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Usually I am quite clear that cheating and plagiarism are unacceptable. Although every semester I have to deal with several cases of plagiarism, I had not expected students to brazenly cheat in exams. A few seconds after one student handed me the exam, as she was leaving, I noticed that she had written answers on her hand. She was showing it off to a classmate and laughing as they left. In my country, just writing anything on the hands or anywhere they can read (including the table) is usually considered cheating. Students can check their answers when they are given their corrected exams back.

I know I could have created a scene on the spot, prevented the student from getting out as she was leaving the classroom, provided evidence of cheating, and graded her exam as 0. But other students were handing me their exams at the same moment, and many others were still writing down their answers. That would surely cause a commotion. I was paralyzed and did not know how to react. I am still not sure how I should have reacted, or how I ought to react in the future. I feel being aquiescent may have an impact on other students' behavior, and also on my feeling of self-respect.

Now I'm facing a dilemma. The student was not caught in flagrante delicto. The evidence for cheating is also gone. If it matters, the student's grade wasn't great either (4,8/10). I cannot decide myself between leaving the issue alone and forgetting about it, grading the student more severely in the next exams, or somehow lowering the student's grade (the last option is a little risky as the student could denounce me).

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    "That would surely cause a commotion." Why do you think that? In my experience calling that student immediately and failing her exam on the spot would have caused immediate silence and stillness for some seconds, and afterwards the students would have continued duing what they were doing, but maybe more quietly. – Bakuriu May 06 '18 at 08:29
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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. Please do not post answers in the comments. @Joseph: Please [edit] any clarifying information into your question. – Wrzlprmft May 07 '18 at 07:46
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    Is the stated policy for dealing with cheating to give a zero? This strikes me as incredibly lenient; it sends the message that cheating is just as acceptable as not showing up, when plainly it is not. At my school the penalty for being caught cheating once was to get minus 100 on the exam, and being caught twice was expulsion. You might take this opportunity to clarify your institution's policies. – Eric Lippert May 10 '18 at 13:41
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    Is it possible that the student started the exam with a clean hand, copied her own answers in her hand before handing the exam, hoping to compare her answers with colleagues, immediately compared to one of them and laughed of happiness of getting the right answer? – Pedro A May 10 '18 at 17:37
  • @Hamsterrific or more likely wrote them down to pass along to another section. – Raystafarian May 10 '18 at 22:05
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    Grading more severely or lowering a grade would be unethical. A possible course of action if you are convinced that the student cheated but had no hard evidence: do nothing for that time and wait for next examination (assuming there is one) to catch the student in flagrante delicto. The student will probably try to cheat again if she/he believes unnoticed the first time, and you know what to look for. – Taladris May 11 '18 at 05:02
  • Is it possible that the writing on the hand wasn't related to the test? I'm just saying, it could be completely unrelated if you didn't get a good look at it. I would find it a little bit weird if the student had cheated, and showed of fsaid cheating to their friend within earshot/eyesight of the place that they cheated. – GrumpyCrouton May 11 '18 at 17:04
  • @GrumpyCrouton, technically yes, but as I said, where I live, just writing anything on the hands or anywhere they can read (including the table) is usually considered cheating. –  May 11 '18 at 19:15
  • Relevant meta question: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3549/ – Federico Poloni May 13 '18 at 10:25
  • The rules at my alma mater were very simple: bring everything you can carry in a bag, and anything you can use without a battery. – Karl Dec 15 '20 at 21:03

16 Answers16

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Exact rules will depend on where you are. But normally the student has due process rights: to be confronted with the evidence of her cheating, and to appeal to some higher administrator or body if she desires. Two of your options (grade more harshly / secretly lower grade) are things that you would do unilaterally, without the student's knowledge, and without giving her the right to challenge. In my view, these options are therefore totally inappropriate and unethical.

The evidence against her is your testimony about what you observed. If you think this would be sufficient evidence under your university's rules, then it is appropriate to pursue formal punishment as the rules dictate. If you don't think it's sufficient, then do nothing, and let the student complete the rest of the course without prejudice. (Though of course you can watch her more closely in the future, and perhaps institute procedures to deter this kind of behavior in general.)

