I gave my students a take home exam over spring break. (This is normal where I teach) One of the questions was particulary difficult. It came down to a factor of three in the solution. That factor inexplicably appeared with no justification on many of their exams. I intend to have the students I suspect of cheating come to my office to solve the problem on the board. What would you do?
Edit: I gave them the Tuesday before spring break until the Thursday after. I didn’t want it to be right before or right after.
When I say normal I mean giving take home exams.
I think getting them to show their work is appropriate and for any that can’t replicate their work explain to them the downfalls of cheating. The other comments here justifying likely haven’t ever been in an academic setting. Relying on cheating is setting yourself up for failure if you intend to continue studying at a tertiary level.
I don’t think a punishment is necessary for cheaters just a lecture. Let them know people can and have had their degrees rescinded years after the fact when their cheating was detected with newer methods.
Edit: downvotes for suggesting that cheating is bad lmao. Like I said cheating at uni is easily detected these days. Fuck the getting caught, you’re paying however much to get an education, you may as well actually learn.
I am one of “the other comments”, I have a masters in physics, a PhD in bioengineering, postdoctoral work with respiratory diseases, have taught undergraduate and graduate level courses, and currently work in R&D for a huge biotech company. Rest assured I know the academic setting, what the students allegedly did is not only fine, it is smart and good practice IRL
I’ll take your word for it. At the institution I’m currently at and my former one this is academic misconduct as it isn’t your own work. I’m real suss on anyone claiming to have a phd while suggesting methods that essentially introduce a potential time bomb for your degree. May as well actually learn how to learn if you’re going to uni but hey that’s just my (apparently red hot) take.
As if cheating on a few questions is necessarily going to make them a bad academic, mister top-student
It likely will because they’re cheating and not learning. Whatever they’re shortcutting by cheating, if it’s assumed knowledge down the line, they won’t have it because they cheated instead of learning. The morality of it aside, if you rely on cheating in academia you’re just screwing yourself over, in more ways than one.
You’re only keeping academia in the picture. Academia is worthless for a lot of jobs since you don’t learn anything even remotely relevant in there regarding what you’re going to work as. In that sense, it doesn’t matter at all. A person’s proficiency to learn cannot be judged by them cheating on a small exam/HW. It’s a problem if it’s chronic, but TBH these days most jobs aren’t more than mind-numbing anyway