I caught 3 students cheating a few days ago. Their exams were line by line identical. The handwriting was the only difference. I called them in to my office having printed their exams out. They all lied, including when I showed them their papers side by side, but you could see it in their faces. They knew they were caught.
Outside of this, I like these kids. They are good students with positive attitudes. Wanting to keep the consequences in house and prevent them from having to retake the course, I was very lenient and decided to give them all C’s for the semester.
This wasn’t good enough for the student who I am convinced did the original work. She spoke with her academic advisor. He emailed me. Since he didn’t have all the details, he and I met to get on the same page. After speaking briefly, he agreed the penalty was fair.
Yesterday, right before I was about to leave the office, my department chair came by. This was someone I very much did not want to involve. The student went to speak to her as well. As I expected, my chair told me I had to take the issue to the honor council. For the students’ sake, this was what I was avoiding the entire time.
I stayed late to send an email to the head of the council. By the time I got home, I had several panicked emails from each of the students. I tried to reassure them that the council is often lenient with first time offenses. And if they are unreasonably punative, I will petition to apply my the original decision given I know my students better.
Having spoken with the other faculty, I don’t think the ring leader was trying to go over my head to put me in a difficult position. She was determined to find help, and it took courage to admit what she did to get that help. I told her as much in the last email I sent. It’s a shame she may have made it much worse for herself and the others.
Oh boy does the question match my week.
I caught 3 students cheating a few days ago. Their exams were line by line identical. The handwriting was the only difference. I called them in to my office having printed their exams out. They all lied, including when I showed them their papers side by side, but you could see it in their faces. They knew they were caught.
Outside of this, I like these kids. They are good students with positive attitudes. Wanting to keep the consequences in house and prevent them from having to retake the course, I was very lenient and decided to give them all C’s for the semester.
This wasn’t good enough for the student who I am convinced did the original work. She spoke with her academic advisor. He emailed me. Since he didn’t have all the details, he and I met to get on the same page. After speaking briefly, he agreed the penalty was fair.
Yesterday, right before I was about to leave the office, my department chair came by. This was someone I very much did not want to involve. The student went to speak to her as well. As I expected, my chair told me I had to take the issue to the honor council. For the students’ sake, this was what I was avoiding the entire time.
I stayed late to send an email to the head of the council. By the time I got home, I had several panicked emails from each of the students. I tried to reassure them that the council is often lenient with first time offenses. And if they are unreasonably punative, I will petition to apply my the original decision given I know my students better.
Having spoken with the other faculty, I don’t think the ring leader was trying to go over my head to put me in a difficult position. She was determined to find help, and it took courage to admit what she did to get that help. I told her as much in the last email I sent. It’s a shame she may have made it much worse for herself and the others.