Nate Eldredge
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    At least at my US university, I personally would report such an incident and let our academic integrity office investigate and after talking with the student they would decide if this is sufficient evidence. If you also know the names of other students who might have seen the notes on her hand, the university might also be able to get corroboration from them. – Kimball May 06 '18 at 15:18
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    @Kimball additionally, there may be cameras which had an appropriate angle on the student's hand. Even outside of a testing center, I imagine that most universities have some security cameras - even just evidence that there was something written on the hand may be important in conjunction with the report. – Jeutnarg May 07 '18 at 14:17
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    @Jeutnarg I don't think I have ever seen security cameras around academic buildings in the US. Have you seen them somewhere? – Kimball May 07 '18 at 14:59
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    @Kimball https://provost.harvard.edu/files/provost/files/final_video_camera_policy_may_25_2016.pdf - I know BYU does, and I know Harvard officially authorizes their usage. Some random report from 2006 says that they had over 200 cameras on-campus, and I imagine the number has only increased if anything. – Jeutnarg May 07 '18 at 15:03
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    If this weak testimony would be enough for anything, OP is in a crazy university. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:31
  • A professor has the authority to assign grades. They don't have to hold a hearing every time they score an exam. The OP can give a score of zero for the exam unilaterally. Secretly lowering grades would be poor conduct. – Acccumulation May 09 '18 at 20:11
  • @Acccumulation: A major university where I formerly worked had a rule that a professor did have to hold a hearing with the student, and inform them of the charges, before imposing a grade penalty for cheating. The professor could assign a score of zero after the hearing, but the student could appeal. – Nate Eldredge May 11 '18 at 02:51
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    I'm not a professor, but I'd say seeing any writing on a student's hand is grounds for a zero on the exam... doesn't matter if it's a love interest's phone number or what; everyone knows writing on the hand is the oldest trick in the book, and it's a logical conclusion that you shouldn't have writing on your hand going into (or leaving) an exam. The fact that you witnessed any writing on her hand is evidence enough as far as I'm concerned, as a former student. – Doktor J May 11 '18 at 13:59
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    @DoktorJ - What if you had a tattoo? – Malady May 12 '18 at 03:06
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    @Malandy: I always explicitly allowed permanent tattoos, and recommended particular formulas as the best tattoo for the course. – Douglas Zare May 14 '18 at 02:35
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For this particular incidence, I am afraid that the window of opportunity for acting on it has closed. Be prepared for the next time. Have a camera ready. Have stuff to say ready. Make sure to watch this particular student on the next exam: she's not going to fly under your radar next time round, and over the length of her coursework, that brag might cost more than the one cheat bought her.

If she no longer has courses with you, she likely will with others. You can tell them of your goof informally so that they keep an eye open.

The easiest way out longer term is to create exams where cheating (short of communication) does not help. I remember exams where people were allowed to bring one hand-written sheet of A4 paper (in the U.S., you could declare one sheet of "legal" legal): condensing the course contents like that was so much of a learning experience that you usually could then forego the sheet anyway. There were others where you were allowed to bring anything except electronic devices: the time on those exams just was far too short for applying significant amounts of knowledge not suitably internalized.

Remember: in their job, they will be allowed to look up things, too. So try teaching and checking for skills that go beyond dictionary lookups.

enderland
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    I am afraid that this is the only non-Law and Order answer so far. Seriously, what good is an exam or course when you can summarize a significant portion of it's content on a hand or two (even on large hands)? This seems to me like the classic "will be forgotten in a week" exam. – Suuuehgi May 06 '18 at 17:51
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    In my maths course, you could bring all the books you wanted to most exams. If you didn't study, you would never manage to apply formulas or theorem proofs in time or correctly anyway. – Nemo May 07 '18 at 08:01
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    and it sounds like it wasn't even a good effort at cheating....seems odd – NKCampbell May 07 '18 at 15:23
  • The American way is better, and actively helps you revise and summarize your cheat-sheet – smci May 07 '18 at 23:01
  • @smci What’s the “American way”? – Konrad Rudolph May 08 '18 at 09:09
  • @KonradRudolph: what I said, they allow students prepare their own cheat-sheet, which minimizes cheating and actively helps you revise and summarize – smci May 08 '18 at 09:40
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    @smci Oh, is this your answer? The account got dissociated. Anyway, you’ll be happy to know that this is also common at European Universities. – Konrad Rudolph May 08 '18 at 09:43
  • No this is not my answer. I'm just echoing the others. – smci May 08 '18 at 09:44
  • I would argue for the abolishment of written exams. There is so much evidence against this form of "assessment". Not in all subjects perhaps, but a general rule to have continuous assessment, would solve many problems, especially this one. – Robert Long May 08 '18 at 17:35
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    -1 for suggesting teachers should prepare cameras and be expecting to take damning photos of their students. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:29
  • They won't be always allowed to look up things in their jobs: for example, they won't be allowed to use dictionary when talking foreign language... – Oliv May 11 '18 at 14:54
  • @Suuuehgi: It could well be the case that the student was just desperate, and the notes wouldn't have helped her much anyway, but she wasn't following the course well enough to understand this is the case. Indeed, if a palm's worth of notes makes a difference in an exam, something is probably off with it or with the course anyway. (Unless someone has access to the actual answers). – einpoklum May 12 '18 at 17:44
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    It’s either OK to take photos of people without their consent in an exam venue or it’s not. I think most people would say it’s not. In that case, it’s not OK to take any photos, damning or not. – Brian Drake Nov 17 '20 at 15:01
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It's not proven that she cheated.

