Preventing Networked Gizmo Use During Exams? 870
bcrowell writes "I'm a college physics professor. My students all want to use calculators during exams, and some of them whose native language isn't English also want to use electronic dictionaries. I had a Korean student who was upset and dropped the course when I told her she couldn't use her iPod during an exam — she said she used it as a dictionary. It gets tough for me to distinguish networked devices (iPhone? iTouch?) from non-networked ones (calculator? electronic dictionary? iPod?). I give open-notes exams, so it's not memory that's an issue, it's networking. Currently our classrooms have poor wireless receptivity (no Wi-Fi, possible cell, depending on your carrier), but as of spring 2011 we will have Wi-Fi everywhere. What's the best way to handle this? I'd prefer not to make them all buy the same overpriced graphing calculator. I'm thinking of buying 30 el-cheapo four-function calculators out of my pocket, but I'm afraid that less-adaptable students will be unable to handle the switch from the calculator they know to an unfamiliar (but simpler) one."
Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Insightful)
Some people can simply memorize anything they look at, while others struggle at this. A proper exam should be designed to test one's ability to demonstrate processes: exams should give you all the information you need, but the questions should be designed such that only someone who has invested prior effort in practice and learning will be able to solve the questions in the allotted time.
For less-concrete subjects such as the arts, I'm not so sure how this can be accomplished. However this is a trivial design decision for exams in maths, sciences, programming, and engineering.
Furthermore, I think any physics or math exam that requires a complex calculator really has a wrong approach. Assuming everyone at this level has already demonstrated their ability to perform arithmetic several times over, the calculator should only be there to free them from making mistakes on the menial number crunching (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squares, squareroots, proper value of e,Pi, etc...). The exam should test for core concepts: ideas where you simply must understand the knowledge through prior practice and learning.
Sadly, I think many professors fall back on rote-memorization exams just because they can't be bothered to design proper exams each semester. These types often teach straight from the textbook-provided lesson plans, and then wonder why students cheat...
But honestly -- an exam is but one facet of demonstrating proficiency in a subject. Personally, I think projects & labs the best way: sure one can cheat, but it's easy to determine who has spent time polishing a proper unique lab report. In this respect, open-ended projects are the best, as the room for creativity limits the possibility for undetectable cheating, and lets the students show their enthusiasm for the subject. If you're really worried about cheating, a lab-practical may even be a legitimate tool: it's pretty damn hard to make stuff up as you go while you've got a one-person audience of the professor.
Short answer: let them use basic scientific calculators, the textbook, their notes, and a dictionary; design your tests so that students have all the resources they need, but don't have enough time to learn-as-they-go during the exam.
"Never memorize something that you can look up." --Albert Einstein
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Insightful)
if students have networking access to someone inside the exam room (or worse, outside the exam room), no matter how hard you make the exam, you are testing the brainpower of their lifelines, not them.
This.
I didn't come here to troll, but I feel obliged to point out that the grandparent poster lost himself in a forest of his own self-righteousness regarding assessment design. The problem under discussion is that two students in the room working on the same test at the same time could have IM ability through wireless networking, and so one could do the work while passing the answers wirelessly to the other, who could simply copy what he sees on IM.
Parent is almost right: there is no solution short of "no unapproved electronics." Students with poor English abilities who need dictionaries should bring their dictionaries to office hours for inspection; the invigilating TA's (if this is a large lecture) could be notified on the sign-in roster (I'm assuming a sign-in procedure for a large lecture) or be introduced personally to the student in question to be sure they recognize them. The policy would have to be on the syllabus and announced in class the first day. It's not a simple solution, but it's probably more fair to students not fluent in English than denying all electronics.
Of course, the administration could also try requiring that all course instruction and assessment (outside classical/modern languages in Arts & Sciences) be conducted in English, and that all students entering pass an unaided (no lexicon!) English proficiency exam that's not a total joke. I mean, imagine a student going to France and expecting accommodations because he doesn't know French... Of course, administrations in the US will never enforce a convenient language policy, so you're going to have to make allowances for electronic devices like dictionaries if you ban electronics from testing sites.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States#States_and_territories_that_are_officially_bi-_or_trilingual [wikipedia.org]
There is no official language of the United States. At the State level some states do, many do not, and some are officially bi or trilingual.
Refusal to accommodate students with language issues may be illegal in some states.
