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JB140767 · Joined: 09 Aug 2015 Posts: 135

http://www.echinacities.com/news/American-Teacher-in-Zhejiang-has-a-Creative-Method-to-Stop-Cheating-in-his-Class

This was a different twist on this topic, I think he did this just for show. Personally we ask students to leave bags and phones within at the front of the class, or simply not to bring phones to the exam. Occasionally students 'forget' to leave their phones away from the exam area, in which case we take them til the exam is over.

Yeah, I know there are those who consider this to be criminal theft and, probably, an infringement of the human right to cheat, but, if you do think so, well then you're just plain wrong.

asiannationmc · Joined: 13 Aug 2014 Posts: 1342

Did the same, phones, book bags and purses left in a corner of the class... if a student had a phone in their procession during the taking of a test. Test was not graded and they could take the make up exam which was a totally different exam. There was one year that a group got together and paid a lock smith to open the door of an instructor. He took their money, opened the door and later called the school and reported them. He was late, as other students had already "dropped a dine" on em'..... seems those who had studied did not want their grading curved polluted by cheaters.

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

That's why I prefer Oral English. Other than ventriloquism, there's no way to cheat.

doogsville · Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 924 Location: China

It's the university's policy where I teach, not the individual teachers. All bags, books etc to the front of the class, only pencils pens etc are allowed on the desk along with the exam paper. We also have to write an A and a B paper, which is really the same paper but with the questions in a different order, to discourage copying of answers from neighbours. I'm convinced cheating still occurs though, since students who do nothing the whole semester but doze off and stare out of the window still manage to pass.

One year we caught a student who had copied pages out of the textbook, but they were so small they fitted into the palm of his hand. The text was microscopic, and as far as we could tell, he had no magnifying glass or other means of reading them.

sistaray · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 82 Location: trumpland

JB140767 · Joined: 09 Aug 2015 Posts: 135

[quote="sistaray"]

Laurence · Joined: 26 Apr 2005 Posts: 401

They say that if your students can look up the answers to your test online, then you are asking the wrong sort of questions.

Plenty of foreign teachers in China complain about how Chinese people are not taught critical thinking skills, are too robitic, etc. and I often wonder if these ideas are fully understood by those protesting.

Removing access to smartphones means:
- the exam is not a valid test of real world, day-to-day skills, where we use internet searches all the time
- the exam encourages rote learning, the very thing that ESL crusaders claim to strive against

I just don't subscribe to the Cambridge-style 'gatekeepers of knowledge' idea of education and assessment. Surely above all else we should be training students to succeed in the world.. yes phone etiquette should definitely be addressed
but what I see here is some weirdly contrived fantasy world where tools are confiscated and learners have to adhere to arbitrary standards.

That's education in its worst form, serving no purpose other than to perpetuate its own hierarchy.

adventious · Joined: 23 Nov 2015 Posts: 237 Location: In the wide

OhBudPowellWhereArtThou · Joined: 02 Jun 2015 Posts: 1168 Location: Since 2003

What are "arbitrary skills"?

adventious · Joined: 23 Nov 2015 Posts: 237 Location: In the wide

Are you talking about my post? Very Happy

If you'll notice, Laurence had said "arbitrary" standards should not be a priority of quality education? And I changed Laurence's use of "standards" to skills because standards are just sets of skills, no?

I hope that clears up your confusion, Mr. Orangutang. Embarassed

JB140767 · Joined: 09 Aug 2015 Posts: 135

They say that if your students can look up the answers to your test online, then you are asking the wrong sort of questions.
That's education in its worst form, serving no purpose other than to perpetuate its own hierarchy

I for one would love to see a complete of exam questions, for say 8 or 10 modules for which the question setters could completely nullify the usefulness of internet access. I would wager it is impossible

the exam encourages rote learning, the very thing that ESL crusaders claim to strive against

Ridiculous statement, some exams, by their nature have elements of learned knowledge, to be coupled together with critical processes to arrive at cogent answers. Just because a teacher requires his students to have some factual knowledge is not an encouragement of rote learning

Plenty of foreign teachers in China complain about how Chinese people are not taught critical thinking skills, are too robitic, etc. and I often wonder if these ideas are fully understood by those protesting.

Is it your contention then that such complaints are groundless? cos .......BS on that