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Scottish Students Used Spellchecker Glitch To Cheat In Literacy Test (bbc.com)

Thelasko shares a report from the BBC: Schools are to be given advice on how to disable a glitch that allows pupils sitting online spelling tests to right-click their mouse and find the answer. It follows the discovery by teachers that children familiar with traditional computer spellcheckers were simply applying it to the tests. The Scottish National Standardized Assessments were introduced to assess progress in four different age groups. A spokesman said the issue was not with the Scottish National Standardized Assessments (SNSA) but with browser or device settings on some machines.

Introduced in 2017, the spelling test asks children to identify misspelt words. However, on some school computers the words were highlighted with a red line. Pupils who right-clicked on the words were then able to access the correct spelling. The web-based SNSA tool enables teachers to administer online literacy and numeracy tests for pupils in P1, P4, P7 and S3, which are marked and scored automatically. Advice is being given to schools about how to disable the spellchecking function.

19 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Some spell checkers ... by WoodstockJeff · · Score: 2

    ... suck worse at spelling than students, though.

    1. Re:Some spell checkers ... by DeVilla · · Score: 2

      I just checked and on my computer the menu key to the left of space also brought up the spell correct list.

    2. Re:Some spell checkers ... by war4peace · · Score: 2

      Follilize: transitive verb: turning the subject into a folly :)

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    3. Re:Some spell checkers ... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Spell checkers particularly suck at British English. We accept both -ize and -ise, with the former being the Oxford standard that I prefer. But most spell checkers only know -ise for English.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Some spell checkers ... by Cederic · · Score: 3, Funny

      British Empire, English

      There's no such fucking language.

      In the UK we speak English. Unless you're speaking scouser, brummie, geordie, etc. In India they speak English but it's got very little grammar in common with English. In Canada they speak English but with a funny accent and some new words. In New Zealand they speak English but differently. In Australia they speak English and add new swear words (then cheat at cricket). In Kenya they speak English and are jolly nice too. In South Africa they speak English and kill each other.

      There is no fucking British Empire English.

  2. Misleading headline by lordlod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Better headline: Teachers shocked to discover that students doing tests on a computer knew how to operate the computer.

  3. Re:Why is spelling still a thing? by belg4mit · · Score: 4, Informative

    0) Not all written communication is mediated by electronic equipment
    1) Spelling checkers do not include the full lexicon
    2) The lexicon changes
    3) Different dialects have different spellings, and while you may wish the enforce one dialect's spelling in your prose, any quotations should match that of the source material

    etc. etc.

    --
    Were that I say, pancakes?
  4. Re:Why is spelling still a thing? by darthsilun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When everyone finally gets there, they're, and their; and it's and its, correct; then, and only then, will I agree with you.

    And you know what, "long division" was already ancient when I learned it, over 50 years ago. In the grand scheme of things, 50 more years is nothing, and if it's irrelevant now, it was just as irrelevant then. Call me a dinosaur if you want, but if we take away your calculator I bet I can run rings around you at math.

  5. Re:outsourced by fools... think of the children... by Zaelath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Shore that is a grate whey too git the deer kids inn two a university coarse.

  6. Simply put... by msauve · · Score: 2

    The test creators failed the test. Really, kudos to those who correctly spelled full words, regardless of the means. Hopefully, they've also learned better than to text "r u ok, lmk" while wearing a baseball hat with the brim in the back.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  7. Re:outsourced by fools... think of the children... by Known+Nutter · · Score: 2

    If you don't teach kids how to spell, then they will just use emoji to convey their thoughts. In the corporate world, this is completely unprofessional.

    For the moment...

    --
    Beware of the Leopard.
  8. Re: Notepad by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whole point of the test at it's most basic essence is to see if the person can spell without any help.

    Some clearly can't.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  9. Re:outsourced by fools... think of the children... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    If Lennart Poettering invented a language, it would use logograms.

    (Firefox's shitty spielchucker doesn't think that's a word. It also doesn't think "Firefox's" is)

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  10. Re:outsourced by fools... think of the children... by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Judging by resumes I've read as of late, I'm amazed if they used anything else.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  11. Re:outsourced by fools... think of the children... by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At my job, being at least 10 years older that any colleagues of mine, writing correctly has become unprofessional. Someone mentioned that my writing was "pretentious" and that I was showing off.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  12. Impossible to solve? by dromgodis · · Score: 2

    If only there were a way to put the test questions on a medium that did not provide automatic access to spell checking, internet etc.

    Darn, I would gladly kill a tree for such a solution.

  13. Re:outsourced by fools... think of the children... by Cederic · · Score: 2

    When it comes to using technology to subvert the education system it's always safe to assume the children know a fuck of a lot more than the teachers.

    At a school you'll have maybe three teachers that have the background, interest and skills to look into this shit. You'll have 300 children, and once one knows, they all know.

    That's the thing about schools, they're full of people that when appropriately motivated are fucking good at learning things.

  14. Eye Halve a Spelling Chequer by thegarbz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Eye halve a spelling chequer
    It came with my pea sea
    It plainly marques four my revue
    Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
    Eye strike a quay and type a word
    And weight four it two say
    Weather eye am wrong oar write
    It shows me strait a weigh.
    As soon as a mist ache is maid
    It nose bee fore two long
    And eye can put the error rite
    Its really ever wrong.
    Eye have run this poem threw it
    I am shore your pleased two no
    Its letter perfect in it's weigh
    My chequer tolled me sew.

  15. Re:Why is spelling still a thing? by Wrath0fb0b · · Score: 2

    if we take away your calculator I bet I can run rings around you at math

    And if we take away their jackhammers, I bet John Henry can bang holes in rock faster than any modern construction worker.

    But in all seriousness, English isn't about being able to spell any more than mathematics is about arithmetic. There are higher level skills that we should be striving towards, and so if you want to make an argument that long division is useful (which it very well may be) you should be claiming that understanding it allows one to more easily absorb next-level topics (like calculus or linear algebra) rather than because it allows you to divide numbers without a calculator.