Technology gives students new ways to cheat during tests

By Michelle White

Highlight, cut and paste. Look a little to the left. Write it on your arm.

Cheating is not a new concept, but some of the ways to cheat are. Text messaging, camera phones and candy wrappers are just a few of the cheating methods used in college.

Joey, an intern from G4TV.com, wrote an article about ways to cheat.

"All you have to do is carefully peel off the Mentos wrapper and take it to a scanner. Scan it with a resolution of at least 600 dpi, then carefully modify the ingredients section on the label using any graphic editing program. The sky's the limit as to what you can type in that ingredients section - math formulas, a miniaturized study guide," Joey said.

Risky Business

According to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Student Conduct Code, cheating is defined as academic dishonesty.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited, to:
* Giving or receiving assistance during an exam.
* Obtaining unauthorized information about the exam before it is given.
* Handing in someone else's work as your own.
* Using prohibited sources of information during the exam.
* Falsifying data in experiments and other research.
* Altering an official university record.
* Falsely obtaining an exemption from a course requirement.

Three students were reported to the UHM Dean of Students Office for academic dishonesty in 2004. Accused students could not be contacted because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which prohibits releasing information about student records.

Not all students caught cheating are sent to the dean's office.

The first step in a case of alleged academic dishonesty is for the professor to address the matter with the student. The professor can then take academic action against the student, such as failing the student for the assignment, failing the student for the course or requiring an additional assignment. The faculty member can stop there or can refer the case for formal action.

"They fail," said Margot Henriksen, associate professor of history. "I think cheating should not be tolerated."

Henriksen and her teaching assistants walk around the class during the exam to prevent cheating.

"Even after talking to the class about cheating ... somebody ended up stapling the answers they had written beforehand to the back of the midterm," Henriksen said. "I am confident that I am not catching all the cheaters."

"The first big cheating ring I experienced was early in my career," Henriksen said. "They were all members of the football team. They mocked up the sheets from the midterm, wrote their essay out before the final and stapled it to their exam. We knew the paper was from the midterm and not the final. It could have destroyed their careers."

She said they still played in the Hula Bowl.

"Athletes in the classroom are reported just like any other student and are treated the same as any student who is alleged to have participated in academic misconduct," said Lori Ideta, associate dean of students. "Decisions to not allow them to play on the team are left to the discretion of the athletic department."

Punishment for academic dishonesty varies, depending on the severity and the frequency of the violation. Sanctions have included suspension, probation, rescinding of a scholarship, requiring students to attend the Manoa Writing Lab and dismissal from the university. If a "cause finding" is issued, a permanent disciplinary record is established for the student.

A student can present their case to the student conduct committee if they do not agree with the imposed sanction of suspension or dismissal. The committee can accept, reject or modify the recommendation.

A study conducted in 2004 by the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Criminology at Morehead State University concluded that "academic dishonesty has probably existed since the inception of colleges. About 50 percent of college students confess to cheating at some point during their academic careers."

"Academic integrity is important," Ideta said. "There can be long-term negative consequences of cheating. It can have an impact on a student even after graduation, such as when trying to get into graduate school or when applying for a job."

"I want to believe the best about students," Henriksen said. "I don't expect that most students cheat."