Cheating in High School with Technology

As technology has become more sophisticated so have the methods in which students cheat. It is hard for teachers to catch students who cheat using technology because such actions occur much more quickly, making technologicallly assisted cheating difficult to detect.

Not only do teachers now have to watch for students slipping their study guides underneath their tests, but teachers now have to make sure that little Johnny and little Susie do not take out their cellular telephone and capture an image of the test.

Ways in which students cheat using technology:

• Use cellular telephones to capture an image of the test and then sharing with/emailing it to classmates.
• Students may text the answers to other students.
• Students can use spell check on their phones to check spelling.
• On a computerized test, students may be able to access the internet and Google answers.
• On a math or science test a student can store notes and formulas into a scientific calculator.
• Students can visit websites that will check the grammar of a writing passage.
• Students visit websites that state their mission is to help students, but these websites either have literature notes or free essays that students can download and print.

Such methods are difficult to detect, and the truth is that teachers have too much going on in the classroom to worry about what each student is looking at on the internet.

If a student’s intention is to cheat, he or she is going to prevail, even if it means tag-teaming with another student. Students will work together to distract the teacher, and then, one student will be able to cheat using one of the aforementioned methods. It becomes a class-wide affair as the students see that if they cheat, they will have great grades.

Yes, the grades of students who cheat may look great on paper, but the important part is the knowledge they gained—which in this case—there is none. I guess there is some validity in the old adage: An honest C is better than a dishonest A.