December 8, 2003
Cellphone Cheating
And to think, I'm annoyed if I even hear a cell phone RING in my class....
After reading the CS Monitor for my entry below, I found another article on the rise of cell phone cheating in the classroom. Obviously, these phones can vibrate so that the teacher won't hear them ring. Like some fancy calculators, they can store text as a hidden cheat sheet -- or worse, SMS text messaging can be used to communicate answers back and forth between students in code. And then, of course, there is the new PICTURE phones (*clicking here opens Word doc). Students are snapping shots of tests while they take them... it's like carrying a hand scanner. This allows not only sending of answers but storing them in a graphics file. Cell phones are clearly providing an innovative way for unethical students to cheat and technophobic teachers are banning them (and rightly so) -- but geek.com wonders when these signal-emitting devices will become appropriated for innovative classroom use by educators to do something like proctor a test OVER the cell phone. Perhaps tests won't happen...old school methods like pen and paper work best sometimes...but process-oriented tasks, like collaborative work might utilize the tech wonderfully. Time will tell!
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Comments
I am always astounded at the lengths to which some will go to avoid doing the work. When I reflect on my surprise, I can't decide if it's warranted or not.
Here's a tangent for you: I have noted that this type of student and online gamers both will go to stunning lengths to find and exploit workarounds and hacks that are, if not properly illicit, certainly counter to the intent of the designers/authorities. Whether this is a generational thing, or merely a coincidence of technological werewithal and human nature, I don't know.
Ultimately, I can only shake my head though. Just do the silly work, already. It's easier.
So smart...but I agree with MRBS...the work is usually easier than the risk of being caught, and especially the moral implications cheating brings. But then again, some people do not have the terrible bug called a conscience.
I wondered when this would become an issue in the mainstream classroom. Check the specs on taking any of the Microsoft Certification tests. One #2 pencil, one sheet of paper, and three video cameras...
How appropriate for a finals week post.
I think that cheating using cellphones is a very creative way of cheating if you are going to do it. And the fact that a very large percentage of students carry phones it is just a matter of time before all students will be asked to leave their cellphones at the door.
If you search on google for "schools ban cell phones" you will find that they have been banned locker rooms and some schools even make use of "jammers." Jammers are devices which send out frequencies which jam the cell airwaves causing no reception.
Let's just hope that this is not something that Seton Hill will have to employ anytime soon. That would rile the students more than a lack of internet I think.