I have known several students who would write their answers on their hand during the exam, so they can later compare their results with others. I don't know in what country you are in, but if you should go after the alleged cheating, the student might carry this situation to court.

It's then up to you to prove that she had the notes before she entered the exam, which I doubt is possible for you. Therefore, my suggestion is to let it go and be more careful next time, should you see the student again.

padawan
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Lebbers
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    That was my first thought as well. It is in fact a common practice to discuss answers just after leaving test, so people have an idea what the grades they will receive. – Mandrill May 06 '18 at 16:43
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    +1! I am glad I dont need to write that answer myself, and can upvote it instead. I often compared results afterwards and more than once I had the answers written on my hand, so I could remember that. Nothing wrong with doing that. And of course, if I had the right answer, and my friends would not, chances were high I would brag. – Lot May 07 '18 at 06:59
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    Playing devil's advocate this was my 1st guess as well. I've seen people taking out questions to solve later and for future years. – luk32 May 07 '18 at 10:32
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    What you mention is a possibility, but do you have any evidence to suggest there's a precedent for this interpretation to be official favoured above the cheating interpretation? Since making such notes aren't necessary by any means, I imagine most formal decisions would favour the cheating interpretation, if not immediately, then at least going forward. Or, if you're merely saying that cheating is not the only possibility, regardless of what any formal body would conclude, then that's true of pretty much anything and why we speak of reasonable doubt. – NotThatGuy May 08 '18 at 14:09
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    The act of recording quiz questions or answers - often sharing them out over the internet afterwards is technically cheating too ... as it's used to give others previews or unfair advantages in the testing. In the technical certifications it's really common to sit outside a class room & pay students to verbalize questions they were asked. – Mirv - Matt May 08 '18 at 17:13
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    For all the OP knows it could have been the phone number of a girl or boy the student was keen on which they got just before the exam. There's a presumption of guilt being made by the OP and regardless of circumstances that's not fair. – StephenG - Help Ukraine May 09 '18 at 05:38
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    @StephenG Perception is sometimes more important than reality. If you can't see how having something written on your hand during a test can get you accused of cheated, that's a problem that could very well royally screw up your life at some point. Failing that test can be seen as a life lesson. Also, OP does mention "answers", not just "something". – NotThatGuy May 09 '18 at 06:43
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    @NotThatGuy It's not an a exam supervisors job (or right !) to impose "life lessons" on someone based on a suspicion. That would be totally unethical. And if writing on your hand could "royally screw up your life" then something is very wrong with the world, not the people doing the writing. – StephenG - Help Ukraine May 09 '18 at 06:50
  • @StephenG I didn't say writing something on your hand could royally screw up your life. I said not being able to see how doing so could be perceived could screw up your life. If you ignore perception in favour of reality, you could run around in public pointing a toy gun at people and be legitimately surprised if some police officer shoots you, or be wrongly convicted for speaking the truth, or lose your family because you assumed your partner wouldn't think much of something that looks a lot like you cheated on them when you didn't. – NotThatGuy May 09 '18 at 07:02
  • If the person didn't know the exam questions in advance, and only had those answers written on the hand, then it would be easy to presume the answers were written during the exam to take home. If the person had general info from the course written on her hand (historic dates, formulas, whatever the course was about), it would make it more obvious that it was written beforehand to help with the exam. – mulaz May 09 '18 at 11:23
  • @Mirv i find that interesting (and a bunch of other things on this page), since most of exams from the uni I attended are posted publicly on courses/professors webpages, and those that aren't are freely shared between students, without anyone caring about that. But it is a STEM enviroment, so it's just a bunch of different applications of math, so there is an almost infinite supply of exam questions/problems. – mulaz May 09 '18 at 11:26
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    @Mirv "The act of recording quiz questions or answers - often sharing them out over the internet afterwards is technically cheating too ... as it's used to give others previews or unfair advantages in the testing." It's not technically cheating. That's like saying remembering the answers and sharing them is cheating too, or doing exercises with similar solutions like in the exam. – Lebbers May 09 '18 at 16:25
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    I'm not here to debate you in the comments - just making people aware what is considered cheating in places like NY, FL, TX, MN, CA (US) for different fields. – Mirv - Matt May 09 '18 at 17:38
  • @Lebbers Remembering answers and sharing them IS cheating. Doing anything to give answers to someone who hasn't taken the test is cheating. – mbomb007 May 09 '18 at 21:41
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    @mbomb007 It's not considered cheating here, maybe it's just the case in your country. There's a reason why exams are supposed to have new questions each semester. We even have tutorials where old exam questions are used for exercises.. – Lebbers May 10 '18 at 01:46
  • @Lebbers I'm talking about between class periods. Professors often have more than one section of the same class in the U.S. so some students might take it later the same day, or perhaps another day in the week. Same for anyone who is sick and has to make it up. – mbomb007 May 10 '18 at 03:02
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    @mbomb007 That seems lazy (can't be bothered to make new questions). here all exams for a given class are done simultaneously (if necessary in a different venue with more space if multiple student-groups must take the same exam). Everyone gets 2 chances: There is a re-exam (different questions) for those who failed or where not able (with good reason) to attend the 1st one. (If you are in the latter category and you fail the 1st attempt you get 1 retry next semester.) Most exams are open book anyway. They focus on understanding, not on rote-learning stuff you can lookup in a book when needed. – Tonny May 10 '18 at 14:29
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    @NotThatGuy And being sassy to someone who is bigger than you can get you beaten up. That doesn't make it a "life lesson" for teachers to punch kids when they talk back. – Misha R May 10 '18 at 17:21
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    @mbomb007 This depends on the rules of the particular exam (and if you don't know, you should ask before you do something that may be a violation). In some classes, it's not uncommon for students to be given the question paper to take home with them and the instructor posts old exams online. In other exams, the questions remain sensitive and nobody is allowed to discuss them. The policy should be stated clearly so there's no uncertainty. – Zach Lipton May 10 '18 at 23:18
  • Adding my 2c's worth: It is preposterous to declare sharing questions and answers as cheating. I would say this is merely a sign of weak student organizations; once students set their mind to it, they regularly publish booklets of former exam questions - and believe me, neither you, nor those US states would be able to do anything about it. It's an untenable position which should be let go. – einpoklum May 01 '21 at 21:26
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You have to have the cold hard evidence.

