#Avoid student cheating?
3 messages in this thread
Hello Jayson, I was going over some old messages and saw yours concerning
student copying of drawing assignment files – cheating by any other name. We
use a system that works ok – we have a menu pick which executes a batch file to
copy student
dwg files from their diskette to a "temp" directory on the local hard drive.
When the student finishes his class/session, the batch file copies the .dwg
files back to his diskette. The batch file deletes files from the temp
directory for the next user. Student diskettes never leave the lab – no
viruses, no cheating, no hard drive jam. It isn't the most elegant solution,
but it works for ATC classes, high school classes and for me as the network
administrator. Hope this gives you a direction. Cheers,
John
John (and Jayson):
I tried all sorts of methods to track the cheating possibility, but in the end,
I was doing a lot of extra work and not being very effective. It put the
students on the defensive, and I hated being in that position.
I decided to be honest with them on the first day of class, and tell them that
if they wanted to cheat, go ahead, but it was only hurting themselves in the
long run. They'll do poorly on the exams, and if they got caught, I would show
no mercy. The first offense earns them a big fat zero for all involved parties
and a stern warning. The second offense earns them an immediate failing grade
in the class. Luckily, I've never had this happen. Interestingly enough, the
students that get caught in the first offense almost without exception fail the
class anyway, because they do so badly in the exams.
Cheating on CAD homeworks is often very apparent and easy to spot. I do all my
grading in class on the screens, but occasionally I'll have them hand in a plot
of their work. I grade these over a light table, overlaying anything that looks
suspiciously similar. I've been amazed a few times at what students will hand
in thinking I won't notice that they're exact copies of other's work.
-KLF
Hi Ken, Thanks for the feedback. We have a similar type of approach – our
focus is not on the prevention of cheating, but on the reduction of maintenance
time. We use dual drive 486s in the main CAD lab – and students use only 3.5"
diskettes on B: drive (no unauthorized access by booting from A:). Students
may take their diskettes home with permission, but very few do as few have Acad
at home. They can, with a bit of fiddling, copy a file from someone else, but
few do – just as you say. We encourage the "quicker" students to help others
rather than get too far ahead and entrench inequities.
The menu system we use is from Hyper Technologies in Bellingham WA, but Direct
Access and others are similar. A menu selection initiates a batch file which
deletes drawing files from the student directory and then prompts the student
to insert his drawing disk into drive b: (where it is scanned for any nasty
viruses),… the student drawing files, if any, are then copied to the student
directory. AutoCAD is loaded and students open their own files from the hard
drive. When they are finished their drawing session, the batch file copies
their drawing(s) back out to disk.
Most marking is done from plots – just like yourself – students do their own
plots and again we encourage students to help each other (without cheating).
Cheers, John