Some students may be disabled perhaps requiring Braille or some other input devices. The parent would fail steven hawking in a physics exam.
we live in a multicultural society and you are restricting your own development as a rounded individual if you ignore this. At the least learn a second language preferably one which will be useful to you. Not only will it take you places your brain will be exercised developed and expanded.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Interesting)
For any student who needs something that is not allowed for other students, they have to go talk to their schools Americans with disabilities rep. Otherwise they are giving that student an unfair advantage.
How do you know the one girl doesn't speak good enough English for your test? Perhaps she speaks/reads great English, but only tells you she doesnt to get access to a device that the other students arnt allowed to.
Note: This assumes the case in question is in the US.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally I think giving ESL students a paper dictionary to be the perfect way to solve any language difficulties. I would also see no problem allowing that student some extra time on the exam, perhaps even as much as an extra 50%.
I believe that is similar to how it is usually handled. The main point being its kinda unfair to give a student access to something that might enable them to cheat.
Either way, you would think any student that is taking college level classes should have a good grasp of the language they are being taught in, only needing the dictionary sparingly. Otherwise how do they learn during class without being glued to the dictionary.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It is easy to apply to yourself because you already speak english. For foreign language speakers, they often don't have the option of going to a well respected college in their native language, the way you do. If you -had- to speak some other language to get a higher education would you think it fair that your inability to learn another language is hindering your mathematics degree?
Yes.
I'm not a native english speaker, and expect that if I am to go to school anywhere with a different language, I have to learn the language.
Eivind.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Insightful)
so you're going to have to make allowances for electronic devices like dictionaries if you ban electronics from testing sites.
I heard they have a totally newfangled dictionary now, that works entirely without electronics. It consists of lots of sheets of paper, with the words printed on it. Like as if you made a big printout of a site-rip of m-w.com.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah there's really no other way to look up words than a networkable computer. It's just too bad nobody's invented a dictionary that works with simple nonelectronic parts like wood pulp and pigments. This is an open-book exam here, I guess an easy solution to this guy's problem is to have a dictionary that was built into, you know, a book.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just because there's no direct analogue of exam conditions in the real world doesn't mean they're not useful for testing performance. The most fundamental troubleshooting and performance evaluation tool we have is the isolation test. Take a thing apart, test each comp
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Funny)
It's an open book exam, not an open-Internet open-chat open-Yahoo-Answers exam.
Wow...anyone using Yahoo Answers on a physics exam deserves some kind of academic Darwin award. On second thought, let the girl use her iPod as long as that's the only site she accesses. :-p
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Funny)
Yahoo Question: If I have a crumpled up piece of paper in one hand, and a baseball in another, both hands are 1m from the ground and I release both objects at the same time, which one hits the ground first?
Best Yahoo Answer: Can't answer this question without knowing if there is writing on the paper.
Answer: If the crumbled up paper is in the left hand, it hits first.
Answer: The ball, it's heavier, duh.
Answer: Fucking nerd.
Answer: Nerd's don't fuck, idiot.
Answer: Oh yeah? I'm pregnant.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a difference between not reinventing the wheel and asking people to do your job for you.
thin client exam takers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I think he's worried that you could IM a friend during an exam to work the answers out for you, as if you're a thin client, with all that computing power over in the cloud.
Idea: hinder the "sensing" not the communications.
E.g. ask them to solve a single problem, in which the explanations do need a fairly complex diagram. Draw the diagram on a low-contrast color scheme (and/or on a very glossy paper), so that taking a photo (w/wo using flashlight) to result in nothing intelligible.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think he's worried that you could IM a friend during an exam to work the answers out for you, as if you're a thin client, with all that computing power over in the cloud.
I might be a client, but I am not thin.
Student traces diagram on onion-skin paper, photographs it, eats it.
Adds a whole new dimension to passing the test.
Re: (Score:2)
+1 Hit the nail on the head
-1 Far too many of my professors failed to think like you
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Except, oh, the GRE, or the MCAT. Which is why 90% of the students in this guy's class are there.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Interesting)
.
Absolutely. I attended a technical college that ran the exams on an Honor System. Most exams were open-book. Professors were not allowed in the classroom once the exam began. The exams were not about how much you could memorize, but how much you understood.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It'd be nice to know he knew the procedure. However, if something unusual came up I'd prefer to have the guy who 'phones a friend' than the one who decides to wing it. If you're having a 2+ hour piece of surgery is a 5 min delay while the surgeon checks to ensure something is right really so bad?
