Face facts. Decades of studies converge on the conclusion that most students have cheated in college and about a third cheat regularly. If you’re not detecting cheating, it doesn’t mean students don’t cheat in your classes---it means you’re not catching them!

Get the Word Out
• Make your policies clear: tell your students both in class and on the syllabus that you will not tolerate academic dishonesty, and familiarize them with rules so they cannot later claim ignorance (e.g., include the school’s academic dishonesty policy in your syllabus).
• Give real-world examples of what does and does not constitute academic dishonesty or have students work through scenarios of honest/dishonest academic behaviors.
• Back up your rules: take pains to prevent and detect cheating and punish cheaters.

Test Security
• Secure your office: don't leave copies of exams, test banks, or test software lying around. Keep all test materials in locked cabinets.
• Secure your computer: limit physical access to your computer, password protect your computer, and encrypt sensitive computer files.
• Don’t leave your to-be-Xeroxed exam where someone could steal it. Know the person who copies exams, how many copies were run off, and count them before the test is given.
• Number your exams
• Require each student to write their name on their exam
• Change exam questions periodically. Consider switching textbooks and test banks frequently. In any case, if you use the same questions more than once slightly alter them or scramble the answer choices
• Consider alternatives that decrease the value of cheating: e.g., open-book testing, “legal cheat sheets”, or publication of exam questions (for objective tests, you could always “bury” the exam questions by releasing hundreds of possible exam questions)

Exam Protocol:
• Arrive early and inspect the environment: desktops, floor, backs of seats, posters, bulletin boards, chalkboard, etc.
• If space allows, assign alternate seats; if space does not allow, try to get larger room on test days.
• Give different versions of the exam, but leave ¼ or so of questions unchanged across exams (provides for statistical comparison).
• Don’t code exams by color. Consider “False Coding” exams by color or version number
• Place copy of cheating statute from student handbook at top of test (you may also require them to sign it for each test).
• Nothing allowed on desks except pencil, exam, answer sheet, and provided odd-colored scratch paper. If marked pens/pencils are a concern, provide your own writing instruments.
• Explicitly state that notes may not be in the student's possession, pockets, on chairs, or visible on the nearby floor. For example, “You are not allowed to have notes of any size or shape on your person, in your calculator, or under your desk. If you are found to have notes, even if you are not using them, you will receive a grade of zero. I suggest that you check your pockets, calculator case, and so forth right now and get rid of any notes you find.”
• Enforce no talking rule during exam (except questions about typos and clarifications).
• Students must leave their desks and come to the teacher in order to ask a question
• Students who ask questions must stand so that they do not block teacher’s view.
• Announce that if asked to do so, the student must display his/her ID card and move to another seat as instructed. Announce that being asked to move does not mean that the particular student is suspected of or accused of cheating, and that failure to follow these rules can result in a grade of F on the exam or possibly harsher penalties.
• Before essay exam, collect bluebooks; then hole-punch, cut corners, or mark covers with unusually-colored marker & redistribute them randomly.
• To prevent wandering eyes, draw “eyes” on board and humorously remind them that when they’re lost in thought, they should stare at the eye.
• Inspection of calculators and other allowed tools. Explicitly state “You are not allowed to use formulas or notes stored in your calculator”.
• Students wearing ball caps must turn caps’ bills around to the back.
• No personal stereos, cell phones, or pagers may be worn.
• No beverages, food, or gum during the exam.
• No leaving room during the exam (bathroom break before exam).
• Students must exit room immediately after turning in their exams.

Proctoring
• Use trained proctors for exams. Instructor and proctors should remain vigilant and “wander” during the exam instead of staying in one place. It is especially effective to be behind students (they never know where you’re looking) but not all the time because students’ backs could obscure cheating. Wear rubber-soled shoes and quiet clothing so they can’t hear you coming!
• If the class is large and impersonal, consider covert proctors who pretend to take the test but actually scan for cheating behaviors.
• Eyes move faster than heads: if you’re up front constantly scanning the room and your peripheral vision detects a student’s head jerking up to see where you are, you’re always staring straight at them by the time their head comes up! This is very unnerving for potential cheaters.
• Communicate with proctors via predetermined silent codes to identify persons who exhibit suspicious behavior that warrants additional attention.
• Unobtrusively code suspicious exams and annotate with Post-it note containing more information.
Suspicious Exam Behavior includes:
• Wandering eyes
• Fidgeting with clothing
• Non-rhythmic off-task hand movements
• Unusual body postures
• Scanning for instructor’s and proctors’ locations.

Ringers
• Assign permanent seating to become more accustomed to faces.
• Use various methods to learn student names.
• Scan crowd for unfamiliar faces.
• Check picture IDs before exams
• Be suspicious of any student who has no picture ID or who doesn't know his/her SSN.
• Have students print and sign their names on the exam and/or answer sheet.

Grading:
• “Log in” each student’s exam as he/she turns it in; that way, you know immediately if a test is missing.
• Scan answer sheets for “runs” of correct answers; do they coincide with unchanged questions?
• Look for identical incorrect answers that appear repeatedly on two or more exams.
• Perform cheating-detection statistics on suspected exams.

Returning Exams:
• Xerox exams and/or answer sheets before returning.
• Mark blank pages in blue books so that material cannot be added and submitted for re-grading
• Mark credit on problems using dashes (e.g., -7-) to make it more difficult to change credit values for answers (e.g., to a 17)

 

--RSB