I had a student hand me his paper with the hand with the notes on. Excuses were:

these are not for this exam – oh yes they are
Sorry I made some notes last night and did not wash my hands – been to the bathroom lately?

I took photos and it went to the exam board: safe and case closed. Student can submit a letter of appeal explaining their side. The photos were clear and conclusive.

So, get the evidence or you cannot act.

Wrzlprmft
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Solar Mike
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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Wrzlprmft May 07 '18 at 07:58
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    “You have to have the cold hard evidence.” — Where is this? It’s absolutely not true in German Universities. It would put a crazy lopsided burden on the instructor: few cheaters nowadays leave evidence. – Konrad Rudolph May 07 '18 at 09:01
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    Well not in Germany obviously and some cheaters are not intelligent enough to get rid of the evidence before they are caught.... – Solar Mike May 07 '18 at 09:10
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    @KonradRudolph: Seriously? Students can be convincted of cheating with absolutely no evidence except an instructor's say-so, which is itself weak and inconclusive? I sure hope not. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:28
  • SolarMike: +1 for the lesson you're imparting, but in this case - I wouldn't even assume OP actually saw cheating. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:28
  • @einpoklum Depending on the situation, yes. Of course the instructor can’t just fail a test after the fact without evidence but if the cheater is caught during the test, there’s no need for further evidence or procedure. Germany has a less litigious climate than the US: no need to make a bigger thing out of this. Given that you are (according to your profile) in the Netherlands, I’d assume that your culture is fairly similar. – Konrad Rudolph May 09 '18 at 15:52
  • @KonradRudolph: We're not talking about "a cheater", nor someone caught in an act of cheating during the test. In the latter case, there are numerous witnesses, and the instructor's testimony is clear and conclusive regarding the act. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 16:16
  • @einpoklum Precisely. We seem to be on the same page after all. I agree that in OP’s situation, the ship has sailed. But for the examples in this answer, nobody in Germany would bat an eye if the examiner failed the student without taking photographic evidence (the latter would in fact seem weird). – Konrad Rudolph May 09 '18 at 16:23
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    @KonradRudolph: Yeah, I guess we do agree. An instructor's word is good evidence, but not when his testimony begins with "I think I saw ... it was probably... " and so on. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 19:06
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Sorry, but you did not catch a student cheating

While distracted and surrounded by many other people and some noise, you saw something on a student's hand, which you assume was written text, which you assume was illicit. You assume the student was laughing about having cheated on the exam.

