“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.
I used to write cues on a small piece of paper and slip it under my watch.
Funny thing is, with the last-minue cram, I rarely needed to work the slight of hand to open my brain.
The students that are industrious enough to use iPods, and to re-hash the material in notes or voice recordings have processed the information more times than most, in more ways, and probably don’t need the crutch that much.
Maybe teachers should encourage the kids to “cheat.” They’ll learn more that way. It’s an “open book test” but you have to bring your own “book.”
Testing should not be about memorizing and regurgitating that information. It should be about applying that knowledge. It would be better for the students to just tell them, you can bring any information and reference material you want. I don’t care if that information is on your iPod, your cell phone, or your text book. But the test is going to be harder because it won’t be multiple choice or fill in the blank. You’ll have to apply that knowledge to real world situations to demonstrate your understanding, just like you’ll have to do when you’re out in the real world as adults. Perhaps if the tests are “open book,” students will spend more time learning and understanding, and less time devising new ways to cheat. It will also put more emphasis on having good teachers.
“funny how much smarter he and mom got in my late 20’s and early 30’s when I started having kids.”
That’s the difference between being smart and being wise. ^_^
Haven’t kids been cheating, like, forever?
what about squirting zunes?
I’m big fan of your Apr 27, 07 – 03:50 pm post. Nice job.
Oops. That should read…
ChrissyOne: I’m big fan of your Apr 27, 07 – 03:50 pm post. Nice job.
Someone squirted me some bad intel on my Zune. I don’t blame the Zune. I blame the user.
If you type 7734 in your calculator and hold it upside down it says something naughty. hehe
The “duh” starts now.
Sometimes I have to wonder about journalists, who take any obvious topic, make a story about it, and get paid for their efforts. “Becoming tools for cheaters”?? Don’t they realize small earbuds and cassette-player Walkmans have been around for more than 2 decades?
To add to the mystique, they incorporate phrases like “students use iPod-compatible voice recorders”. You mean students run to the store and buy this magical recording device (making sure it says “iPod-compatible” on the label)? No, they speak the formulas into their Macbook’s built-in microphone and add the sound file to an iTunes playlist, which doesn’t sound as sexy. The implication is that recorded sound is unique to today’s young generation.
I used to use my calculator to cheat. It was a Texas Instruments TI85, and I stored formulas in the form of saved equations.
Kids will find a way.
Gee… how about “Students put away your cell phones and music players during the test. If you don’t, you will get an automatic F.”
Problem solved. This is pretty lame.
If you type 7734 in your calculator and hold it upside down it says something naughty. hehe
As does 55378008. Nerd.
Don’t they realize small earbuds and cassette-player Walkmans have been around for more than 2 decades?
As a teen from the 80’s/Walkman era, I can’t think of a single example of music players being used to cheat. They simply weren’t allowed in the classroom, considered a distraction/disruption more than a cheat tool.
Now you could use the players in the hall etc., which gave rise to an epidemic of “Footloose” jamming wannabe’s…
Had to do a couple page typed essay (yes, people used to type reports).
One certain kid had access to a now-vintage Apple and an early GUI word processor.
The named kid wrote up the essay in a font about twice the size of typewritten print (thus cutting the content length of the report in half…).
Teacher not only accepted the report, she was impressed by the layout. Hook, line, sinker.
Ah, the memories…
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I think a bigger problem than how students cheat – is that they DO cheat. If I remember right I haven’t cheated, not even once, in tests.
As I’ve said since calculators became ubiquitous:
If an iPod (calculator, note-card, whatever) makes your test trivial, it already was.
And yes, I’ve been a univ prof for over 20 years (and a proud Mac user since 1984).
MW: “thinking” as in what the test should require, not mere regurgitation. The prescience of the MW generator is scary at times.
In real life you would be using all of the references at your disposal while working on a real world problem.
A true test of a student’s comprehension of a subject would be the solving one of that subject’s real world problems with the ability to access any real world database.
Prepare the student for life outside of academia.
Tests are stupid–they never tell you what a student knows, essays tests, on the other hand, show up instantly all the short comings of how bad a job the teacher is doing. I guess that’s why teachers likes tests…
Gee, I am afraid making up exam questions will get a little harder, requiring the students to THINK rather than REPRODUCE. Thie is by far best protection against cheating.
For all I care, if exam questions test skills, then it doesn’t matter whether students have access to documentation. Just let them take a little amount of info, e.g., a personally written two sided 8×11 sheet.
If they know there stuff, they should work faster and finish the exam in time. If they don’t, they will be looking up the answers on the spot.
What should be prevented at all cost, though, is interactive access to others, who may be able to THINK in their place and actually KNOW the subject! So, yes, the use of some electronic devices poses hidden dangers (the students generally being much more tech-savvy than the teacher).
I hated French.
I would write out the French lessons on a blank piece of paper with enough pressure so that I could read the impression on the paper underneath. Then the next day when it was time to take out a blank piece of paper, I would do just that, only I could read the information “engraved” into the blank paper.
One (1) sixteen (16) year old girl did the sixety-nine (69) position with three (3) different boys. What happened afterward?
11669 x 3 = (turn calculator upside-down)