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Insightful)
You seem to be confusing training with ability to solve problems.
Training can make a doctor better at handling the familiar, but won't help when the doctor is faced with the unfamiliar. In some cases training can even be harmful -- if you have extensive training in recognizing a particular condition, you are biased towards it, and are likely to score more false positives for the diagnosis than you otherwise would. The typical scenario is the young idealistic doctor who takes a course in [moderately rare disease], and then sees that disease behind every bush for the next few months.
An exam should measure how a student does when faced with problems they can neither memorize nor train for, but where they have to show enough understanding of what's been taught that they can apply their knowledge without having been shown exactly how.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:5, Informative)
However, as awesome as your post was, it didn't address the problem at all.
Having been in the same situation before, (Can I use my iPhone - it has a calculator on it, and you said a calculator was ok...) my suggestion would be to hit the dollar store and get a pile of cheap-ass scientific calculators. Then, do an exercise in class a few times before the first exam that requires their use. That way, you can outlaw all the networked devices, but people aren't using a foreign device for the first time under the pressure of a test. No, it won't be as familiar as their everyday tools. But at $1 each, you can even encourage people to take them home and practice on them if concerned. The ones I bought for my classes lasted a few years easily, but again, for the price, I wasn't too worried about them.
You don't need a $80 graphing calculator for most things. Unless you've built your curriculum around the use of one, you should be able to test adequately with a $1 calculator as the main computational tool.
Re:Open Notes & Well-Designed Exams (Score:4, Insightful)
First off -- I applaud your use of open-note exams. That is the ONLY real-world way to learn and demonstrate knowledge.
I partially disagree. Memorization has its place in learning. For example, if one is taking a proper mathematical analysis class but they do not know (by heart!) the formal definition of the limit by midterm, then one is left to wonder how much actual analysis they can do. Ditto for Newton's laws of motion, for example, in the corresponding physics class. In every discipline there are these basic things one needs to understand thoroughly—without having to look them up—to even begin to appreciate the rest of the results. The parent may say: is it not enough to test whether a student solve problems? I do not think it is quite enough. Parent's student may now be able to solve a calculus problem when he is given a one and told it is a calculus problem. My student, who actually remembers the basics of analysis, will be able to pose calculus problems in her field of interest and in her very life: to see things in nature or in the society that can be modeled using limits and derivatives. IMHO, this is better learning. I do agree mostly, though: at least in mathematics, rote memorization should be reserved for just a few central concepts.
As for the root question, I tend to side with people who say: ban all devices but a simple calculator, and design the test in a way that would make even that device unnecessary (don't bother buying them: these things are, like, $1). Whether it's a written test for 100 people or a tête-à-tête in an office, we absolutely have to prevent all communication in order for the examination to have any meaning. Jamming would accomplish that, but it is unsafe and dickish. In the future, when people have wireless adapters in their heads, every test taker will have to be surrounded by a Faraday cage, but for now whitelisting devices is the way to go. For special needs like language translation, have single-purpose devices pre-approved. Do they even make them anymore, now that there are much more capable robots on the internet? Who cares, it's not your problem. No matter what, flatly ban everything that has even a hint of a rumor of the networking capacity.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There is almost never a situation in the professional world where one must solve a problem with absolutely no references
This reminds me of a job interview for a field support job that went like this (paraphrasing because its been a while):
So the boss asks me a technical question which I honestly don't know the answer.
Me: "I don't know, but I'm sure I can Google an answer fairly quick."
Boss: "You mean you don't have this memorized? What if the internet is down?"
Me: "I'd use my cell phone to google the answer
Not trying to be a spelling nazi.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Not trying to be a spelling nazi....
s/iTouch/iPod Touch
Heh. So what are your aspirations, then? Spelling Security Guard? Spelling Old Man Yelling At The Kids In His Yard?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The Nazi's dont care about the spelling, it's the "SS" hunts you down if you spell things wrong.
No body realizes that Hitlers "SS" actually stood for "Super Spellers"!
Trying to be a syntax nazi.... (Score:3, Funny)
"unterminated 's' command"
Talk to network ops. (Score:2, Interesting)
Make each test distinct, choose a throwaway question that you know there are online resources to utilize that would answer it.