Well, you know what they say about what happens when we assume (urbandictionary.com)...

enter image description here

I can give you multiple reasonable explanations of what happened, none of which involve the student cheating (and, in fact, some other answers have already done so).

... but try talking to the student regardless.

Ask the student to come to your reception hours, or at some other time to your office. Ask her about her experience in the course. Ask if she had any difficulties, and if so, what they were. If she gives any indication that things were not perfect, and doesn't maintain a perfect poker-face, give thought to how you, or others, can help her cope with this difficulty.

Now, you may think that this is rewarding criminality with kindness - and I guess that's true. But this would have the potential of getting a student who's having trouble academically to pursue a positive way of facing their difficulty. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't - but students are our charge, we should try to help them, and this student might be in need of help.

There is also the - non-zero - probability that the student will admit wrongdoing on the exam. If that happens, deal with it as you see fit, but don't "fish" for this explicitly.

einpoklum
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To add another perspective on the problem: There are two things which may be used by the student as excuse

  • You do not know if the notes were used. It is a very weak excuse, but they could appeal that the notes were not used and possibly not even useful for the exam. Probably this exuse will not hold, though.
  • The more complicated part: They can claim, they made the notes during the exam. As long as you cannot disprove it, this would be fully legitimate.

So it is important to catch them in the act. The other option left is to confront them and they admit it.

allo
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    They can claim, they made the notes during the exam. As long as you cannot disprove it, this would be fully legitimate. - Really? I think most faculty and students would agree that notes on a hand during an exam is suspicious, and grounds for investigation. Maybe if the student asked if they could do this beforehand and showed me clean hands at the start of the exam... – Kimball May 06 '18 at 15:10
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    At least in the future, both of these issues can be easily mitigated by declaring up-front before the exam that any notes must go exclusively on the proctor-provided sheets of paper and nowhere else, and that any notes found elsewhere will be considered as a sufficiently conclusive sign of cheating and result in immediately failing the exam. These rules were a part of the standard announcement before each exam at my university. – O. R. Mapper May 07 '18 at 11:07
  • Suspicious and grounds for investigation, absolutely. But if the notes match the exam paper (especially if there are mistakes), and don't look like the contents of any textbook, then the suspicion is disproven. – gnasher729 May 08 '18 at 21:12
  • @O.R.Mapper That would be a valuable lesson. Allow every student to bring one sheet of paper with notes if you like, and have three sheets of empty paper for note taking. Marked so the student can take them out. – gnasher729 May 08 '18 at 21:14
  • To be technical, the OP doesn't even know that they were not comparing answers they wrote down during the exam not before, – Eric Brown - Cal May 08 '18 at 21:16
  • @Cal: Indeed. See my answer. allo: No offense, but you would make a weak defense counsel. You're underplaying your hand... – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:23
  • @Kimball: 1. Not necessarily. 2. Suspicion is not proof. 3. OP can't even prove there was anything on the student's hand. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:25
  • @gnasher729 “Suspicious and grounds for investigation, absolutely. But if the notes match the exam paper (especially if there are mistakes), and don't look like the contents of any textbook, then the suspicion is disproven.” Actually, if the notes match the exam paper, doesn’t that make them more suspicious? – Brian Drake Nov 17 '20 at 15:04
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A complication is that a university is a business nowadays, and students its clients. If they don't get their degree, YOU have failed to deliver the service the client has paid for. This is an important factor, and in your situation I'd kick myself for letting this one go, be more wary in future, and not pursue anything punitive.

Somewhat similar situation: I was assisting invigilation at a Russell Group university in the UK (so, sub-top; not Oxbridge but just below). My job is guarding exams between sessions (receiving new ones, handing over finished ones), keeping a record of any time a student takes a toilet break (from/to), replacing active invigilators that need a toilet break, and various sundries like phoning assistance when a student had a seizure. As one of my checks, during each session I check the cisterns of all toilets, and similar hidey holes [unconnectedly, this is how I quickly found one of the porters wasn't quite the 'recovered' alcoholic he claimed].

