On the more general topic of students using "assistance" when we don't want them to. A colleague wrote the following in an internal email thread back in April. I found it helpful. Some of what is written makes more sense if you understand she puts some questions in the online homework system that tell a student to do something on paper and upload it to the LMS.
I use a checklist at the beginning of all quizzes as Question #1 so students have to agree to follow the quiz policy. This has been a helpful deterrent for cheating.
Academic Integrity Agreement Checklist
Please read the following, and check each box to show your understanding of the quiz policy, as it's stated in the syllabus.
I
understand that this quiz is an assessment of my knowledge on the
topics in this module, and as such, I agree not to use any outside
resources. Outside resources include, but are not limited to: notes,
textbook, homework, any online content, friends, relatives, formula
sheets, etc.I
understand that once my quiz is submitted here in [online homework platform], I may not
add or remove anything from my work; I must immediately upload my work
to the D2L Assignments tab. Any reference to the "D2L Dropbox" is
referring to the "D2L Assignments tab".I understand that a calculator (physical or online) is NOT allowed on this quiz, and agree not to use one.
That being said, I do have the occasional student cheat and use things like online derivative calculators or online integral calculators that show steps; however, it's usually pretty obvious since the steps have more of a "computer-vibe" than
a "human-vibe". Here are all the websites/resources that students tend to use if they do cheat and I always look at them before I grade to know what to look out for. You'd be surprised how easy it is to spot copied work once you
know what to look for:
I'm sure there are more but those first 3 are the most common ones I see used.
When I do see a student cheat, I get in touch with them immediately and try to come from a place of support rather than a place of judgement or shaming. Here is the email that I send to students and after fine-tuning
it over the years, I almost always get a "I'm so sorry, it won't happen again. Thank you for reaching out." type of reply rather than a defensive one.
Example Email for Occurrences of Academic Dishonesty
Hi _______,
I just graded your Module __ Quiz and have some concerns. It's pretty clear that https://www.integral-calculator.com/ was
used for most, if not all, of the quiz. I take academic integrity very seriously, especially in an online class. I understand wanting to succeed in this class, but this is not
the way to do so. Please remember that as your instructor, I am here to help and 100% want you to succeed in this class. These integration techniques can be challenging at first, but with practice
and commitment, I believe you have the potential to do these on your own without any help. Our first Exam is this week, so it's really important to understand these integration techniques before
then in order to be successful in the class.
A grade of 0 is being given on the Module 4 Quiz and additional occurrences will result in an Academic Dishonesty report being filed. I would appreciate a response to make
sure that we are on the same page with the quiz policy from this point forward.