Have the network operations guys gather proxy info during the exam period. Track anybody who connects to that site (or one
of it's ilk) and match it to their distinct question. Give them an F no questions asked and refer to the ethics board for cheating.
You don't have to beat the technology, you just have to catch them when they do what they know is wrong.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not just about searching online for the question... you also need to be able to prevent people from asking their friends for help
Re: (Score:2)
How does this help for cell p
Ramen (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
With the door open? Or with phones inside?
That'l do it.
10 years ago (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:10 years ago (Score:4, Insightful)
Still, it's the same problem as before - how do you make a level playing field to test students? This is complicated when the students come from vastly different backgrounds. As a former HS teacher, I struggled with kids who had accommodations to take tests outside my classroom. Some got the tests read to them. Some got extra time. Some had a scribe. But when they were outside the classroom, when a student spotted a typo, and I corrected it on the board for all to see, they didn't get it. When a student pointed out a question that wasn't overly clear and I clarified it for the entire class, they missed that clarification.
What I realized after a few years is that there is limited value in trying to quantify knowledge beyond "100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0%". On any given day, a student's test will vary by 10% or so. To put much weight on a test is pretty silly. For my Master's degree, I looked into the standardized testing my state did to meet the NCLB requirements. Some of the score categories they placed students into were smaller than the error bars on the tests!
Back to the point, the success of students with limited English skills is determinant on the format of their humanities classes. If they are project, essay, and perhaps even presentation driven, they may do ok. Being able to practice something many times, have the tutors (all colleges have extensive, free tutoring programs, ESPECIALLY for non-English speakers) go over it a dozen times, etc., may allow them to pass. Asking them to read and parse English in a short time period may give them too little time to actually complete the test.
That said, I get infuriated by the foreign students who come to the US, and spend all their time hanging with their countrymen, speaking their native language. Every country I've visited, even if only for a week, I tried to learn some of the language. I hung out with the locals, listened to them talk, ate their food, drank their drink, and tried to appreciate what makes their country unique. Yet again and again I see students come here, and cloister themselves from the language, culture, food, etc. It baffles me. When I get to go somewhere new, the best part is reveling in the newness.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That said, I get infuriated by the foreign students who come to the US, and spend all their time hanging with their countrymen, speaking their native language.
I know. They should follow the example of Americans when they go abroad. :-D
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Anything more fine grained doesn't tell anyone anything at all.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Really, anymore if kids want to cheat they're going to. However, in math it's a wee bit difficult so long as you require them to show their work for the solution. If they're going to spend their entire time cheating, they're paying themselves to remain stupid so... Let them I guess.
Only problem there is it harms the credibility of your school. A diploma from a school that is known to ignore cheaters loses value against one from a school that fights cheating and makes their students earn their grades.
But ad
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Question 4) Integrate x*sin(x), graph this curve. If you were to express this as a Taylor expansion, what would the first three terms be? [wolframalpha.com]
See the problem now? If you can't pass calculus with a tool like that, you're not ever going to pass any math class. Between the ability to do each part of the integral separately, and the ability to google "integration by parts", if you are connected to the internet, you pass everything.
Wait, they don't understand that math is required? (Score:2, Interesting)
What does it matter (Score:3, Funny)
If the student is capable of getting the answers right, what difference does it make how it's obtained.
If the issue is that you're worried that the students are pulling answers off the internet then I could agree that you do indeed have an issue.
However, I will provide a different perspective on the problem. As an employer the employee who succeeds is the one who knows how to obtain the information necessary to solve a problem, and use those methods to build their skill levels up. I have seen those who are unable to do this eventually be let go. So aside from the usual arse kissers who seem to proliferate most companies, those who function the best are those who are able to compile a solution from sources built up from years of work. I could care less if it came from Google as long as it's not infringing on anyone's legal rights that could come back to haunt the company.
I honestly think you might be hobbling these young professionals in a sense. Have them show their work at least. Most free solutions to math problems never show the work, you have to shell out hundreds of dollars for that.
