You caught Cheaters... what would you do or have you done?

KatieBell · Feb 7, 2006

Cheating is inappropriate and shame on the instructors for not at least walking around and stopping it themselves. It amazes me that two people taking an exam could be talking and it not be noted by proctors.

On a different note, in school I had a teacher convinced I was cheating. She made me take the tests in the front of the room seperated from the other students so I could not "look off their papers" Somehow oddly, I still got 109% (I did the extra credit paper) in the class. I wouldn't have cheated off anyone because Iknew I knew the information better, it was embarassing, and very upsetting, so I'd ask you to be 100% sure if you are going to accuse anyone of cheating.

I think I would have brought it to the instructor or proctors attention rather than take it into my own hands. Needs to be several consequences for this. Most Universities have ethical codes requiring a student to report cheating, but is it followed??

stpauligirl · Feb 7, 2006

this seems like a good topic to post. i was taking a very difficult exam today and two people who were obviously cheating were doing so within earshot of me and others. so, i told them to stop for two reasons.
one, i could see that they were not going to stop themselves. they were engrossed in going from one question to the next without slowing down. in addition, the exam was long and there would be no way those of us around them would be able to concentrate with their constant "what did you get for...?" questions.
the second reason i stopped them was because i am an instructor/professor (not of this class) and it is my professional ethical obligation to stop cheaters and report the students i catch cheating. besides that, cheating is my number one pet peeve! :angryfire i have more respect for students that flat out take an "f" for being unprepared and who later ask for help then those who cheat and think they will learn the information later!
some of you are like me and already have a professional code of ethics you must follow so i would be interested in hearing what you think. i am also wondering what students who are not bound by codes of ethics would honestly do because i have heard different responses from those i know. most have said that they would mind his/her own business if it was not going to effect him/her negatively. so, i think this will be an interesting conversation.
my question to this group of future nurses (and current nurses) is what would you do or have you done in a similar situation? what's your take/spin ladies and gents?

we had a topic just like this one here last semester....don't show any mercy on cheaters, they need to be punished appropriately and given a copy of the 10 commandments on the way out!!!!!

tencat · Feb 7, 2006

I'm going to play devil's advocate....well first I guess I'd better state my position: If I were an instructor taking another instructor's test, I would point it out to the other instructor. Now, as a student I would just mind my own business and perhaps even move away from the cheaters so that no one could accuse me of cheating by association.

Ok, devil's advocate: When is cheating actually cheating? For example, is it cheating to work together on a computer-based quiz for a class? If same quiz is open note, open book? What if you are a learner who actually gets more from discussing the questions and stating your case for an answer than from just answering the question by yourself?

mandykal, ADN, RN · Feb 7, 2006

As you mention you have a "professional ethical obligation," asking them politely recognizes that someone is disturbed, they should know better. I would report them. I don't intend on being the type to do so, but they are the ones that create their own identity. Cheating in a nursing program is the most stupity thing a student can do and all it takes is for the instructor to recognize a student as a possible cheater, then that student is marked and will be watched. I've seen that happed to a classmate of mine luckily she didn't cheat after that. But during clinicals she did a simple error that even an experience nurse would miss she got booted out of the program. She was in good standings until the day she got caught "talking to a classmate questioning the time," as she said to our instructor; but really, she was cheating.

danfif · Feb 7, 2006

As it goes with most everything in life, what goes around comes around, and if you have to cheat on a test during school to pass the class, your chances of passing your boards are not going to be good.

That being said, we had 2 different gals in our class that were both caught cheating, both got the boot, both were reaccepted into the program, and both were caught cheating again, and were sent packing and told never to come back. They were also reported to the BON which bared them from reentering a program for 3 years.

As far as reporting a cheater, sure I would! I would not want one of my patients, or for that matter one of my family members being taken care of by someone that had to cheat to get their license, would you?

Dan

allnurses Guide · Feb 7, 2006

This is an interesting thread coming on the heels of the one about the girl who signed her boyfriend into class and then lied to the teacher when she noticed he wasn't in class and said he went to the bathroom. (What would you do? in the General Nursing forum).

I too would ask them to stop talking and I would say it loudly.

steph

NRSNFL · Feb 7, 2006

I know this opinion is different than many, but I guess that is why its mine. I would say mind your own business and know that karma sucks baby. And boy does it come around. I would say pay attention to what pertains to you and you only...when it comes to the big gig and exam to actually get their license, they won't know the answers and that is what Karma is about, assuming they don't fail out because of grade in other classes. It peeves me too, half of the football team at UNH when I went there had their tutors doing their projects for them,....AND getting A's. So trust me, I feel ya...but why create drama and stir stuff up and bring attention to you as the tattle...I'd stay low, let them sink their own ships. They will sink.

student4ever · Feb 7, 2006

Would I turn in a cheater? You bet I would. Would I do so publicly and in front of the whole class? no way. There is no need to embarrass people unduly and to disrupt the rest of the class taking the test even further. These students will be embarrassed enough when they get booted out and have to explain why, and deal with people talking about them. I work hard for my grades, and there is no way someone is going to take my hard work and benefit from it without doing a thing themselves. I would go to the teacher after the test, or after the class, and state that I had noticed some suspicious behavior (unless I had actually seen/heard very stronly incriminating evidence), and suggest that the teacher keep an eye on it. I take the honor code very seriously, and although my current school does not have a mandatory student reporting on cheating code, I have attended schools that do, and I consider myself still duty bound from signing that honor code, even though I am no longer at that school. Cheating is wrong in every way shape or form, and I would turn anyone in even my best friend if I knew they were cheating.

allnurses Guide · Feb 7, 2006

I agree that the instructor needs to be wandering around the classroom.

steph

NRSNFL · Feb 7, 2006

I also agree maybe suggesting to the professor, if you're going to do it.....that it might be wise to wander the room during exam time. But I stick to my initial opinion...and let it go, it will catch up to them. I also want to add, I've been in the corporate environment for a very long time and ratting on everyone DOES NOT WORK. Even if you are right, ethics being all that they are, if it was risking a patient, I'd say heck yeah...say something,...but cheating on an exam, they are only cheating themselves of the opportunity to pass the state boards.

Dreamer528 · Feb 7, 2006

it is such a shame! It really bothers me that college students continue to cheat and its even more outragious when students cheat in classes pertaining to their major. I had many issues with a friend who cheated in our anatomy class, it was so incredible to me how she had no respect for herself or the rest of the class or felt any shame in signing the honor code at the end of our exams. Most of our classes are the foundation for our careers and it is upseting that people continue to do this. But ultimately the cheaters are not hurting the professors or their classmates but themselves.