really, cheating is not really a technological issue. Being able to spot
cheating (or prevent it) has little to do with technology and more to do with
how a class or an assignment is structured, developed, and assessed. Frequently,
technology is where bad decisions manifest themselves; when this happens, the
tech makes an easy scapegoat.
Some respondents recommended using turnitin.com - I would strongly recommend
against that.
I went into more detail on my blog, but here are some of the salient points that
I would use (albeit more gently in a f2f discussion) in addressing the concerns
of the teacher:
Teach writing as a process
Teach writing as a process. If all you see from a student is a final draft, you
will have a hard time knowing how that final draft came to be, and you will be
less effective at helping a writer improve. If you teach writing as a process,
and see pieces of work from initial conception (this is my thesis), through
notes, through a first draft, a second (and subsequent) drafts, through to the
"final" paper, you will be able to give more targeted feedback. Using a working
portfolio (aka, a blog) is a great tool for teaching process.
Students are honest
Approach your subject from the perspective that your students are honest. I
know, crazy talk here. But people will generally rise to the expectations you
set for them. Nothing says "you are not worthy of trust" better than using a
system like TurnItIn.
Know style, and teach style
Know style, and teach style. People should know how to spot (and when to use)
active verbs and passive verbs. People should know that a simple technique like
scanning a paper for overuse of "to be" verbs will do wonders for their
sentence structure.
People should know the different sentence structures, and when a simple
sentence is a better choice than a compound-complex sentence. They should know
how to analyze their own writing for variability within sentence types, and the
effects it has on pacing. They should be able to spot repetitive patterns
within their paragraphs, and either fix it or use it to their best rhetorical
advantage.
People should know to examine their word choice, and their use words that are
latinate versus anglo-saxon in origin. They should know to look for average
sentence length, average paragraph length, and the average word length within a
representative section of their writing.
Every writer has a distinct style. When you begin looking at writing and
analyzing style, words written on a page become as distinct as the sound of a
person's voice.
Technology Does Not Have Agency
Making the claim that using Google Docs (or a word processor, or a typewriter,
or a printing press, or a hired scribe) makes it more likely that students will
cheat misses the point. You know who is doing work by talking with them about
that work. The technology is a means to getting work done; imbuing it with the
agency to support cheating is a profound misunderstanding of both technology,
and of what motivates people to do their best work.
Using a system like turnitin.com is a great way to tell your students "I don't
trust you, and I'm not willing to take the time to know how you think."
Cheating is not a technological issue. To minimize incidents of cheating:
* Provide challenging, stimulating assignments;
* Check and provide feedback on in-progress milestones;
* Talk with your students;
* Teach style; and
* Be clear with your guidelines and your expectations. The more direct and
clear you are with your students, the more direct and clear they will be with
you.
----- Original Message ---
For those of you using Google Docs at your school......
We are implementing a pilot program for Google Docs this year. There are some
concerns from the English Dept. about who writes the papers. Could you please
let us know how you have handled this type of situation?
from a concerned teacher....
>I don't know if I want to do this, however I'm definitely willing to give it a
>try. I talked with
>
xxx
> at length about this last year and it seems to me that there are some big
>loopholes. I know all about them signing on etc. at home but there is no way of
>knowing who is doing the actual writing once a kid signs on. It could be
>parents, tutor,
>anybody. Convince me how to assure that that it is definitely the kids writing
>and I'll sign on.
Thanks for your help!
Stephanie
>
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