[rant]And please for the love of God, let them write it down on paper and scan it, equation editors add hours to large equations. I had a teacher pull that crap on me once on a refresher course. I paid to learn, not learn an equation editor, my writing is legible. I can understand if others are not, but sheesh give someone a chance![/rant]
Re: (Score:2)
Re-consider the statement: "I give open-notes exams, so it's not memory that's an issue, it's networking." I'm not sure whether (s)he meant computer networking or person-to-person, but the latter is a real problem; what if the student isn't using google, but rather sending snapshots of the test questions to some help desk in Russian or India? (There are plenty of sma
Re: (Score:2)
LaTeX is your friend.
Put some effort into customization (Score:2)
Once you make it clear to them that the exams are 'unique' to each student the cheaters will likely panic and turf the exam hard anyhow.
You can make 4-10 different exams and it will be way easier to catch the cheaters.
In theory you could tailor each exam to each student but you'd have to set up a pretty good
SLIDE RULE (Score:4, Insightful)
two words - SLIDE RULE
No need for networking during a test (Score:2)
I'm thinking of buying 30 el-cheapo four-function calculators out of my pocket, but I'm afraid that less-adaptable students will be unable to handle the switch from the calculator they know to an unfamiliar (but simpler) one."
If they can't handle a cheapo calculator, they probably weren't going to pass the course anyway. You can offer to let them get familiar with it ahead of time but they'd be better off studying more. Calculators and computers are a crutch. If students rely on them too much they never really absorb the material. Technology should supplement but rarely should it be the focus.
I say ban the networking hardware altogether. I have a minor in applied physics and none of our tests when I was a student required a
As a physics student (Score:3, Interesting)
No calculators (Score:5, Interesting)
When I took undergraduate physics, there were no calculators allowed... there were no numbers on the exams. Problems were like "If you throw a rock horizontally off a bridge at (v) m/s and it hits the ground after (t) seconds, how far away from the base of the bridge did the rock hit the ground, and how tall is the bridge?" And then the student has to understand that this problem requires the use of the projectile motion equations, and they to know what the question is actually asking and solve for it:
w = v t
h = g t^2
One particularly sadistic (but awesome) professor asked a question like this "Suppose you're stuck in the middle of a frozen pond with a perfectly smooth (frictionless) surface. Propose a way to escape the pond." My (correctly marked) proposal was throw away a shoe. Of course, I could show equations for conservation of momentum, but the point was to see if students understood what it meant to be a frictionless surface and to simply be aware of conservation of momentum.
Re:No calculators (Score:5, Funny)
cultures AND pressures (Score:5, Insightful)
First remember that foreign students pay FAR more than we do to go to US schools. Compound that with the fact that many come from poor countries. The pressure to succeed is EXTREME. Furthermore, not all cultures despise cheating as much as Western culture. The results are predictable.
Personal anecdote: I was invited to the Indian CS students' "study session" once while on a group project. I was AMAZED. They had a library of homework and test questions and answers. They passed them around casually. They also begged me for graded solutions from my previous courses to add to their collection. They were all cheating their way through and thought it was normal.
They also kept asking me how I could come up with working algorithms to programming assignments on my own (without copying from something). It was as if actually being able to program was wizardry to them. I wonder why.......
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
One physics lecturer at the college I went to openly trained students to pass the exam. He was shameless. Every example he took us through became a question in the final examination. Needless to say he was a popular guy. This was in the days before there were a significant number of foreign students.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
During one of the last tutorials before an electronics exam the lecturer was asked to explain a problem from a text book. There was a very noticeable pause when he read and realised the question. Enough to make all of us twig something was up.
Sure enough, the same question was in the exam with different values.
Not his fault though, the alternative, saying "I can't answer this question because it's in the exam", would have been even worse.
Re:cultures AND pressures (Score:5, Interesting)
That reminds me my CS grad school. There was a large percentage of Indian students and I found that regardless if they were good or bad (obviously there were both kinds) their defining characteristic was that they stuck together. When they were TA's (quite common) there were some weird things going on that the Professors were oblivious of. For example, I had a homework that involved storing some flight data on a db2 database, then a gui front-end that allowed you to select from/to locations and gave you the flight sequence that would make your trip. The specification gave 2-3 queries that you should test your solution on. Well, I got 95% for an error that was sort of cosmetic, i.e. not part of the algorithm used. I did not like it and I wondered how the TA graded the rest of the class. As luck would have it, he was one of the students that did not know what "your home directory is world readable by default" means and I got the spreadsheet with the results. Most of the Indians had 100%. I found one girl of those 100% who both had her home dir readable, and had her homework in there. To my amazement her homework involved a gui with HARDCODED results for the 2-3 "test queries"! No sql queries, nothing!
