SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Cheating on tests has come a long way from writing notes on the back of your hand -- and it's getting harder for schools to police as technology advances.
Instead of sneaking in a scrap of paper with answers scribbled on it, some students snap a picture of the paper with their camera phones. During the test, some students are so adept at text messaging that they can keep the phone in their pocket or under their desk, secretly sending answers to a friend.
Some educators believe the problem is changing too rapidly to be quelled by conventional methods, and it's time that teaching methods evolved with technology. (High-tech cheating comes to high schools)
I was a prophet when I had a futuristic insight of this five years ago when I got my first camera phone. I was already a teacher then of course, and I was jokingly telling my husband how easy it would be for friends to take a picture of the exams and share them with each other.
Now I found this news...wow! I am so impressed at how the students are becoming so brilliant and more sophisticated in cheating, using technology to solve problems such as in the exams *smile*. I wish I had a phone camera when I was graduating from highschool, it would make it easier for me to overtake my academic rival.
Now what do you think, is technology a good thing or a bad thing?
RELATED TOPICS: Cheating, schools, cell phones
7 comments:
Hi,Ms.Sol,
Oo nga,sa pinas din,nangyayari din daw yan..bihira pa lang ang fone na may camera,pero sa txt nagagawa rin daw nilang mag-cheat(according to my niece)..grabeee..at first,hindi ako makapaniwala!!Pero,yan ang katotohanan..
HIgh-Tech...,maganda nga kaya???
Hindi sa lahat ng bagay.........
salamat,
ame.sweet
It was only a matter of time before this became common practise. Mobile phones are banned in a lot of schools in the UK during lessons and exams. I often wonder how long it will be till, if it doesn’t already exist, a company produces a 'blocker' that can block all cell phones within a certain range. It would work well in exam halls as well as cinemas, theatres etc!
The only real answer to the problem is vigilant exam supervisors.
Wow, I wish we had this thing in high school..it would have been fun..hehe. In our school, you have to put in on vibrate esp during exams --its the school policy.
teacher,
what happened to your template?
Why not use IT to combat IT? My wife told me that when she took the California NCLEX the computer she was using had a webcam. Obviously, she was being monitored. I don’t how ACLU would react to this suggestion but monitoring the classroom using a camera is a very effective deterrent against cheating. This reminds me of my high school match teacher. He always wear dark sunglasses during exams so you couldn't tell where he's looking at. In addition, teachers should be more creative in constructing their tests. I can’t speak for other disciplines, but in ICT it’s very easy to prepare test questions that would really test the student’s knowledge. Even with open books, if you didn’t prepare well for the test you’ll surely flunk.
The Phone jammer although still deemed illegal in North America is a solution. It is a handy device that jams cell phone transmissions in a given area. In a classroom mode, it is perfect. Just turn the jammer off when the exams are finished. The social and legal implications of jamming are still being debated, i.e. if an emergency happens people should have the ability to call 911. Theatres have appealed to use jammers but were denied. It appears that there are potentially more harm than good to be had by legalizing it. As for cheating , the old fashioned grip in the crotch – you automatically flunk if I see you with a cell during exam might still work too!
Teacher Sol, thanks for posting my blog entry on PTN. I hope I'm not starting a fire here. I'll try to be more constructive next time. All I want is to let our educators realize what needs to be done.
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