Cheating Goes Hi-Tech
Kids use technology to cheat in school
- More than 8 in 10 kids (83%) have cell phones; 53% have had them since they were 12 or younger*
- More than 35% admitted to using their cell phones to cheat
- 52% admitted to some form of cheating involving the Internet
- 38% said they copied text from Web sites and turned it in as their own work
- 65% of students with cell phones say they use them during school, but only 23% of parents think their kids are using them during school
- 69% of schools have cell policies that don’t permit cell use, but more than half of all kids ignore them
- *all facts from the Common Sense Media June 2009 study
Advice and Answers
What is digital cheating?
Personal technologies have been real game-changers for schoolwork. Information has never been easier to access and computers provide powerful tools for presentation, collaboration, and creativity. Many believe that the mobile phone also has potential as a learning tool. But an unintended consequence of these versatile technologies is that they’ve made cheating easier. Although cheating has been going on for years, cell phones and the Internet offer new opportunities for unethical behavior. Some kids use mobile phones to store notes. Some text friends about answers during quizzes or tests, while others take pictures of test questions -- which can be forwarded to students who haven't yet taken the test. Kids with smartphones can even search the Internet for answers. Some kids don’t even realize they’re taking shortcuts when they copy and paste material they find online and present it as their own work ... although those who use the Internet to download entire papers or reports surely know it’s not ethical.Why it matters
Our kids are the pioneers in a brave new world that has few rules. The decisions kids make today will shape the digital culture of tomorrow. We want our kids to grow up knowing right from wrong -- no matter where they are. We need to be sure that they know personal responsibility is as real in cyberspace as it is in the classroom. Digital life -- particularly the Internet and mobile phones -- operates in new ways. Much of what kids do is anonymous, which can sever consequences from actions. Anything they post or create can be seen by a vast invisible audience. Their work can be copied, pasted, altered, and sent to untold numbers of people. And they can copy and paste others’ work in a split second. Because kids have unfiltered access to information, the temptation to use other people’s work and call it their own can be profound. And since so much of this world happens distantly, plagiarizing or cheating can seem like a victimless crime. Kids think they can get away with it because they believe their teachers, parents, and the people whose work they’ve cribbed won’t discover what they’ve done.What parents can do
Be aware that when you hand your kids a phone, you're giving them communications superpowers. Gone are the days when kids used them to talk. They text, take pictures and videos, and some access the Internet.
Do your homework. It’s up to you to know what your kids are doing with the technology they have. So make sure you understand what that technology is capable of doing. Make restrictions where you feel they're important. Just because their friends have phones that can search the Internet doesn’t mean your kids have to have the same capabilities.
Don’t assume that your children automatically know what’s right and wrong. The digital world operates with different rules (that is, wherever rules even exist). Establish rules about use right from the start. Make sure kids have sourced their material, clearly indicating where they found that statistic, that insight, that map. Be explicit about what is and isn't acceptable in your home. Don't assume they know. And make sure you have real consequences for breaking the rules. (Hint: Taking the phone away works every time.)
If you suspect your child is cheating, check the phone. Look at the pictures and the text messages. This is big-league snooping, though, and your kids will be angry with you, because they'll consider it a major privacy violation and breach of trust -- so use this option only when you're very sure something’s amiss.
Review school policies. Most schools have clearly established consequences for anyone caught plagiarizing or cheating (many schools have software that tell if someone's "lifted" material and presented it as their own). Tell your children you expect them to live by the established rules. Review the school consequences as they range from having to redo a paper to expulsion -- and set up some home consequences as well for any violations.
Even if they would never cheat, have the talk. You can ask your kids if they know of anyone who's cheated (they'll be more likely to talk about others than themselves). Ask them why they think anyone would cheat and what they get out of it in the long term. It never hurts to reinforce that digital cheating is still cheating.
My son's school doesn't allow cell phone use within sight of school grounds or on the bus. Once my kid took the wrong bus, and had to wait two hour to return to the school and call me. By then I was frantic. Cell phones shouldn't be allowed during school hours, but after school and on the bus should be ok.
Maybe teachers should pay more attention to the students that look down towards their laps allot.
@Coachrichards: So you want parents to pay 60$ to care of something that teacher should in the first place?! You shouldn't be vice principal.
I am a vice principal at a high school and recently called two of the major cell phone companies in search of a proactive approach to the cell phone issue on my campus...you know what I found out? Parents could solve this issue once and for all for $4.99 a month! By signing up for parental controls the parent can set time restrictions on text messaging or calling during a specified time (like 8-4!) and you can even "whitelist" up to 15 phone numbers so you can still get to your child in the event of an emergency! You could also use this function to have the peace of mind that your student is not up until the wee hours of the morning talking or texting friends. For $60 a year you can guarantee that your student is not using their cell phone to text other students during the school day - but if you are scared of the fit your child will throw...then good luck when you have to deal with actual important issues! Just a tip that I am becoming very unpopular for at my school! Enjoy!
Actually I don't agree with the locker idea I think the phones should be kept in the backpack. About 70% of the locker combos are common knowledge. And also FYI I live in a extremely nice area by the beach in CA.
It is my view that cell phone should be used in schools for emergencies ONLY, or to communicate to the family if needed to. Otherwise, the devices should be in safe locked Locker.
Students that use such devices to cheat in exams by texting the answers to others or else, should be suspended and the device held up until parents come to the school to discuss the matter a proper solution. All school systems have regulations and rules that apply and should be followed and observed as directed and stated.
wow... These are serious problems. I mean it. I have never expirienced any of this, nor have I even heard of it. I guess I go to a pretty good school. But one kid in my history class had like this cheating pen that held a peice of paper, and he wrote answers on the paper and pulled it out of the pen during the test. Yes, he recieved a well-deserved zero. But I never see anyone with their cellphones at school, except on the bus, and even though I enjoy texting, I dont bring my phone to school 'cause they're not allowed, and My parents would blow up if I got in ISS or anything like that. BNut if this digital cheating relaly is happening around, schools should enforce the rules better. =)
a few months ago at school it was lunch time and I was texting my mom my stupid penut brained vice principal got mad at me AND JUST 4 TEXTING MY MOM!!!!
My son's school has a policy against plagiarism and uses turnitin.com for big projects but never asks for citations on smaller projects or homework nor do teachers ever cite where they have taken the resources they hand out right and left in class. No teacher has ever reviewed with him what plagiarism really means besides "not copying" and several students at his school were punished for plagarism until it turned out that teachers weren't really looking at what the reports generated by turnitin.com had dinged them for - like forgetting to close a quote, or having quoted from the same site as other students who wrote papers on the same subject and quoted directly from the same sites. An interesting problem that no teacher ever explained about turnitin.com. When he went to apply to Union College this past fall for college he was asked to turn in papers that had teachers comments on them, but he had none because none of his papers have ever been returned to him for more than a quick 5 minute look to see his grade, all in the name of preventing digital cheating.
So how do you talk to kids about digital cheating? i am not sure when schools are always thinking the worst, not supporting the growth of writing by not handing back papers for corrections, not discussing plagiarism and not enforcing their plagiarism policy for every assignment nor modeling anti-plagiarism behavior with one policy for teachers and another for students. Schools are going to make or break intellectual property rights in this country and they need to start being consistent in their discussion, practice and policy.