An even better story took place a year after I graduated. An Indian guy was trying to cheat during the midterm and the professor warned him. He tried to cheat at the final again and the professor told him "you are getting an F, I already warned you". So the guy responds "but what about all the guys that submitted the same project?". Haha, the professor looked at the projects which were graded by his Indian TA and half of them (belonging to the Indian students) were the same! It had never occurred to the Professors what was going on. Well, the students got away with just an F (well it could screw their funding though).
Again, I am not saying that Indians are bad, they have more or less the same variety as Americans, Europeans etc, the problem is that by sticking together so much and considering that "natural", you really have a hard time weeding out the good from the bad.
Go cheap (Score:3, Insightful)
If your students are having a hard time adapting to cheap, "employer" provided calculators...how do you think they'll handle the real world?
The only flaw I can find with your plan is to pay for these out pocket, but I understand that's the norm for a lot of college supplies. Of course, given the cost of books, it's not too absurd to expect students to buy the model you specify either.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You get a calculator? All I've had on my desk for many years has been the calc program on my computer.
Response from recent graduate (Score:2)
Make it easier to think than to cheat (Score:2, Interesting)
The way I handle this is putting a lot of problems on the exam. It makes the average score tend to be low (although there are always a few percent that get them all right). But, it spreads out the remainder. I curve the exam to compensate for that.
Students that try to cheat by digging up answers or asking friends will simply run out of time and score very poorly. It is inefficient to cheat.
Take a page from the ETS. (Score:5, Insightful)
Look toward standardized testing practices for how to conduct tests in a rigorous and fair manner. Quite simply, the rules and expectations for the course should be clearly stated at the outset. Don't wait until the exams come around to drop the bomb. Tell them that you expect them to use a calculator that is on an approved list. No other electronic devices will be permitted. All other possessions not explicitly allowed must be placed at the front of the room, and any mobile devices must be turned OFF. No "vibrate." Watches are permitted but cannot have an alarm function. If they need translation, that's too bad; the ETS does not offer to administer mathematics tests in the language of the examinee's choosing. This is a college level course, with lectures in English. You don't provide lecture notes in twenty languages. It is the student's responsibility to become sufficiently proficient in the English language in order to continue their studies. That may put them at a disadvantage, but we don't try to equalize the playing field for someone who hasn't learned calculus.
Education necessarily requires that some students have to work harder--sometimes, much harder--than others to achieve the same proficiency level as others. That is not being unfair, that is just the way life is.
College Policy? (Score:3, Informative)
Community-college math instructor here (CUNY). The first thing I'd ask is: What's the policy (if any) at the college level? Here I'm supported by an official, clear-cut policy at the college level: all electronic communication/media devices have to be shut off and put away while in a classroom (a policy I enforce strictly during tests).
So basically that means dedicated calculators and nothing else -- square root function required minimum in my stats class. I think that's an inexpensive requirement, they're like $1 at Staples or something? Graphing calculators okay for the rare student who has one. The few students with electronic dictionaries I see are small dedicated devices for that, and that's allowed. But phones as calculators, totally prohibited; iPod media player as calculator (or anything), totally prohibited. Not absolutely foolproof, but pretty clear to me.
Pen. (Score:5, Informative)
I hold a PHD in physics.
-A pen is enough. In physics exams students should prove they can transform formulas symbolically. Typing in number can be done by people at the cashier desk. Graphing calculators are a disease.
-Everybody who wants, can take in a standalone mp3-player - these are cheap.
-Regarding the dictionary - these exist in paper and are cheap - and faster than an ipod.
Most important: who uses sophistication to cheat and i caught should be removed from the studies immediately.
Re:Pen. (Score:4, Informative)
You're overlooking the obvious - a lot more students take the first year "survey" physics courses, and many of them are from other disciplines. In Physics 101/2/3, they probably are doing a lot of problems that require (or at least are much easier with) a calculator.
