According to a recent survey, tutors are less concerned now than when the pandemic first started about learners cheating in virtual courses. We all understand, however, that professors and academic institutions generally disapprove of students who cheat. It is the reason they implement steps to spot cheating and any efforts to violate academic integrity.
Nevertheless, most students occasionally question why their professors should bother whether or not they cheat. Admittedly, a student graduating from a course by cheating does not impact the professor. But do professors care about students cheating?
Keep scrolling to answer this question and generally enlighten yourself on this issue.
Do Professors Care About Cheating?
Professors care about their students cheating and are willing to go to great lengths to detect and prevent it.
In a recent study, approximately 75% of the participating professors are concerned that their pupils may resort to cheating due to difficulties understanding materials or lectures. Furthermore, more than 50% of respondents think that students who engage in misconduct might be less ready for subsequent coursework or life beyond college.
Also see: Can you cheat in nursing school?
Several factors make instructors concerned about whether students cheat on assignments and exams. Below is a list of some of these factors.
- Maintain Fairness and Integrity
Professors do care about integrity and fairness when administering tests and exams. They want to guarantee fairness by ensuring all students take a similar test in a similar environment and circumstances. Under such conditions, all students receive fair treatment, and no one gets a leeway to cheat. Therefore, the exam’s integrity is maintained.
- Uphold Institution Reputation
Institutions of higher learning have an image to uphold, generating the best surgeons, mathematicians, pilots, attorneys, or whatever else the institution takes pride in. Any difficulties relating to the ineptitude of their graduates can be damaging, given the increased rivalry amongst colleges attempting to attract the top students.
Any harm to the college’s reputation may lead to lower donations, fewer students enrolling, and other effects on the instructors working there. Therefore, professors in these universities will be very concerned with identifying and stopping cheating.
- Requirement for Pre-requisite Classes
Before taking subsequent classes, students must complete a certain number of courses. Students could only comprehend the following courses by understanding the current class. A professor teaching such a course will ensure that every student understands the course and prevent cheating at all costs.
How Do Professors Know if You are Cheating?
When a student submits a paper, some teachers may detect plagiarism right away. However, they can frequently miss the fact that the student has cheated if they rely on their expertise and knowledge. Nevertheless, professors employ multiple techniques to catch if a student cheats in an exam. These ways include:
- Online proctoring
This technique is popular with virtual exams. By using your webcam and microphone, computerized proctoring software can keep an eye on your conduct, or a real proctor can physically observe the class through everyone’s webcams.
- Similarity-checking software
Nowadays, practically all educational institutions use a plagiarism checker to detect cheating. This holds for both in-person and virtual learning. With this technique, SafeAssign and Turnitin are some of professors’ and academic institutions’ most widely used plagiarism checkers.
In-person examinations allow professors to submit student work in these programs to examine it for plagiarism. These platforms look for similarities by comparing student papers and data from electronic databases like Google, ProQuest, and their internal repositories. Then, professors interpret the similarity reports to determine whether the students cheated.
- Administer multiple versions of a similar test
Making numerous versions of the examination and ensuring that each student receives a copy distinct from their classmates’ is one of the most straightforward strategies for making a multiple-choice assessment cheat-proof. A professor will also easily catch cheating in such a situation. It becomes evident that Charles has been copying solutions from Samuel’s answer sheet when a student with Version A turns in an exam with the correct answers for Version B.
Do Professors Report Cheating?
A professor has the obligation and authority to take the necessary disciplinary action after they catch a student cheating. They are urged to report to the University Administration any instances of academic misconduct and ask for guidance when deciding what disciplinary measures to implement.
Professors will notify the Dean when they find what they believe to be a case of cheating. After reporting, the institution follows a straightforward process to solve the issue if it is the student’s first instance of plagiarism. The student has three options: admitting guilt and taking responsibility for their actions, rejecting their guilt, or admitting guilt but contesting the consequences.
Faculty members should wait and report cheating until they have the evidence. The verdict is never truly in doubt when there is evidence of cheating because the penalty is fully specified in the institution’s honor code.
Most institutions only require you to go through a grueling interview and sign a document if it is your first time getting caught. The paperwork is then sent to the Dean. The Dean might think about handing down a harsher punishment if a student is foolish enough to cheat a second time in a separate class.
How to Cheat Without Being Caught by Your Professor
Students have always been creative in inventing cheating techniques. Although professors are usually on their necks to detect and curb cheating, clever and daring students cheat and get away with it. Below are some methods you may employ to cheat in an assessment without getting caught by your professor:
- Use the old-school methods
Writing short notes on a piece of paper, your desk, or a body part, such as your palms or thighs, are a few of the old-school cheating techniques. Wearing sunglasses while copying is another of them, as is carrying a textbook into the exam room. These strategies are primarily applicable when taking tests in class.
- Hire an essay writer
Hiring a professional writer is a feasible way of cheating in an online test without detection. Remember, these authors have extensive experience in tackling assessments. They conduct in-depth research on the subject, take the test, proofread it, and edit it to eliminate errors before submitting it.
- Use technological gadgets
Students today frequently use technology to cheat. They make use of a variety of challenging-to-find technological devices. These gadgets encompass tiny microphones, electronic earbuds, Bluetooth-enabled gadgets, smartphones, programmable calculators, smartwatches, and other electronic gadgets.
You can preserve crucial information you might need during the test on a smartwatch, a smartphone, or a calculator. This information consists of PDF notes and mathematical and chemical formulas. On the other hand, equipment like microphones, earphones, and Bluetooth-enabled devices can help you communicate with your accomplices outside the examination room.
- Employ the split-the-load strategy
This strategy entails cooperation between students, typically study partners or friends. Here, you and your colleague divide the curriculum and share responsibility for reviewing a specific area. For example, one of you might study the first two chapters of a book while the other tackles the remaining chapters. They will then create specific signals to communicate and exchange answers during the examination.
Conclusion
So, do professors care about students cheating? After reading this article, you would agree that cheating is a severe offense that educators certainly care about. As a student, studying adequately to avoid cheating is advisable because if you get caught, the consequences will be painful. If you have to cheat, be extremely careful to avoid getting caught.
All the best!