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If it's that easy to cheat...

why do we care?

Thanks to a colleague for passing this along to me. I'm not supporting students having no regard for the rules in school. However, I think we need to ask the question, "If it is so easy to find the information online or through their social network, then what is the value of memorizing it in the first place? If we carry cellphones with us all the time and they are capable of connecting us to the information we need that readily, then maybe schools should be teaching students how to cheat. I know that when I am at work and I'm stumped, I either Google it or Twitter it. In other words, look online or ask my personal learning network. What are we doing to teach students how to effectively search for reliable information? What are we doing to help students develop a personal learning network so they can be learning from people around the world everyday?

Cellphone Cheating in Schools
This Kappan “Highlighted and Underlined” item quotes a Common Sense Media poll on the use of cell phone and the Internet by students:
- Almost two-thirds of students with cell phones use them during school, regardless of school policies against such use.
- Teens send an average of 440 text messages a week, of which 110 are sent by students while they are in the classroom.
- 48 percent of teens say they call or text friends to warn about pop quizzes.
- 52 percent admit to some form of cheating involving the Internet.
- 38 percent have copied material from a website and turned it in as their own work.
- 35 percent of teens with cell phones admit using them to find an answer to a test.
- Of those who use their phones this way:
• 26 percent say they store information on their phones for use during a test.
• 25 percent text friends about answers during an exam.
• 17 percent take pictures of a test to send to friends.
• 20 percent use their phones to search the Internet during an exam.
- 76 percent of parents say they believe some type of cellphone cheating happens in their children’s school, but only 3 percent believe their own child has cheated using a cellphone.

“Using Technology to Cheat” in Phi Delta Kappan, October 2009 (Vol. 91, #2, p. 6)
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/hi-tech-cheating


*Photo credit: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/get_image.jpeg

Comments

  1. SarahNovember 15, 2009 at 11:48 PM

    This is right on. I'd like to see this turned on it's head: teach kids how to "cheat" to get information that's readily available and focus on building their ability to analyze, apply, and expand on that information. That's what I do all day in the business world!

    ReplyDelete

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