Jdsk wrote: ↑29 Jun 2021, 9:28am
Putting the particular circumstances of the outbreak to one side...
I couldn't disagree more. I teach and examine in Universities as I have done for forty years, and I'm a member of a governing body. The fairness, transparency and accountability of examinations has never been higher.
The threats from cheating are way down the list of problems.
Jonathan
From my own family’s experience I would say that the above was broadly correct but let me also present an alternative view too.
From the Student’s perspective many are pissed-off with group work and the (unfair) common marks schemes that adversely effect their own individual aggregate mark. Group work all too often ends up with one able student carrying others who are either lazy or unable and who would otherwise fail; it’s a dreadful abuse of some Students and a free ride for others.
Again, from a Student’s perspective, many Lecturers simply do not deliver the support and course content that has been paid for and may be examined against - that’s not changed over the decades but some other things have. Plagiarism temps some Students - and always has - but fairly effective measures are in place to combat it. Of course - similar to the general population - some Students are lazy and / or dishonest but some others will feel driven to cheat to pass at all.
Of course many (nearly all) Students are effectively forced to run up a massive personal debt and so ensuring a suitably good pass does (understandably) test morals ... when you stop and think about the really significant cost of going to University then cheating to ensure graduation becomes more understandable. In contrast it appears to me that some (surprisingly many) Universities get bums on seats and income secured by (deliberately) attracting, accepting and retaining those that really aren’t capable of thriving in a University environment. Those weaker Students would likely have thrived in the old Colleges of Further Education; however a severe dose of national stupidity has seen such places waste away and (via University study loans) load young people with debt that, despite their monthly ‘re-payments’, they typically never manage to pay off.
IMHO Universities have become businesses: you give them money and in exchange (trade) they’ll ‘support’ you and get you over the finish line with ‘some’ piece of paper. However, anything less than an upper second class degree now has quite limited employment value and only the most able Students gain the higher class degrees.
Don’t fret, it’s OK to: ride a simple old bike; ride slowly, walk, rest and admire the view; ride off-road; ride in your raincoat; ride by yourself; ride in the dark; and ride one hundred yards or one hundred miles. Your bike and your choices to suit you.
). The only way to stop it is to make it too difficult for the cheater. But how??? Difficult enough when so much has to be done online - where Zoom is only a click away!
