Hi Jane - I think you're asking two questions here. How can we prevent and how can we address it when it occurs regardless of our prevention efforts? Allow me to address the second one first. Our policy says that a violation is any "attempt to get a grade by means other than honest effort", which would cover this type of behavior. Although our academic integrity policy doesn't list this type of behavior specifically, it shouldn't have to because policies cannot possibly list every possible prohibitive behavior that might ever occur. Rather, policies should help students make their own assessments of honest, responsible, respectful, fair, trustworthy and courageous academic behaviors. And a good policy should enable a professor to report any behavior that undermines these values, even if the behavior is not specifically listed.
Regarding prevention, I did have this type of problem once (because some students take the class pass/fail) and I have found the following have prevented it from happening again:
1. I have an honest conversation about the fundamental values and then having the teams develop a team code of ethics.
2. I instituted a policy on final team maintenance scores - any students submitting unsubstantiated or suspected dishonest/unfair evaluations would be called in for an oral exam at which they would have to orally defend their evaluations with evidence. To prep them for this, we do midterm peer evaluations so these problems are surfaced before the end of the term. And if, at midterm, each team member gives the other members suspect feedback, I would let them know that my observations of their team do not match their assessments.
3. I monitor for this throughout the term and calling attention to it early on. For example, when I walk around during the tRAT discussions and listen in, I would notice if a team was depending too much/entirely on one teammate for the answers, and I would call attention to that and ask them if this strategy honors their code of ethics. I would even strongly urge them to do the next tRAT with that one member remaining completely silent.
4. I require a minimum individual performance grade to pass the class (regardless of the team grade).
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
~Tricia
Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D.
Director, Academic Integrity Office
Lecturer, Rady School of Management
University of California, San Diego
301 University Center
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0069
858-822-2163
http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu<http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu/>
Promoting and supporting Excellence with Integrity
UC San Diego is an institutional member of the International Center for Academic Integrity<http://www.academicintegrity.org/>
From: Rongerude, Jane M [C R P] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 10:39 AM
To: Bertram Gallant, Tricia; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cheating in RAT - prevalence and response - advice sought
Dear All,
This is a useful discussion. Thanks for putting this question out there. My more challenging problem with TBL and academic integrity has been peer assessment fixing. This came up last semester when a team made an agreement that they would all give each other peer assessment scores. One member of the team who was highly invested in the course then proceeded to do all the work and the other students failed their own RATS, but used her work to their advantage with the team activities. The student who was doing the work brought the situation to me attention at peer assessment time. She was very clear that she was not complaining about doing all the work (sadly, she felt that this was a good exercise for her), but she did not want to be dishonest on her peer assessment but was worried about retaliation from her team.
I dealt with the situation, but one thing that became apparent in the process was that my institution did not have any formal language in its academic integrity policy that addressed this situation. I am wondering if others have had this situation come up and if so, how they have addressed it. Also, I am wondering if other institutions have language in their academic integrity policies that explicitly cover peer assessment. Tricia, I am particularly interested in your thoughts on this issue given your work around academic integrity.
I look forward to your feedback.
Best,
Jane
Jane Rongerude, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Community and Regional Planning
Iowa State University
477 College of Design
Ames, IA 50011
Phone: (515) 294-5289
Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
From: Team-Based Learning <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of "Bertram Gallant, Tricia" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: "Bertram Gallant, Tricia" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Monday, August 31, 2015 at 11:26 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: Cheating in RAT - prevalence and response - advice sought
Hi everyone - I'm in an interesting position of teaching ethics with TBL, being the Director of an Academic Integrity Office, as well as serving as a board member with the International Center for Academic Integrity. So, since some of you have expressed an interest in delving into this, I'll share some of my knowledge with you (excuse the length of the posting!).
Unlike Jim, I'm constantly thinking of ethics in the classroom and how faculty can create a healthy ethical environment in which integrity it the norm and cheating is the exception. In fact, I would argue that, in all disciplines, it is a fundamental duty of professors to create an ethical classroom for three reasons: 1) it reinforces and supports quality teaching and learning; 2) it helps colleges and universities ensure that the degrees they confer are symbols of knowledge and abilities; and 3) it helps students develop into ethical citizens and professionals.
