We have had a similar problem. The best we have managed is to “ban” technology, have students sign all their materials and then check to ensure they were turned back in at the end of the session, and violations constitute an automatic professionalism concern. This still puts the responsibility on the students, though.

 

This is a big issue, though.

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

Amanda R. Emke, MD

   Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Critical Care

   Associate Fellowship Program Director, Pediatric Critical Care

   Course Master, Pre-Clinical Pediatrics

   St. Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University Physicians

   Washington University School of Medicine

One Children's Place, Northwest Tower, Campus Box 8116

St. Louis, MO 63110

(314)454-2527

[log in to unmask]

 

 

From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ronald Gunnells
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 8:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cheating in RAT - prevalence and response - advice sought

 

We too have been dealing with the same issue. We’ve begun addressing the problem with Course Hero in several ways. 

 

1) Putting notice on all quizzes and test that the material is not to be shared or posted anywhere. Students must sign that they have read it. Then we can take action against students who break the policy.

2) Identifying those have posted class content and have a discussion about how what they have done is like sharing corporate secrets in companies they will work for when the graduate, and how this could get them fired. This has resulted in many of them removing their posts. 

3) We have been successfully issuing take-down notices to Course Hero. 

4) Making faculty aware that they need to be aware that this is the new normal. They can’t make a test and expect it to not get out.

 

 

Ken Gunnells, Ph.D.
COLLAT School of Business, Management Information Systems & Quantitative Methods
UAB | The University of Alabama at Birmingham
BEC 311E
205-222-0871
[log in to unmask]






 

On Aug 31, 2015, at 1:15 AM, Gary Oliver <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

 

Hi All

I teach accounting at The University of Sydney (Australia) using TBL in the way outlined by LarryM. This has been going since 2009. One of the differences Larry commented to me between some TBL he knew and ours in accounting is that there is a close coupling between the questions in RAT and their application in a scenario. As a result I have spent considerable time honing the questions so the distractors became meaningful indicators for diagnosing thinking and knowledge errors. Enrolment per semester has risen from 300 to 500 to 750 over recent years and we have classes of no more than 50. The I RAT uses the Apperson scanner. The T RAT uses the 'scratchie'. Both RATs and the application of knowledge earn marks. The individual mark is low (say 1% each for 10 weeks of three elements I RAT, T RAT, and application) to make the risk-reward profile what we thought was unfavourable.

Unhappily, we have found instances where technology has been used to photograph and post RAT sheets to websites which earn money from students downloading. Some changes were made in response including (1) changing the questions so they now are more like traditional multiple choice questions with keywords like "most", "least" etc  (2) separating the question from the answer by displaying the questions on overhead screen and only handing out the answer sheet (3) banning technology (4) emphasising ethical behaviour with a class declaration. (This will become a class ticket and workbook in 2016). Unhappily this has not proved sufficient, and we recently had our first impersonation.

One area of difficulty has been that we have been unable to gain a sense of the prevalence of cheating. The faulty aggregate self-reports of dishonest behaviour in the literature mean that there is no 'rate' against which to compare ourselves. 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). So my first question is do any of you have a sense of the rate of cheating? The second question is for those of you using the RAT method, is, have you any suggestions?

Warm regards/gary

Dr Gary R Oliver, CPA
B A Anthrop. & Philosophy (Macq); M Com Acctg & Info Sys (UNSW); Grad Dip Soc Sc (UNE), Grad Cert Higher Ed (Usyd), M Ed Higher Ed (USyd); PhD Economics (USyd)
Discipline of Accounting
The University of Sydney Business School
---------------------------------------------------------
      ,-_|\       Building H69, Office 310
     /        \      Corner Codrington Street
     \_,-._*      & Rose Street
                  Darlington 2006
           @      Australia
----------------------------------------------
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
-----------------------------------------------

Location details when travelling from the city
- On Parramatta Rd at Broadway, turn south into City Road
- In City Rd, ignore the Cleveland Street intersection
- In City Rd, at the Wentworth Building, turn left into Maze Avenue
- Maze avenue becomes Codrington Street
- Continue ahead past the Aquatic Centre (on left)
- Building H69 is on the right
- Parking is available in nearby streets
(Some is free and some is paid)
---------------------------------------------
- University Map: http://db.auth.usyd.edu.au/directories/map/largemap00a.html
- University Website:
www.sydney.edu.au
- University of Sydney Business School Website:
www.sydney.edu.au/business
--------------------------------------------
University of Sydney Business School Student Information Office
(Timetables, Special Consideration)
Merewether Building
Enter from City Road side
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 9351-3076
--------------------------------------------
Executive Officer for the Discipline of Accounting:
Kate Doyle
Room 347, Building H69
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 02 9351 6587
Fax: 9351 6638
-------------------------------------------
The contents of this email are strictly confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this email (including any attachments) is unauthorised and prohibited.

########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click the following link:
https://lists.ubc.ca/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=TEAMLEARNING-L&A=1

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.

 

 


To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.



The materials in this email are private and may contain Protected Health Information. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that any unauthorized use, disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify the sender via telephone or return email.


To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.

Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.