Non-Technological Ways to Combat Cheating?

blackcoot asks: "I'm currently T.A.ing for a required senior level class in algorithms. Having just graded the latest set of homework, I'm amused / sickened (can't make up my mind on that one) at the level of cheating. Slashdot has covered automated cheating detection in the past here and here, but I'm hoping to find some (necessarily nontech) ways of encouraging students to be a bit more honest (or at least a little less spectacularly stupid in how they cheat). I've been reporting the cheating as I've found it to the relevant profs, but it doesn't seem to be having much of an effect. Any suggestions?"

Comments

Re:Forcing them to admit cheating

[shachart]

Two comments:

1. Being a student of the former poster (Hey Tal, enjoyed your physics exercises :), while currently not having mod points, I can vouch that it was the case. I know more than a single set of a cheater and a cheatee who approached him and told the truth.

2. Being a TA myself (CS, though), I tried the following approach - every student writes the names of the students around him, in all 8 directions, in a specially drawn 3x3 box. Now, this killed 99% of cheating, as we TAs could get a quick verification of cheating suspects. It also helped us recognize cheating, since we could check the tests in the order of seating. This, coupled with Tal's method, could probably locate almost all cheaters.