Tips from the FBI on Addressing Suspected Cheating
Plus, sad face. Plus, "brazen" cheating in Pakistan.
Issue 299
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The FBI and AI — Academic Integrity
Here’s a new one.
Last month, Miriam Bowers-Abbott, who LinkedIn describes simply as “Analyst, Communicator, Academic,” typed out a piece over at Faculty Focus on tips that educators can use when addressing suspected cheating — tips from the FBI.
It’s worth jumping over to review, and it starts:
Given suspicions that a student has cheated in a course, one of the most common recommendations is that an instructor meets with the student to discuss those suspicions.
No one wants this meeting. Guilty or innocent, no student wants to be accused of cheating. For the instructor, leveling accusations, even in the presence of stone-cold certainty, is almost equally unpleasant.
Pretty reasonable, in my view.
It goes on:
And in an ideal world, there would be piles of data about best practices for meetings that probe a student’s academic integrity. Conversely, there’s a good reason why we don’t have piles of data, and it has to do with standards for research ethics. To conduct a meaningful study about cheating confessions or academic integrity, researchers would need to mix students who cheated and confessed with students who cheated and did not confess.
There’s no world where non-confessing, cheating students agree to participate honestly in a study about cheating.
There a few good tips for dealing with the inquiry and suspicion conversation, but this is the big bit:
The foundational recommendation from the group is to build a positive rapport with the interviewee. For faculty, the interviewee would be the student. According to the literature the guidelines cite, building a positive rapport means establishing common ground and common values, perhaps agreeing that the course’s subject matter is challenging or that everyone makes mistakes. In this arena, empathy and reflective listening are also emphasized. Reflective listening might require the instructor to repeat something the student said during the interview—to demonstrate that the instructor was listening and understood.
Good stuff. And, again, there’s more. So, jump over.
“Brazen” Exam Cheating in Pakistan
A regional news outlet has a story about “brazen” cheating on high school exams in Pakistan.
It starts:
Brazen cheating continues unchecked during the annual examinations for 9th and 10th classes under the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK), marking the fourth consecutive day of malpractice.
The BSEK administration finds itself once again helpless against the rampant activities of the cheating mafia. Prior to the exams, the question paper was leaked on social media platforms
Unchecked, helpless, and brazen are not words anyone wants to see in a story about cheating.
Further:
According to reports, the English paper for Class X was circulated on WhatsApp groups nearly an hour before the exam started. At the same time, money was allegedly being extorted from students at various centres in exchange for leaked papers.
If you’re like me, you read things such as this and think there’s no way to trust any education certification or degree from Pakistan.
Then I wonder what others think about education in the U.S., where misconduct does not border on complete anarchy, but does border on complete denial and acquiescence. At least in too many places. Then I wonder how far we are from the edge — from the place where cheating becomes so common, where shortcuts are so easy, where the lack of will to act is so absent, that there is no way to trust any education certification or degree from the United States.
The question does keep me up at night, and I worry about those for whom it does not.
(Sad Emoji) Course Hero Says No
You may remember that in Issue 288, we noted that major cheating enabler Course Hero (Learneo) invited people to speak at some kind of event, and that I’d applied.
To save you from jumping to that other Issue, here was my 100 word speaking pitch:
Academic misconduct is a threat to education equity, fundamental fairness, and the value of education credentials. Unfortunately, the issue is often overlooked.
Or, in some cases, cheating is even exploited for profit.
In this session, I'll present an examination of several contract cheating companies that sell cheating services -- looking at their business models, customer bases, and services. As well as efforts that are already underway to shut them down around the globe.
Come learn how investors are making money by selling cheating to your students. And what you may be able to do about it.
Course Hero said they’d let me know whether I’d be able to speak.
Well, I am disappointed to report that Course Hero has declined to let me speak at their thing. Here is the e-mail I received:
Hello Derek,
We appreciate your proposal for this year's Education Summit. However, due to an overwhelming number of submissions, we will not be moving forward with your proposal.
We appreciate the time and effort put into your proposal as well as your patience throughout this decision-making process. We will keep you in mind for future speaking opportunities with Course Hero.
Thank you again,
Course Hero Academics Team
First, Course Hero having an “academics team” is like Little Debbie having a basketball team.
And, “an overwhelming number of submissions,” sure. Whatever makes them feel good.
But, as should have been obvious from the start, Course Hero doesn’t want anyone talking about cheating for profit — not ever. They don’t want anyone looking into companies that sell cheating products and services. They most definitely don’t want anyone talking about those things to their customers, as it would ruin the fantasy that Course Hero is in the education business.
So, let the record reflect that Course Hero shut out and shut down a conversation about cheating. Shocker.