I think the honor system is the best approach. I assume you're walking around, or your TAs are, during the test - it's pretty easy to tell a student who's performing a calculation from one who's doing a Google search on the problem at hand. As long as you've told them ahead of time that network access will not be permitted, I'd think you're good.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"Yeah, no one would want a calculator for a question like that"
Don't do such a question, then:
"A student is given 1,000 cubic centimeters of ethanol ice that's initially at -164 degrees Celsius. Said student is instructed to heat the ice until it melts and continue heating until it eventually reaches a temperature of +36C throughout. How many total calories did this require?"
See? Same knowledge tested, no calculator needed.
Just say no. (Score:5, Informative)
If you can't hack using a standard 4 function calculator, than you can't hack physics either.
I also hate to be rude, but most universities require that students speak and read english. While I can appreciate the fact that a Korean may not have the best grasp of written English, I also think it that individual's responsibility to learn the language or work outside of class to create notes in his or her native language. I sat through a number of situations in school where I was struggling with difficult material while foreign students were either talking during exams in their language, "sharing calculators" or similar, blatant examples of cheating that went unchallenged due to the political situation at the university.
After being written up in the campus newspaper, one professor "took a stand" by curving everyone's grade up one letter grade, essentially bribing the class into submission.
There is only one way.. (Score:5, Funny)
EMP. That'll show 'em.
Where there's a will, there's a way (Score:3, Interesting)
the poor delicate creatures (Score:3, Informative)
>but I'm afraid that less-adaptable students will be unable to handle the switch from
>the calculator they know to an unfamiliar (but simpler) one.
isn't being a student all about being adaptable?
migawd! coddle them much or what?
ESL Department (Score:3, Interesting)
The main problem here is foreign students. I recently graduated from the math department, and many students had basically no understanding of English.
I really disagree that non-English-speaking students should be allowed in American universities. I just didn't get the feeling that they participated in the classroom at all. However, that's not how things work, so I'll be more pragmatic.
Since there are many students with little understanding of English, there are ESL departments that can be good resources. They might have a recommendation on acceptable translators. And, while it might not help you right now, you might be able to convey recommendations (ex. no network capabilities) that the university can provide to incoming ESL students. Then, you won't have as much of a problem in the future.
If it really turns out to be a problem, then in addition to spare calculators, you might need to provide a few spare translators that students can use if they forget theirs or bring an illegal one.
Let em use whatever they want, catch em. (Score:3, Insightful)
Let em use whatever device they want and lay out the rules for no communication or internet access.
Be vigilant, Make it a goal to catch the cheaters.
At the end of the day the college degree you get is just your ticket in the door at a company, If you really know your stuff your performance will take you far.
If you know how to find the answer to a problem by tapping your network of contacts you will likely go farther. (the cheating your worried about)
If you can't figure out how to cheat on a physics test in college your probably going nowhere so weed these people out.
In all seriousness i would rather hire the person who found some elaborate way to cheat while avoiding detection than the person who worked for 3 weeks to get a B on the test. The enterprising cheater is probably far more inventive but was just bored by the material, thats a skill set that I can work with. Working for 3 weeks to pass a basic physics test isn't.
Arms race (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
> Well, I am not sure that this is the right approach
Der... ya think?
Jamming cellular signals is a federal crime.
What a jackass.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You can make WiFi unusable, however. Or you could alter the classroom so RF cannot enter through the walls or ceiling. And turn off the wireless AP in the room during exam time.
I suppose convincing the university to alter the classroom in this manner could be difficult, but they could also see the value in having some exam rooms that are essentially faraday cages
Why do the complicated expensive solution? (Score:5, Insightful)
You can make WiFi unusable, however.
Technically possible but not practical for economic reasons.
Or you could alter the classroom so RF cannot enter through the walls or ceiling.
VERY expensive. Colleges don't really have the funds to justify that, especially when just banning the offending devices is free.
I suppose convincing the university to alter the classroom in this manner could be difficult, but they could also see the value in having some exam rooms that are essentially faraday cages
Why not just take the figurative bullets out of the gun (no networked devices allowed) instead of building an expensive figurative bullet proof vest. If they don't need the networked device for the test, there is no reason to allow it in the room in the first place.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not so sure it's that expensive.
I'm an accountant in my day job. There isn't a single sane department chair or accounting department that would spent a dime making a classroom RF proof to prevent cheating on tests. It's a waste of money and would never make it through the capital budgeting process.
The alternative (banning the offending devices) is free and requires no capital expenditures.
