Busted!

[SaskaBushFire]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Oh, boo-hoo. The rest of us spent our days and night working our asses off to do things the right way, so if some kid gets caught cheating because he's lazy, damn straight he should be punished. That's the one thing I always hated....people only care about the idiot that cheats in this case...well, what about the rest of us who didn't? If they go easy on the cheaters, is that fair to us?

Cheaters need to learn to do the work themselves, or find a more fool-proof way to cheat. Either way, going easy on the kid won't do anyone any good.

From my experience those who do not write their own papers usually do not get good marks anyway. Also they are not developing the skills I talked about that will be essential in their every day lives. You on the other hand are and should be proud of yourself for working hard on your paper. I write papers for self satisfaction, not to worry about what marks my colleagues get.

[Russic]

I personally would get a little kick out of it. Yes, I'd be disappointed in his or her decision but those lessons NEED to be taught. Once University or College hits, if you don't follow the rules you can find yourself out thousands of dollars.

My wife is a teacher and routinely finds large amounts of material lifted directly from the internet. Perhaps the kids don't really understand how google works?

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

ha.... oops!

In my defence, I did have a four-month old in my lap as I typed that!

Was she typing?

[Flames0910]

so speaking of easy ways to cheat...how about those TI-83's we all had to have in high school...could easily store as many math answers as you wanted without raising any suspicion...sure you couldn't use it for the final exam at the end of the year, but all the unit tests were fair game.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

be easy on the kid? I've busted my ass going on 8 years of university now, and I haven't missed a deadline and done well. People who get "extended deadlines" piss me off too, and I'm not talking about people with legitimate circumstances (death, illness etc...) but people who were just too lazy to get their s**t done on time.

getting a degree/diploma is not your right, people have to earn it, if they're not willing to do the work, they shouldn't get the reward.

Its called planning ahead. I agree.

During my Poli Sci degree, I frequently had what was coined "Essay Alley"... where I'd have at least 3 2000-3000 wd papers due within 10 days. The solution? Start 3 weeks before the deadlines, doing one per week. Lots of time, no stress, decent results. Most of my Profs outright refused extensions (save for emergencies) cause they say we have 3 months to do it, thats enough time.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

I pretty much stopped trying when I found out I didn't need the high school diploma to start University.

I remember that my advisor was so confused as to why I wouldn't bother graduating--but I kind of figured that once I had an advanced University degree, no-one would ask where my high school diploma was.

your journey sounds like mine.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by TanguayFan

so speaking of easy ways to cheat...how about those TI-83's we all had to have in high school...could easily store as many math answers as you wanted without raising any suspicion...sure you couldn't use it for the final exam at the end of the year, but all the unit tests were fair game.

At Carroll, the testing centre ladies cleared our calculator's memories before exams. Of course... they never checked the graphing imputs.

Y= a lot of formulae, dates and advice back then. (Most of it was actually given in the exam anyway though).

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Its called planning ahead. I agree.

During my Poli Sci degree, I frequently had what was coined "Essay Alley"... where I'd have at least 3 2000-3000 wd papers due within 10 days. The solution? Start 3 weeks before the deadlines, doing one per week. Lots of time, no stress, decent results. Most of my Profs outright refused extensions (save for emergencies) cause they say we have 3 months to do it, thats enough time.

Same idea here.....and now that I'm in law school, most, if not all of my classes are 100% final or if it's a seminar a small percentage for participation (which everyone does well on) and an 80% paper (pretty much your mark) and it all comes due at the beginning of december. If you choose to do nothing for 2.5 months and then complain that you have papers and exams all due within 2 weeks and you can't get it done, no one is going to have sympathy for you.

Time management is just as much of a valuable lesson as is the material you're learning.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by ernie

When I was a TA at University for a third year course I had a student plagiarize a lab. I figured something was up as traditionally his labs were quite bad and they didn't seem to be improving. He wouldn't take my advice on how to improve and resented my for it for some reason. I was pleasantly surprised when it appeared he had finally taken my comments to heart and handed in an excellent lab. At least it looked very good when I briefly skimmed it and it was worth a hefty chunk of his overall lab mark.

When it came to marking the lab I was half way through the introduction and things started sounding a bit familiar. By the time I was part way through the results and discussion I knew why it seemed so damn familiar. He had copied MY lab from when I took the course as an undergrad 5 years earlier. He must have found it in the deparment student club...or at least a copy of it. It was word for word from start to finish.

Now though it is technically against the rules, I have no real problem with people using old labs or assignments to find answers to a question or two provided they use it as a resource and learn from it. In essence, take the answers, understand the reasons for the answer and phrase it in your own tone and writing style. Treat it as a trip to the library or a text book. (It's very obvious when someone simply copies something without that understanding).

Anyways, I gave the student a "0" and told him to see me. That was it. No other comments on the lab as I wanted to talk to him about it. Tell him it wasn't acceptable to plagiarize and that it will eventually come back to haunt him as this would. That was as far as i was going to take it. One big lab in a lab that he was bound to fail with his previous poor labs and this "0". I figured a failed course in his major was punishment enough (failed lab = failed course).

