- Prevention better than cure says University of Central Florida
- Posted By:
- Karen W.
- Posted On:
- 06-Jul-2010
-
Prevention is always better than cure and that is exactly what the University of Central Florida doing. Tests are known to be not the most famous activity and to sail through this phase; students do not mind some cheating.
Yes, cheating is something that the university does not want to risk. Students cheat when they know they can get away with it. There are scores of tricks that students have rolled up their sleeves when it comes to cheating the examinations. But now the University has some tricks of its own.
So if you are a student at the University of Central Florida, beware! So as student who is due to sit for exams, one will not be allowed to chew gum. The logic behind this is that the actions that one does while chewing gum could disguise one talking into the cell phone. This amounts to cheating and therefore, not allowed in the examination hall.
The two hundred odd computers made available to students are now fixed as a desktop. So pens with hidden cameras will not be useful. So if a student has promised to help a friend out who gives the exams later or in the next batch, they won’t be able to help anymore.
Rough paper is allowed for scribbling and scratching but this too will be supplied fresh daily. On the paper, the date and time of the examination will be stamped. Therefore, any scope of writing down the formulas before the exams is futile.
Also there are cameras installed in the examination room so if the examiner thinks there is something suspicious going on, they will zoom in closer to where the student is sitting and record the activities. This will then be used as an evidence to prove what was going on.
However, the dean of the University suggested that the phenomenon of cheating had dropped in the recent years. There were hardly few suspected students when compared to the previous years for cheating.
The problem does not end here. Even though the cheating in exams go down, students are misusing technology. They easily copy-paste material from the internet and present them as their own. Also there is so much that is available that the teacher might get confused. Therefore, to keep with the students and their smart ways, the teachers are getting smarter these days.
The internet, when it was introduced, seemed a boon to the students and the teachers. But kids always find a way for misusing it. Also monitoring so many students at the university, what they do on the net is a huge task and almost impossible. Various schools and universities try out different measures to protect their students from these yet there is will always be something more the students want to do.
Cheating is one thing. Students attend classes regularly, submit homework regularly, yet they indulge in cheating. Sometimes this act is committed just for fun. Students get a high to just know that they have cheated or rather outsmarted the system and their teachers. They do not realise the gravity or the intensity of the act committed.