Sharon O'Connor's List: Cheating

• YouTube, predictably, has morphed into a mecca of cheating tips and tricks.
• In a 2006 poll conducted by the Josephson Institute's Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, 60 percent of the 35,000 high school students polled admitted to cheating during a test at school within the past twelve months, and 35 percent of students said they'd cheated two or more times.
• Why do students cheat? Because it's easy and fewer than 10 percent are caught
• empower yourself by visiting Teachopolis.org
• ecommend that teachers do away with multiple-choice and true/false questions in favor of short essay responses. And some schools are cutting to the root of the problem by incorporating ethical and moral teachings into the curriculum.
• "When you see others cheating around you, most reasons given not to -- 'You're only cheating yourself' -- seem very lame," says Michael Laser, author of Cheater, a novel about a smart high school student who gets sucked into a ring of high tech cheaters. "It comes down to a matter of integrity and self-respect." Teachers need to convey that message early on in the education process, Laser adds, by asking students, "What kind of person do you want to be?"

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• A survey conducted in 2008 by the Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics confirms alarming rates of stealing, lying, and cheating among American teenagers. Perhaps what is most disturbing is that “entrenched habits of dishonesty” are evident, while 93% of teenagers report that they are satisfied with their personal ethics and character. Two-thirds of the teens surveyed have cheated in the past year, yet most of them are satisfied with their morals and ethics.
• 80% of sixteen to eighteen-year-olds with A or B averages who plan to attend college after their graduation cheated in order to do well in their classes. In fact, the survey states that 95% of the cheaters were not caught.

• Using Technology to Cheat
    • Calculator: programmable calculators can hold text,   formulas, even pictures.
    • Watch: "data bank" watches can hold crib   notes
    • Pager: Setting electronic pagers to store messages   students can conveniently call up when the teacher's not   looking. In one variant, a high-tech student used a tiny   wireless video camera in a hat to transmit images of the   test to an accomplice, who sent pager messages (the pager   set on vibrate) to indicate answers! A related story regard   the GRE: people taking it on the East Coast were reportedly   beeping answers to persons on the West Coast.
    • Palm Pilots and other personal digital assistants   (and some calculators, too) allow information to be beamed   across a distance via infrared. A student can use a laser   pointer (many look like pens) to "write" the answers   or as part of a code (e.g., left top side of floor tile   = "A" , right top = "B", etc.
    • Walkman: record your notes, take a Walkman to class   and listen to it during the test. It helps to have some   music on their so if the prof walks towards you by the time   they get there the music is playing.
    • Micro-recorder: used when the same test is delivered   in multiple sections; questions are whispered into microphone   for later transcription.
    • Wireless Monitor: used by musicians, this consists   of a body pack transmitter concealed under clothing combined   with a small flesh-colored earpiece; the wire is hidden   under hair and clothing. A cell phone plus a small earpiece   can be used for the same purpose.
    • Camera: at least one instance of a student transmitting   exam questions via a tiny wireless camera and receiving   answers via a wireless monitor has been reported. And a   watch that incorporates a digital still camera has already   been released in Japan.

• If using online tests or quizzes limit the amount of time the test is available.