Oh yeah... and banning devices may not be effective.
No effort to prevent cheating is 100% effective. But it has the beauty of being clear, simple, mostly effective and cheap. Get caught with a non-app
Re:Why do the complicated expensive solution? (Score:4, Insightful)
If they have to consult their notes for every question (regardless of format) then they should fail the test because they don't understand the material adequately.
That is all well and good, if physics happens to be the only class that a student takes in that semester, and the student's brain has been properly calibrated to just "get" physics. For the rest of the world, notes are a life saver. Show me one real world scenario where notes and resource materials are not made available to employees.
Re:Why do the complicated expensive solution? (Score:4, Informative)
The distinction between draconian and "needlessly irritating" is made with good reason. No notes for students tests memory, not comprehension.
That being said, I don't know why this joker can't just have a few grad students roaming the room proctoring the exam like every other institution does. Combine this with a "one strike and you're really, honestly out" policy and your problem is solved. Make it obvious that failing a class is less of an issue than being kicked out of your school.
Actually, now that I think about this a bit more, I think a better "ask slashdot" question would be how could you predict the students most likely to deserve an extra amount of "attention" during exams. At a guess I'd say it would be the ones who have inconsistent grades, as opposed to, say, a steady C- GPA. But then I aced the classes I was interested in and failed the ones I wasn't, so maybe it's not a great idea.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Many institutions of higher learning do not have graduate students for this and some which do, do not allow them to work beyond what their weekly duties are (blame graduate student unions).
This solution creates its own horrible problem: you cannot kick a student out of a class, even if caug
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
So, are you saying that if someone cannot remember formulas and other detail type of information then they don't understand the material?
I disagree. There are many people who grasp very sophisticated concepts and need their "notes" to remember the formulas, etc to handle the math etc.
Einstein himself failed math, and was quoted as saying
Unnecessary complication... (Score:4, Insightful)
The student shouldn't need to show that he can substitute values in an expression to arrive at a numeric answer. Any idiot can push a few buttons to do that, so it's just wasting time.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
A lot of students are bad at algebra simply because they don't understand what to do with x and y in e.g "y = 2x", so you still need at least part of the test to force them to work all the way to a concrete result from concrete inputs. Again, there's a big difference between theory and practice, and people should be learning both.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Well not sure if this is the right approach but (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well not sure if this is the right approach but (Score:5, Informative)
Watch your big mouth son:
Contact the FCC for permit applications and waivers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_jammer [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Ahhh Slashdot, the only place where nerds can post smug smart ass responses to a suggestion and neatly avoid the real life consequences of being punched in the face for being such a dick.
In the US, you can apply to the FCC for a permit to operate a jammer. It may be worth a go although I have no idea how likely it is they'll grant you one.
Re:Well not sure if this is the right approach but (Score:4, Interesting)
> Well, I am not sure that this is the right approach
Der... ya think?
Jamming cellular signals is a federal crime.
What a jackass.
Before you spout off obscenities, first you should understand this depends on what country you're in. Also that in the US, the legalities are not clear as the applicable law was written in 1934 and no real precedent or clarification has been set in the courts yet. In fact, the FCC has not prosecuted a single instance of localized cell-phone jamming. One interpretation is that its perfectly legal if the jamming doesn't extend beyond your private property.
Re: (Score:2)
As long as you don't mind the possibility of spending a year in federal prison and a $10K fine for each of the several violations you'd be guilty of by using them, assuming you're in the U.S....
Re: (Score:2)
Those jamming devices are illegal and if caught, you will get in serious trouble for using them. The trouble is that its very hard to localize the effects of a jammer - either its too weak and it doesn't cover the ends of the classroom or (more likely) its too strong and it spills over into neighboring areas. This has public safety implications, and, as such, use of wireless jamming devices is frowned upon by the FCC and law enforcement.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Whatever you do, remember what happens when you try to jam electronic devices [ign.com].
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The problem with asking slashdot is... (Score:3, Informative)
You'll get a bunch of geeky hi-tech answers from people who've never left the basement.
I say get paper dictionaries and basic calculators then ban *all* electronic devices. Warn them beforehand.
If they can't figure out a paper dictionary and four function calculator it's a safe bet they were going to fail the exam anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, and weed is illegal in the Netherlands. What's true de jure but not de facto is completely irrelevant in both cases.