Comments on: What’s Behind the Harvard Cheating Scandal?

By: balsamfir

balsamfir — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:24:21 +0000

Smaller classes, with in class discussions, in class hand written assignments, and regular contact with the professor would improve the course quality, the learning achieved, and incidentally, make it much harder to cheat…. But, this is expensive. So even Harvard doesn’t teach this way anymore. They also define cheating as students discussing the test b/c one question wasn’t included in the lecture. The appropriate action for the students would have been to appeal to the dean of students(in a group if necessary) before turning in the test, but few students would think of this option. One way to ascertain if the test was fair would be to look at the assumed 50% of “honest” students, and at the curve for their grades on the test, and on the troublesome question in particular. Does the curve change if you include the “cheaters”?

By: Maureen Jorgensen

Maureen Jorgensen — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 16:57:12 +0000

Harvard needs to take the responsibility for this confusion. Take home exams invite this behavior!

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:06:03 +0000

Kind of makes you wonder why Adam Wheeler would falsify his records and transcripts to appear a Harvard graduate while still enrolled there. The students, almost exclusively members of 1%er families, pay, what, $60K, per annum? Yet their education consists of open-book exams where the Internet can be used. Don’t exercise your First Amendment rights to speech by talking to your classmates, though. America in a microcosm- distracted and dumb.

By: “Don’t Make Me Be a Jerk!” « Clarissa's Blog

“Don’t Make Me Be a Jerk!” « Clarissa's Blog — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:49:44 +0000

[...] The following statement is based on an idea that I find extremely repugnant: Students have an ethical obligation not to cheat, of course. But faculty also have an obligation not to create situations in which cheating is likely to occur. [...]