Recently, I took an online test that was supposed to be closed-book, closed-notes, etc. without much reading or studying being done. I managed to scrape by with a passing grade but not what I would normally like. When I looked at the class grade distribution, I saw that there were some who had done quite well and others who had not fared too well.
My students know that I am taking classes outside of school so the other day, when we had finished our powerpoint notes, I told them that in order to pass the test, they would need to read the notes several times until they understood the basics. Then, they would come in, without notes and take the test. We are always in an ongoing battle about open-book tests. I argue that they confuse you more and more people fail open book tests than if they had simply taken the test on their own. So anyway, I asked my students the question, "How many of you will cheat on an online test?"
In a class of almost thirty students, about twenty-five hands flew up. I was amazed. I really didn't think that they would be this honest about it but they were. It made me wonder about the state of morals. Here I was taking an online test, without any notes, trying to do it all on my own, and I had my students telling me that they would cheat if no one was there to supervise them, even if the test was timed. It made me wonder, naturally, how many of these students in my online class cheated on this test? Furthermore, if you were taking an online test, and there was no supervision, but you were timed, would you cheat?