But no. Instead of coming to me to talk the bonehead talks to the professor of the course and says he has a problem with my "marking style". That I'm out to get him. I get called into the professors office for a meeting with the two of them. Unfortunately for the student I came prepared with a copy of my lab from when I was student for comparison AND the prof of the course was an old british tight ass who has no patience for plagiarists.

Kid went from looking smug on my arrival at the office to getting kicked out of university in 2 seconds flat.

True Story.

Halarious! Unbelieveable. I thought it was outragous that he plagerized your lab, but then goes to the prof?

My god, funniest story I've ever read.

[Barnes]

I was always super paranoid about getting accused that I was plagiarizing work. I had some profs that where freaking Nazi's when it came to citation.

....and we know this since the world is not flat. <--Please cite your source

Seriously!!!???

And then you get into the real world and realize bad artists copy, great artists steal.

[SaskaBushFire]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

be easy on the kid? I've busted my ass going on 8 years of university now, and I haven't missed a deadline and done well. People who get "extended deadlines" piss me off too, and I'm not talking about people with legitimate circumstances (death, illness etc...) but people who were just too lazy to get their s**t done on time.

getting a degree/diploma is not your right, people have to earn it, if they're not willing to do the work, they shouldn't get the reward.

I don't get why this would tick you off. If you worked as hard as you said you did you will get a good mark regardless of what time your colleague hands his paper in at. Profs do not collaborate on schedules, and they realize that schedules get complicated. You have been in school for 8 years, I hope you are coming out with nothing less than a masters.

[The Yen Man]

Well, you might as well teach them a harsh lesson while they're still young and in high school to prepare them for the real world. I mean, getting caught cheating can potentially mean the end of your academic and professional career. I'm always paranoid about cheating like that. When I'm writing exams, I make sure I keep my eyes on only my paper and no one elses. I mean, if you don't know it, then it's better to just fail the exam rather than attempt to cheat.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by SaskaBushFire

I don't get why this would tick you off. If you worked as hard as you said you did you will get a good mark regardless of what time your colleague hands his paper in at. Profs do not collaborate on schedules, and they realize that schedules get complicated. You have been in school for 8 years, I hope you are coming out with nothing less than a masters.

Take a look at Corporatejay's avatar....

Students plagarizing are trying to earn marks via cheating. In a class where marks are curved, their bogus good marks will push you down the scale. Turning an A- into a B+.

Not sure why you wouldn't take glee in exposing those trying to cheat every other candidate. I'm pretty happy to see athletes get busted and thrown out for performance enhancing drugs.

[rubecube]

I only tried to plagarize something once and got busted. Luckily, my teacher just asked me to do the assignment again. He ended up liking the one I wrote better.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Barnes

And then you get into the real world and realize bad artists copy, great artists steal.
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Spoken like a true web developer...

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Spoken like a true web developer...

Close. But not quite.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Close. But not quite.

Is it graphic designer now? I can never keep up with the evolving nomenclature.

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by Barnes

....and we know this since the world is not flat. <--Please cite your source

Seriously!!!???

Hahaha, I would have replied with a big picture of the world taken from space.

I remember my first year of Computer Science, we were in a C++ class that was basically the "weeder" class (ie) it would weed out all the idiots). Anyways, instead of just submitting your assignments electronically or however the kids do it these days, we had to print them out on an old dot matrix printer.

Some people in the labs spent all their time digging through the printer recycle bin for old assignments instead of actually doing the assignment.

I always wondered if these people digging through the recycling bin realized that the course was just going to get tougher and that maybe... just maybe they should re-evaluate their major.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Old Yeller

I always wondered if these people digging through the recycling bin realized that the course was just going to get tougher and that maybe... just maybe they should re-evaluate their major.

tough to switch majors with a 1.3 GPA

[Locke]

Cerebral,

I like the way you handle the actual transgression. A 0 and a mandatory re-write as well as a fairly thorough tongue-lashing.

As for being happy that you caught him, I think thats okay too. You're trying to maintain your professional intergrity and the integrity of the material you teach as well as the students you produce.

As for crazy, maniacal punishment? I would say it depends on how old the kids you teach are, and what material you teach.

If its High School or something, then I think your current methods are probably acceptable. I also believe that degree of transgression is important too. Copying ans pasting something from Wikipedia and calling it your own is flat-out ######ed, and you should call him on it.

Basically, what I'm saying, is that they should be taught the consequences of Plagiarism before they get to University, because there is no leniency here.

I've faced an Academic misconduct tribunal due to doing really well on an exam that 95% of the rest of my class bombed. Only 3 other people did really well. One lived in her textbook and knew the material cold, I do it for a living so of course I did well, and one stole it, the other bought it. So they investigated all 4 of us. I'll tell you, that was scary as hell when you're as close to finishing as I am.