Creating an ethical classroom when using TBL is no different than creating an ethical classroom using other pedagogies. First, you must communicate integrity (e.g., talking about it, modeling it). Second, you must create space for it (e.g., reducing cheating temptations and opportunities). And third, you must infuse lessons of integrity & ethics into your teaching (no matter your discipline).
This is what I do to apply this "ethical classroom" concept to a TBL class, and specifically pertaining to the RATs:
1 - communicate their responsibilities and my responsibilities for upholding the fundamental values of integrity (honesty, responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, fairness, and courage) in the syllabus
2 - have the teams create a team code of ethics, including an edvice policy (which usually bans edevice use during RATs and tRATs, until all students in the class are done), at the beginning of the term (this empowers them to monitor their own behaviors)
3 - put a copyright statement on EVERYTHING I hand out or post in class (this helps get my materials down from file sharing sites and also educates students about intellectual property)
4 - change my RAT questions every quarter (yes, this takes time, but it actually improves my knowledge of the discipline and my ability to teach the concepts)
5 - ask higher order thinking questions (rather than memorization), which actually improves student performance
6 - space students one seat apart (to reduce temptation and opportunity)
7 - collect the quizzes
Also, I search the interent using my name and my course often to double check on my materials being posted. Only once (in 2 years of teaching with TBL) have I seen anything from my course posted, and it was just the syllabus.
The key is creating this ethical classroom in which you trust and respect the students and they trust and respect you; that, along with clear standards and expectations, gets you close to 100% avoidance of distribution of class materials.
Please contact me directly if you'd like to follow up at all. I'd be happy to help.
Sincerely,
~Tricia
Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D.
Director, Academic Integrity Office
Lecturer, Rady School of Management
University of California, San Diego
301 University Center
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0069
858-822-2163
http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu<http://academicintegrity.ucsd.edu/>
Promoting and supporting Excellence with Integrity
UC San Diego is an institutional member of the International Center for Academic Integrity<http://www.academicintegrity.org/>
From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sibley, James Edward
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 9:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Cheating in RAT - prevalence and response - advice sought
Hi
We haven't had that much trouble with this....or are oblivious
We are careful to circulate around...require that all technology be away....and remind students it takes 6 people to cheat (our groups are always 6).....if you see something and say nothing you are as guilty
We have big classes...120-250....some cheating likely always goes on....we will drive ourselves crazy if we think about it too much :-)
jim
--
Jim Sibley
Director
Centre for Instructional Support
http://cis.apsc.ubc.ca/
Faculty of Applied Science
University of British Columbia
Summer 2015 - EDC 301 (elevator access only)
1214-6250 Applied Science Lane
Vancouver, BC Canada
V6T 1Z4
Phone 604.822.9241
Email: [log in to unmask]<applewebdata:[log in to unmask]>
Check out this recent article<http://www.macleans.ca/education/multiple-choice-multiple-students/> in Macleans - Canada's news magazine
Check out my new book Getting Started with Team-Based Learning<http://www.learntbl.ca> available at Stylus Publishing<https://styluspub.presswarehouse.com/Books/SearchResults.aspx?str=getting+started+with+team-based+learning>
Check out my TBL website at www.learntbl.ca<http://www.learntbl.ca>
(c) Copyright 2015, Jim Sibley, All rights reserved The information contained in this e-mail message and any attachments (collectively "message") is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the recipient (or recipients) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this message in error and that any review, use, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, and delete the message.
From: Team-Based Learning <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Bill Goffe <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Monday, August 31, 2015 at 7:23 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: Cheating in RAT - prevalence and response - advice sought
I don't have any sage suggestions on how to deal with this cheating, but
I'm really curious on how this estimate of cheating was constructed.
- Bill
Gary said:
Some of my Fermi Method calculations suggest around 30% of the class can
be cheating (although this is 20% too high based on the stats I
calculated last weekend).
--
Bill Goffe
Senior Lecturer
Department of Economics
Penn State University
304 Kern Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-867-3299
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
http://cook.rfe.org/
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