One day I find a set of engineering course notes, in a taped-close map, with only four students in that building taking that specific exam. So I put a post-it on it basically stating, "You're in trouble, better go check with your course admin before things get worse"... A too-obvious ploy, but might work on a stressed student? I also passed a message to the head invigilators in both rooms that had a student sitting that exam. So both testified my record that exactly one of the four went on a toilet break, about one third in, and then continued the exam till full time. And this student actually contacted the admin immediately after, about this issue; so you have full confession this specific student prepared for cheating and opened their notes midway their exams. Not sufficient for any steps!!!

What then happened was a meeting of a committee, with the student plus a student representative for support; plus the course head and a representative of the Vice-Chancellor; plus me and various written statements by the invigilators. They eventually ruled that yes, the student did try to cheat[!?], but there was no proof that they actually benefited from it. No reprimand, no official statement, nothing; I'd guessed a re-sit of that paper would be the absolute minimum consequence. All in all I lost a lot of (unpaid!) hours on paperwork; a low-paying job I was doing because it's fun most of the time, and about 50min out of each hour I could effectively work on my laptop on other business.

A suspected factor in this all is that it was an overseas student, meaning they pay far more than the UK cap of £9000/year; they almost all pass even though most struggle with the language. Another bitter reminder that I was working in a degree printing business, is that universities in the UK (since previous 'Conservative' government) don't fall under the Education but under the Business department.

Wrzlprmft
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user3445853
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I would suggest that avoiding a public scene is the top priority actually. Besides the student herself, a public drama/humiliation would upset other students and make it harder to do your job.

Secondly, you did catch her in the act in the sense that you personally saw it. Just as if you saw someone peeking over their neighbor's shoulder. Tell her you saw this, escalate it perhaps (even if it goes nowhere she'll do some serious sweating). And she's on notice she better count her blessings and not do it again.

A Simple Algorithm
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    OP did not catch the student in any act. It's just a bunch of assumptions, combined with the circumstances which reduce the credibility of even what he physically saw. See my answer. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 15:26
  • @einpoklum the act in this case was bringing written notes in a closed-book exam. There will always be alternative explanations and excuses. And witnesses can always be accused of being wrong. That can be judged later in the process. Plus there may be a record of accusations followed by suspiciously-unlikely excuses. If not, there will be one going forward. – A Simple Algorithm May 09 '18 at 18:28
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    @ASimpleAlgorithm: No such act ever took place in OP's case and OP has no evidence to suggest otherwise. His own testimony is extremely sketchy, and even if you accept everything his factual claims, no offence is proven. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 19:04
  • @einpoklum And the OP says it did take place. You are arguing by assertion. – A Simple Algorithm May 09 '18 at 19:38
  • @ASimpleAlgorithm: 1. I countered your argument by assetion that OP caught her in the act. 2. I'm arguing what the student would argue, and OP can't disprove the student's assertion in any way. – einpoklum May 09 '18 at 21:04
  • @einpoklum You just repeated arguments we are well aware of. I am well aware of your arguments and their basis as I referred to them in my comment above. Perhaps you missed it. – A Simple Algorithm May 12 '18 at 18:23
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As anyone with even a cursory legal background knows, your eyewitness testimony of what you saw the student do is evidence. It is not true that you have to film some event in order to have evidence that it occurred. My guess is that the university would take first-hand eyewitness evidence from one of its instructors very seriously, and there is a reasonable prospect that when confronted with this evidence, the student would not deny it.

If you want to pursue this, you need to go through the proper procedure to make a complaint about academic misconduct. There is no reason you would need any additional evidence beyond your own eyewitness account, but if you want to augment this with other evidence, you could try asking some of the students she was showing off to. Whatever you decide, do not bypass this process and then unilaterally penalise the student by marking her more harshly on other work - that is tantamount to acting as judge, jury and executioner yourself, and if it comes to light, you will be dropped into a world of shit.

Ben
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A couple of thoughts on 'what should I do in future?':

  • If you spot something similar, don't make a big deal of it, but simply call the student over to you and ask them to wait to talk to you after the others have gone. That way you have more time to deal with the situation, and the student has less ground to complain that you accused them in public.
  • When you talk to the students about cheating being unacceptable, remind them that knowingly allowing others to cheat is also unacceptable.
Jessica B
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Are you a TA or a faculty member. If you are a TA, tell the professor of the class. if you turn your grades into someone else, notify that person.

If you are the teacher, notify the head of the department and possibly an assistant or associate dean of the student's college.

People are going to cheat and sometimes they will be brazen about it. Willful ignorance, including cheating your way through college, is becoming increasingly common.

