August 21, 2006
Technology helps cheating as ethics & values takes hitCheating right under a professor’s nose is easy for those who have an edge in technology.
“Definitely. Students know way more about technology than teachers and they use it to their advantage to cheat,” said Andrew Gibson, an Arizona State University student. “Technology changes so rapidly it is hard for them (teachers) to keep up.”
Some teachers, however, know of some commonly-used cheating technologies.
“I know some of the cell phones have calculators in them,” said Chuy Carreon, the chair of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Mesa Community College.“Some students can text or even now, I know they can photograph a test and send it to someone, or text a problem.
“I think it would be hard to do but I guess it would be possible. A lot of students know how to use cell phones better than instructors. While I think there might be a little bit of cheating going on, I don’t think it’s really big at this time,” Carreon added.
Cell phones and storage
However, some students tend to think differently.
“I have seen it where during the test students will have a cell phone or other device in their pocket and will pull it out when they see an opportunity to do a few problems,” said Brandon Connery, an MCC student.
Brett Henson, a psychology major at MCC, sees the situation similarly, saying, “I have seen people who use then: cell phones to take and store pictures of tests or equations.”Cindy Odgers, chair of the Agriculture and Technology Department at MCC, feels that it is important for professors to be educated when it comes to technology, while admitting they may never be ahead of the game.
“I think it is crucial that instructors are on the cutting edge, or at least even with their students on technology, I don’t think it’s necessarily possible for us to be ahead of them”.“I know faculty who are way ahead of me, they are cutting edge, right up to speed; and I know some faculty who are not and it would be really good if they tried to get up to speed. I have an iPod and I try to stay on top of technology as much as I can,” she added.
Professors try to cut down on cheating in the classroom by setting standard rules for students to follow.
“Every room (in the mathematics building) should have a sign that says that cell phones are supposed to be turned off,” Carreon said.
Some students get pretty adamant about using their cell phones or at least having access to them in class, but most instructors don’t let students use them, Carreon added.
Other instructors said they follow this same rule, including Odgers and Amadau Gaye, a math teacher at MCC.
However, some professors have a different approach.
“Some (math) instructors allow a small cheat sheet and therefore don’t allow them to use a calculator at all. Other times, tests are purposely made so. a student shouldn’t need a calculator,” Carreon said.
A Clear Memory
One technology that is commonly used for cheating is graphing calculators.
“The TI-84 calculators have enough space to save an entire test to it as long as you know how to program,”said Brandon Gesimondo-Clark, a wireless expert at Best Buy.In an attempt to stop students from cheating, math teachers try to prevent students from saving equations or other information to the memory of calculators by clearing it each time before a test.
“Instructors will clear the memory of calculators,” Carreon said.
If a student has other programs on the calculator that they have downloaded they will be erased, so students are encouraged to save that kind of information to their personal computers, he added.
However, there is a way to keep information on a calculator without the instructor knowing, or being able to erase it easily.
“You can make a program in the calculator and save almost anything to it,” Gesimondo-Clark said.
“If you create a program with the information you need on it, the teacher will clear the calculator’s memory but that won’t include the program you created. They could clear it if they wanted to, but they would have to know how to navigate around the calculator to find where you saved it.
Once you put in a certain type of memory, you have to manually delete it...it’s part of the memory that doesn’t get deleted when you clear the memory,” he said.
Some models of MP3 players and most PDA s can be used in the same way for the same purpose, Gesimondo-Clark added.While calculators can be used for cheating purposes in the mathematics department, other forms of technology are starting to become available for students to use in any department.
Pricy electronics helps cheating
A product called Zipit is a large PDA look-alike that is another form of wireless instant messenger that doesn’t charge to use its services.
“It’s pretty much just like an instant messenger program,, it will link up with the wireless Internet you are near and allow you to use it like AIM (AOL Instant Messenger),” Gesimondo-Clark said.
“You could have a friend at home on an instant messenger feeding you information through the Internet. Since this product has keypads for the letters it is easier to type out letters for text messaging quickly,” Geismondo-Clark added.
Most schools, including ASU and MCC, have wireless Internet capabilities on campus and in classrooms so it would be possible and easy for a student to use a product like this, Gesimondo-Clark said.
“The only bad thing about this is that it is kind of big and it comes in bright colors so it is likely to stand out which may make it easier for a professor to see in class,” headded.
The product can be bought at Best Buy for around $100.
Other technologies students use at home makes catching students who cheat harder for the professor.
A piece of software called Maplesoft programmed to complete any math equation entered in at any level.
“Maplesoft can do all the math for you,” Gaye said. “We have the program in the math department that allows students to visualize objects that are in three or higher dimensions because it is very difficult to visualize something that is in three dimensions and higher.
Students can purchase their own version off the company’s website for about $100, according to Alex McCauley, an employee at CompUSA.
“There are different versions of the software,” McCauley added. “Depending on the need of the buyer the software varies and so does the price. An academic version of Maplesoft, which is the one a professor could buy, would cost about $995.
“At the same time, Maplesoft also has another commercial version that can cost right around $1,995.”While this program may help students, some professors fear students will misuse it.
Cheating access at home
“When a student takes home the homework or a test, you don’t know who is doing it,” Gaye said. “It could be another student or it could be software.”
“As a result, if students can cheat with the software at home, you have to make sure that when it is time for the student to take the test that the student is not in a room where the student can have access to the same software.
“If you are smart enough you could really have all the assignments done by Maplesoft. Because of this, an instructor should always be careful of how much weight they give to assignments that are taken home,” Gaye explained.
There are programs that exist that do the same operations as Maplesoft such as MATLAB.
Also, depending on a student’s knowledge of electronics, a student could write their own software and program it to perform similar operations and use that to cheat instead of spending hundreds of dollars, according to Gaye.
“Every 18 months it (technology) exponentially increases. It’s a real challenge to do all our other duties and responsibilities and at the same tune keep up with the technology; but I think it’s crucial we have to, it’s our job,” Odgers said.
Gaye also explained, “It is very important that instructors be at least several steps ahead of students because things are being created everyday as we speak.
“There are students who are very good at games, computers and calculators and if you as an instructor do not know what is in there...what is going to happen is that students will always be ahead and that should never happen,” Gaye added.