Damn Cheaters >:(

donsterRN, ASN, BSN · Apr 12, 2007

That's exactly correct. Cheaters always do themselves in sometime. I'd like to feel sorry for them, but... naaaaah.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Apr 12, 2007

dorselm. . .my original school of nursing had our classes split up into three sections within each semester as well so each section of us was taking tests at different times. to counteract the cheating that they knew was going to go on, there were three different forms of each test and we were all told that at the very beginning of the program.

i'm taking an online component to a class where we can take these biweekly quizzes whenever we want and there was an immense amount of cheating going on with the people who are lagging behind pumping those of us who had taken them for hints about the questions and answers. what the instructor finally did was publish the questions ahead of time and told us we could discuss them as a group. they are incredibly hard and now no one wants to share the correct answers to anything they got wrong with the slackers because we are all working so hard on these things! the instructor also gives a take home midterm and final exam that we are permitted to work on together. she gave us three weeks lead time to work on these questions. the questions came from all kinds of sources. the trick is that we all have to input our final answers into a computer program at the same time during one of our class sessions. it only takes about 5 minutes to do this. however, one person didn't come to class for this midterm and called around trying to get answers afterward from everyone in an attempt to get a better grade (we get immediate feedback as to what questions we got right and wrong once we hit the "submit" button on the computer program). found out last night that after all her efforts, she only made a 76 where the rest of us had gotten in the 90s! i'm thinking somebody may have deliberately fed her some bad information, you think? justice can be sweet.

i think this take home exam idea may be a program wide decision because it is being done in several other classes by a couple of other instructors. you can't believe the amount of time you have to spend hunting down the answers to some of these questions! in some cases, some of the students have gotten into some lively conversations about specific questions as well. i've seen one particular instructor sitting back watching us with a funny grin on her face. and, i know! she's figured out a way to make students open their books and learn this material for the course. and, it doesn't stop there. she takes those same controversial questions that spark discussion and turns them into application type questions that show up on other little exams we have just to see if we really learned the concepts! i fully expect to this woman become a full professor of some distinction in the future.

you might want to suggest some of these ideas at the end of the class when (and if) you have an opportunity to make a course evaluation.

AirforceRN, RN · Apr 12, 2007

We were never allowed to remove our test sheet from the class for this very reason. When we are done with the exam we go to the front of the class, but our answer sheet in one pile AND our question sheet (with our name on it) in another pile. This not only serves to stop cheating but it helps with multiple choice questions as well. If you circle all the right answers on the question sheet and fill in all the wrong circles on the answer sheet then they can look at YOUR question sheet and see that you are smart, just not smart enough to match up question 15 with answer 15.