I am rather glad that I was a graduate teaching assistant more than 30 years ago and willful ignorance didn't seem quite so prevalent back then, but maybe I was just naïve and innocent. That was more than half a lifetime ago for me.

aeismail
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Carol Miller 1600
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I would just let it go...for now. For the next test, bring out all the artillery to catch her in the act. Try to get a proctor so that there are two teachers in the room to serve as witnesses.

nilda vargas
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What you should NOT do:

  • Reduce her grades/marks as a secondary consequence .

  • Judge her based on this instance throughout her coursework.

  • Approach her about the issue, as she might try to avoid you throughout the course.

What you should've done:

  • Check students BEFORE they enter the examination hall for bits of paper, electronic devices and any other aids that students may use for cheating. (A handheld metal detector will eliminate all electronics.) Ask students to empty their pockets.

  • If you clearly see cheating going on at any point in the examination and it is an individual case, ask the person to stand back after everybody gives the papers and exits the class. If there is CCTV, you can surely find evidence to book the person as per the examination rules.

  • Catch the cheater and hold him/her back before he/she leaves the exam hall. (if you have CCTV cameras, then this might not be necessary)

  • If you suspect someone is cheating during the exam, slowly walk toward them and stand near that person, if they know they're being watched, it is unlikely they will continue.

  • Before the exam starts just brief the students, telling them that you will not take cheating lightly and those caught cheating will suffer extreme consequences. Also tell them the CCTV footage will be reviewed after every exam.

And if you do decide to take action, do it officially, by consulting with the school administration, also, try not to make the student hold a grudge against you later.

aeismail
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theenigma017
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    I'd like to know what the downvoters didn't like about this answer. – aparente001 May 10 '18 at 01:43
  • Heh....me too ! – theenigma017 May 10 '18 at 08:02
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    You really want to check students with a metal detector before the exam? You must have a lot of time! As a student, I would feel both insulted and even more nervous. – mafu May 10 '18 at 12:25
  • @aparente001 I have not downvoted it yet, I just noticed this answer. I can tell you why I don't like this answer - CCTV. I don't think CCTV is something people would like. As far as I know, there is no CCTV in the classrooms in the college in my location. I just found an article about installing CCTV in medical colleges in India. You can see how bad the author feels about it. Do people like the idea having CCTV in the college classroom in the US? – Nobody May 10 '18 at 12:41
  • @scaaahu - Thanks for explaining. I haven't really given it any thought. I upvoted because of the rest of it, and because the author was careful to say "IF there's a CCTV." – aparente001 May 10 '18 at 12:58
  • @aparente001 I don't think it's a good idea to mention CCTV, even it's an "if". And the author forgot to have an if in the last bullet. – Nobody May 10 '18 at 13:03
  • @scaaahu - Again, thanks for explaining your reaction. I think the last bullet should be taken as a follow-on to the "if," but I can understand your reaction. // This issue would make a very interesting question for this site. – aparente001 May 10 '18 at 14:19
  • Most of the schools around where i live in India have CCTV in each and every room , corridor , ground...

    But the footage is not monitored real-time by someone or reviewed later unless the need arises.

     – theenigma017 May 10 '18 at 15:50
  • @mafu , here in India you will undergo a metal detector test for most important exams , mostly nationwide/statewide exams, i was part of the JEE exams, which were conducted just a month ago ,we were not allowed to take even pens inside the exam centre, students were asked to remove their shoes/sneakers for checking, they frisked us and then there was the metal-detector. We were then moved to a temporary holding room where we waited for an hour before the exam started.

    1.2 million people write that exam each year and security is tight !

     – theenigma017 May 10 '18 at 15:57
  • @aparente001, footage is not viewed real time nor reviewed unless the need arises, and it gets overwritten every week that was the policy at my school. – theenigma017 May 10 '18 at 16:00
  • In your user profile, you indicate you're a high school student. When you say Most of the schools around where i live in India have CCTV, were you referring to high schools or colleges? – Nobody May 11 '18 at 02:34
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    i was part of the JEE exams JEE is for high school students to write in order to go into colleges. I sincerely hope that you will feel the difference between high school and college now. In college, you enjoy more freedom. CCTV is something un-welcome in colleges. – Nobody May 11 '18 at 03:06
  • @scaaahu i see ...i was referring to high schools... – theenigma017 May 12 '18 at 18:44
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I'm teaching CS, and I'm really full of this cheating endemic. I've got 3.5+ students copying code from the internet. They practice the ancient technique of obfuscation by renaming the variables. Also found that the same student was not able to solve a problem two degrees of magnitude less complex on her own. Upon being confronted, she denied the "allegation". She continued her streak of copy/paste/rename the whole class. Final grade was 1.01, the next to minimum passing grade, which is 1.00 because I didn't want to do plagiarism research for her next year too.

