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Preventing Networked Gizmo Use During Exams?
bcrowell writes "I'm a college physics professor. My students all want to use calculators during exams, and some of them whose native language isn't English also want to use electronic dictionaries. I had a Korean student who was upset and dropped the course when I told her she couldn't use her iPod during an exam — she said she used it as a dictionary. It gets tough for me to distinguish networked devices (iPhone? iTouch?) from non-networked ones (calculator? electronic dictionary? iPod?). I give open-notes exams, so it's not memory that's an issue, it's networking. Currently our classrooms have poor wireless receptivity (no Wi-Fi, possible cell, depending on your carrier), but as of spring 2011 we will have Wi-Fi everywhere. What's the best way to handle this? I'd prefer not to make them all buy the same overpriced graphing calculator. I'm thinking of buying 30 el-cheapo four-function calculators out of my pocket, but I'm afraid that less-adaptable students will be unable to handle the switch from the calculator they know to an unfamiliar (but simpler) one."
> Well, I am not sure that this is the right approach
Der... ya think?
Jamming cellular signals is a federal crime.
What a jackass.
s/iTouch/iPod Touch
Watch your big mouth son:
Contact the FCC for permit applications and waivers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_jammer
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
Community-college math instructor here (CUNY). The first thing I'd ask is: What's the policy (if any) at the college level? Here I'm supported by an official, clear-cut policy at the college level: all electronic communication/media devices have to be shut off and put away while in a classroom (a policy I enforce strictly during tests).
So basically that means dedicated calculators and nothing else -- square root function required minimum in my stats class. I think that's an inexpensive requirement, they're like $1 at Staples or something? Graphing calculators okay for the rare student who has one. The few students with electronic dictionaries I see are small dedicated devices for that, and that's allowed. But phones as calculators, totally prohibited; iPod media player as calculator (or anything), totally prohibited. Not absolutely foolproof, but pretty clear to me.
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
I hold a PHD in physics.
-A pen is enough. In physics exams students should prove they can transform formulas symbolically. Typing in number can be done by people at the cashier desk. Graphing calculators are a disease.
-Everybody who wants, can take in a standalone mp3-player - these are cheap.
-Regarding the dictionary - these exist in paper and are cheap - and faster than an ipod.
Most important: who uses sophistication to cheat and i caught should be removed from the studies immediately.
If you can't hack using a standard 4 function calculator, than you can't hack physics either.
I also hate to be rude, but most universities require that students speak and read english. While I can appreciate the fact that a Korean may not have the best grasp of written English, I also think it that individual's responsibility to learn the language or work outside of class to create notes in his or her native language. I sat through a number of situations in school where I was struggling with difficult material while foreign students were either talking during exams in their language, "sharing calculators" or similar, blatant examples of cheating that went unchallenged due to the political situation at the university.
After being written up in the campus newspaper, one professor "took a stand" by curving everyone's grade up one letter grade, essentially bribing the class into submission.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Kudos for a well written, thoughtful post. I was a HS teacher for 5 years, and I ran my classes (as much as I was allowed to - NCLB pressures forced my district to start pressuring teachers to test in the state test format) in much the same way. You get a much better understanding of a student's grasp of the material if they have to apply it instead of just regurgitate it.
However, as awesome as your post was, it didn't address the problem at all.
Having been in the same situation before, (Can I use my iPhone - it has a calculator on it, and you said a calculator was ok...) my suggestion would be to hit the dollar store and get a pile of cheap-ass scientific calculators. Then, do an exercise in class a few times before the first exam that requires their use. That way, you can outlaw all the networked devices, but people aren't using a foreign device for the first time under the pressure of a test. No, it won't be as familiar as their everyday tools. But at $1 each, you can even encourage people to take them home and practice on them if concerned. The ones I bought for my classes lasted a few years easily, but again, for the price, I wasn't too worried about them.
You don't need a $80 graphing calculator for most things. Unless you've built your curriculum around the use of one, you should be able to test adequately with a $1 calculator as the main computational tool.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
>but I'm afraid that less-adaptable students will be unable to handle the switch from
>the calculator they know to an unfamiliar (but simpler) one.
isn't being a student all about being adaptable?
migawd! coddle them much or what?
Fly the entire class to Austin and hold the tests in my house, where wireless signals mysteriously die at the front door. Bonus: I have cake.
"Once in Hawaii I had sex with a 102 year old male turtle. It is difficult to argue that it was consensual." - Steve Ma
The GRE was the biggest joke of a test I have ever taken. It did nothing to test my capabilities. It only tested whether or not I actually bothered to purchase the prep materials from the private company that administers it.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States#States_and_territories_that_are_officially_bi-_or_trilingual
There is no official language of the United States. At the State level some states do, many do not, and some are officially bi or trilingual.
Refusal to accommodate students with language issues may be illegal in some states.
Some students may be disabled perhaps requiring Braille or some other input devices. The parent would fail steven hawking in a physics exam.
we live in a multicultural society and you are restricting your own development as a rounded individual if you ignore this. At the least learn a second language preferably one which will be useful to you. Not only will it take you places your brain will be exercised developed and expanded.
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
You don't know about wolfram alpha, do you? Let me educate you...
Question 4) Integrate x*sin(x), graph this curve. If you were to express this as a Taylor expansion, what would the first three terms be?
See the problem now? If you can't pass calculus with a tool like that, you're not ever going to pass any math class. Between the ability to do each part of the integral separately, and the ability to google "integration by parts", if you are connected to the internet, you pass everything.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
...And while, in the 'real world', you virtually never have to solve a problem from memory alone, you *do* have to solve a problem without help from peers...
I call BS. In the real world, you should be calling on peers for any problem worth solving, if needed. "No man is an island" and all that. Far too many people have the attitude that they have to solve every problem that comes their way, and they all too often end up with a half-assed solution that sort of works. Learn to communicate people! That's what civilization is all about after all.
The distinction between draconian and "needlessly irritating" is made with good reason. No notes for students tests memory, not comprehension.
That being said, I don't know why this joker can't just have a few grad students roaming the room proctoring the exam like every other institution does. Combine this with a "one strike and you're really, honestly out" policy and your problem is solved. Make it obvious that failing a class is less of an issue than being kicked out of your school.
Actually, now that I think about this a bit more, I think a better "ask slashdot" question would be how could you predict the students most likely to deserve an extra amount of "attention" during exams. At a guess I'd say it would be the ones who have inconsistent grades, as opposed to, say, a steady C- GPA. But then I aced the classes I was interested in and failed the ones I wasn't, so maybe it's not a great idea.
Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
You'll get a bunch of geeky hi-tech answers from people who've never left the basement.
I say get paper dictionaries and basic calculators then ban *all* electronic devices. Warn them beforehand.
If they can't figure out a paper dictionary and four function calculator it's a safe bet they were going to fail the exam anyway.
No sig today...