give out university exams… which is why I know the term invigilator…not because I am smart
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Damn ….my secret is out.
Buster deserves a trophy with “World’s Best Invigilator” engraved upon its base.
(making mental note, “never get in argument with Buster about anything that requires brains… ok. Check)
MDN word is letters – as in, I needed to spell check my letters before I posted previously
We used to use a needle and a clear plastic bic pen. We used the needle to scrape/wright the answers on the pen. From a foot away the pen resembles any beat up pen. You tilt it in the right angle and your writing is clear as can be. The good thin is that they can ban pens now can they?
Hey, Thats my old High School! Good for them!
This one time, at band camp…
I just used my calculator. You know, these Texas Instruments calculators you can program ? I had 7K of “disk” space on mine — barely enough to fit all my math formulas.
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Really too bad. I used my iPod during tests in college – not to cheat, but to listen to music and stay focused. The girl in the article is right, cheaters are going to cheat no matter what. At the high school level they shouldn’t be memorizing stuff anyway – they should be learning to apply concepts. Especially in an age when all the information is available at our fingertips through google. Google will give you facts – but not apply them for you, that’s what students need to learn, and that’s why my profs never had a problem with my iPod – all the facts in the world wouldn’t help me in applying the concepts in essay questions.
When you see a teenager come up with a new, clever, inventive way to do something, you’d better squash that inventiveness and remind them that life is all about conforming to standardized testing guidelines.
-c
Memo to planet earth – Your Kids Are Probably Smarter Than You.
Lol @ Chrissy…
“Your Kids Are Probably Smarter Than You.”
as my 21 year old reminds me almost every day, kind of like I did my old man when I was his age.
funny how much smarter he and mom got in my late 20’s and early 30’s when I started having kids.
Solution is simple: I’m assuming high school here (don’t know if you could get away with this in college), but simply hand each student a zip lock bag as they enter, they write their name on it, drop in all electronics (iPod, cell phone, pager, zune), and drop it in a bin on the teachers desk. At the end of the exam when they turn in their test and leave the room they grab their bag and leave. Problem solved. At our local HS cell phones are not permitted on campus,yet 95% carry one with them and some even use them in class. It’s a matter of strict enforcement: namely that it is not being done.
You guys keep deleting my posts, but LOOK AT http://www.UFILLITUP.com !!
Its got educational software on the iPod. WTF!