My approach is to spend as less time as possible with students not willing to learn something. I just pass them the exam, with minimal grades (so that I get rid of them, otherwise they will keep register my classes). Why spending energy with such individuals, while the focus shall be the increase of the level of knowledge, and not acting as an intellectual police?

The company of the students willing to learn (which are not necessary the good students, but they turn into good students by time), asking academic questions is preferred to policing/enforcing rules to the students only interested of their grades. I try to limit my interaction with the latter category.

I don't think I'm alone here. I've interviewed people for private sector, and for example fresh master graduate was unaware of any language other than VBA (but only Excel) and when asked to solve an introductory problem involving a if in a for loop the candidate was lost. Given the grades, the candidate should have been more than fluent in algorithms, databases, C++ and Java.

My advice: minimal grade and move on.

Malady
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  • How is copying code from the internet cheating? ... I've never seen that, for CS? Just a requirement to not use certain packages or something. You gave a problem, they found a solution. ... Unless you specifically say they can't copy code and riguorously enforce it, etc, you have nothing to stand on? ... You test if they actually understand stuff, using quizzes and tests, where they can't just look things up, it has to be on the spot. ... Also, what is 1.01? Is that good, or bad? ... What scale is that? ... Where are you? – Malady May 12 '18 at 03:19
  • 1.01 is the next to minimum passing grade, which is 1.00 –  May 12 '18 at 18:23
  • Concerning your other questions, are you serious? In OOP, AOP, TDD or MDD it is not about solving the problem, but meeting specific design requirements. Simply achieving functional goals is not enough. This is more or less similar to industry requirements. If you solve a problem, the industry cannot do anything with your solution if it cannot be integrated in existing applications and maintained. Many people understand if/for and basic data structures, but they fail to implement a class, to understand external libraries (most of them are object oriented) or to use the right data structures. –  May 12 '18 at 18:30
  • They're not in a business environment, but a teaching one? You give them stuff to learn, and you help them do so. ... Or are you talking about a project-based course? – Malady May 12 '18 at 20:24
  • 90% of the students are preparing for the industry, although only 20% are employable IMHO. More than half believe they know for example Java or C++ and they resist learning anything new like OOP. I'm doing both teaching and industry. Talking about assignments, such as integer factorization or polynomial operations, or interview questions like find in a vector 10 most occurring number ending in zero and divisible by 3, not project assignments. I had this too, and I've seen plagiarism too. –  May 12 '18 at 21:23
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It depends on your relationship to your students in general and this student in particular.

If local laws and regulations permit, I'd have the student come in for a conversation about it. Potentially, you could record this conversation, or have a witness (who would ideally not be another professor in this department). Also, realise the student may be doing the recording, even if you don't.

I'd approach it as a point of inquiry - "I saw you walk away laughing and pointing at your hand, and I'm concerned that you might not be taking this class very seriosuly. Am I right about this? You scored a 4.8/10 on this. What was that laugh about, anyways? I don't like to assume people are cheating, but it quite looked like it to me. Was there something else going on?" If you start from a place of empathy (and not presumed guilt!), you'll probably get further and you've created a chance for a conversation.

Gryph
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I don't think that you can do anything right now about it.

If you would bring it up now, she could just say you are lying and since it is her word against yours and you don't have any evidence, the administration is mot likely to take her side.

So I wouldn't do anything about it right now, but for the next exam I would pay more attention towards her and if she is doing it again, you can call her out on it.

Makjster
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    the administration is mot likely to take her side - is this true? witness testimony is generally considered evidence, and only one party here likely has a motive for lying. potentially one can find other witnesses as well. – Kimball May 06 '18 at 15:13
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    @Kimball, as one can guess by my comments above, the dean herself has motives to believe the students more (once she even accused me, obviously without proof, of inventing classes I didn't teach and penalizing students for not attending those fictitious classes. Go figure.) –  May 06 '18 at 15:40
  • @Joseph - How is that possible? Inaccurate class lists have re – Malady May 12 '18 at 03:21
  • @Joseph - How is that possible? Inaccurate class lists have remained unfixed, and propogated to such a high level? There's something wrong there. – Malady May 12 '18 at 03:22
  • @Joseph - How is that possible? Inaccurate class lists have remained unfixed, and propogated to such a high level? There's something wrong there. – Malady May 12 '18 at 03:23
  • @Joseph - How is that possible? Inaccurate class lists have remained unfixed, and propogated to such a high level? There's something wrong there. – Malady May 12 '18 at 03:23