Attendees

Adria M, Debra W., Kira W., Steve B., Leoned G., Amar Y., Brian S., Jim H., Stephanie D., Judy P.

Retreat

We're still trying to plan a retreat that will focus on video production for our courses (designing, recording, editing, captioning videos). We've decided that a full day on a Friday would be best. Currently we're looking at 3 possible dates: Feb 27, March 6 and April 17. I polled the people at the meeting and the last two dates seemed most popular (with the April date getting the most votes). Livia is checking on the Arboretum and also Talaris Center for possible availability. We are able to use our budget money to pay for substitutes if you want to attend, but don't want your students to miss class.

Upcoming Conferences

We will likely have funds remaining in our budget to help people to attend conferences. Here are 3 good ones. Most don't have their 2015 schedule completely formed yet, but you can look at previous year's schedule to see what sorts of presentations were available.

[I had the Washington Canvas Users Group conference here, but they have since cancelled due to lack of submissions for presentations.] South Puget Sound CC is trying to organize a 1-day Canvas Conference on Friday, Mar 27 (spring break). I think some of us might attend, so save the date if you're interested.

Quality Matters Works in the Great Northwest April 9-10 (Th/F) at SeaTac The April 9 day has pre-conference workshops (half or full day) similar to the ones you can take online with QM. The April 10 day is more typical conference with presentations. Several SCC folks have submitted proposals for presentations (we'll know in early Feb. if they've been accepted.)

SBCTC Assessment, Teaching and Learning Conference April 29-May 1 (W-F) Spokane The first afternoon is pre-conference workshops (extra cost). The second day is filled with presentations and keynotes, as is the third morning. Conference ends after lunch on Friday. Stephanie and Judy recommend flying over instead of the long drive, but we have to see whether the Accounting folks are still able to purchase non-refundable tickets. There was some doubt as to whether this is still possible (if not, then airfare would be prohibitive).

A QM Video

We played the latest QM video that Chris Joss and Stephanie Diemel created. You can see it, along with the earlier one with Jerry Baker, here.

MAIN TOPIC: Addressing Cheating and Plagiarism in Our Courses

Here's the article I shared in my meeting reminder message.
Steve says that's why we have proctored exams in Mathematics. Pen & Pencil finals and midterms. No longer able to use testing center. Easier to write out work. 30-40% of their grade. Rest is low stakes...harder to assess in other ways besides testing.
Kira: open book, timed not proctored online tests. There is not enough time to look through notes or book for all of the answers. Fully online nonmajors, not as worried about cheating there. Changed types of assignments to make it less likely students will copy/paste things from web (used to have students make wikis in small groups, but there was too much plagiarism).
Why do students do it?

Some students think it's OK to copy if it's from the net....or if from the textbook...
Copy a bunch of stuff from book hoping the answer is in there.
Shotgunning (hope it's in there)....subtract for irrelevant information.
Often is students whose first language is not English and their confidence in writing isn't high so they copy/paste
There may be cultural reasons for using someone else's words (may feel they're honoring the author by not trying to change their words).
In some cultures, students may not be encouraged to express things in their own words (e.g., communist nations where "party line" is repeated verbatim)

When giving a syllabus quiz, if we show some examples of proper use and plagiarism and ask which of these is not OK...almost everyone gets it right. They say they know, but then they still do it.
To help them gain confidence in writing, send them to TWLS
Some solutions:

If it keeps happening in the same assignment, is there another way you can have them describe rather than with an essay? (fill in blank, flow charts, labeled diagram, shorter answer/3-4 sentences).
Early in quarter.....give them a paragraph...have them summarize in their own words. Here's Judy's summarizing assignment. Or, ask them to explain the information to another person in common, non-technical language.
Be very deliberate about what summarizing is and isn't (or, what plagiarism is and isn't)
Tell students directly that "students in the past have done this on assignments and ended up failing the exam because they didn't know the information." You actually have to do it in order to learn it. Students seem to understand that principle for physical skills, but not intellectual skills.
Write them a formal letter w/letterhead as a warning

Maybe we ought to investigate a site license for something like "Turn it in" (an automatic plagiarism checker). Most felt that Google works pretty well to detect plagiarism. Jim mentioned an app he was able to purchase with his own funds and uses to check for plagiarism.
How to prevent students from changing answers on tests after they're handed back:

Kira; When grading....put slash at end of answer...can see where they add after the fact. Refuse to regrade on anything written with pencil, erasable pen or that has whiteout.
If a question not answered, put NA (for "not answered") or big x in the space they left.
Scan tests to catch them changing answers after you hand back.
Limit how long they can come back with requests to regrade

How to prevent students from sharing test questions with future students:

Judy, Adria, Kira: don't hand back tests, just answer sheets
Several faculty have found entire banks of their tests posted online

How to prevent sharing during test:

Some assign seats to students (put seating chart on screen or number the seats)
Some assign seats with the best students sitting behind the not-so-good students (thus the potential cheaters tend to have someone who's not likely to have correct answer in front of / beside them.)
Use two different colored papers (but could even keep the test exactly same--color fools them into thinking it's a different version) or two different versions
Number the quizzes and hand out consecutively, so you know where they are sitting.
Take a photo of students taking test, so you know where people sat.

Here's a teaching guide devoted to Cheating & Plagiarism from Vanderbilt U. Their Center for Teaching has an entire list of teaching guides including these topics: discussion boards, grading, flipping the classroom, first day of class, and more! You might find quite a bit of useful information there.

NEXT MEETING:

Friday, Feb 6 1:30-3p Room 2926

TOPICS:

Stephanie will show us how to manage Panopto recordings for ease of transfer between quarters.
We'll discuss best practices for Canvas gradebook
SNACKS: Nikki