LEARNING FROM ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

JAMES M. LANG@LANGONCOURSE

Cheating Lessons

The Failures of Cheating

An Ethical Failure by the Student

A Failure of Communication

A Failure in the Teaching/ Learning Transaction

Searching for Princess Alice

Thesis

Dan Ariely: the amount of dishonesty in which people are willing to engage “depends on the structure of our daily environment.”

The amount of cheating in which students are willing to engage depends (in part) on the structure of the learning environment.

Learning Environments that Induce Cheating

Motivation is Extrinsic Orientation toward Performance Infrequent, High-Stakes Assessments Low Self-Efficacy Cheating Perceived as Common and Approved by Peers

The Cognitive Turn

“Much of what we’ve been doing as teachers and students isn’t serving us well, but some comparatively simple changes could make a big difference.”

Brown, Roediger, McDanielMake it Stick (Harvard UP,

2014)

FREQUENT FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

ANDTHE GROWTH MINDSET

Making the Case to Faculty

Frequent Assessment

“The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning”

Test and Study 80%Test but NO Study 80%

NO Test OR Study 33%Study but NO Test 35%

Karpicke and RoedigerScience

Short Answer Questions

30-Day Recall Test: Art History Lectures

No Activity 20%

Focused Study 36% Multiple Choice 36% Short Answer 47%

Transience

“When information has not been used for longer and longer periods of time, it becomes less and less likely that it will be needed in the future . . . our memory systems have picked up on this . . . and in essence made a bet that when we haven't used information recently, we probably won't need it in the future.”

Daniel SchacterThe Seven Sins of Memory

Limits of Memory

“In long-term-memory the limiting factor is not storage capacity, but rather the ability to find what you need when you need it. Long-term memory is rather like having a vast amount of closet space—it is easy to store many items, but it is difficult to retrieve the needed item in a timely fashion.”

Michelle MillerCollege Teaching

Transience Redux

“Memories . . . are encoded by modifications in the strengths of connections among neurons. When we experience an event or acquire a new fact, complex chemical changes occur at the junctions—synapses—that connect neurons with one another. Experiments indicate that with the passage of time, these modifications can dissipate . . . Unless strengthened by subsequent retrieval and recounting, the connections become so weak that recall is eventually precluded.Daniel SchacterThe Seven Sins of Memory

The Minute Paper

“When I first implemented this technique I was surprised at how very simple questions would still reveal misconceptions or misunderstandings in a significant proportion of the students. Even after classes in which I felt I had explained something very well and thoroughly, there were students for whom the answer to the assessment was not obvious.”

Brian J. RogersonJournal of Chemical Education 80.2

The Minute Paper

How many significant figures are there in the following measurements?a) 0.0560 L b) 5.5 x 104 km c) 10.0 ns d) 0.003 g

Give two reasons why K is more reactive than Li.

Why is it that AlCl3 is the empirical formula of the ionic compound made up of aluminum ions and chloride ions? Why not AlCl, AlCl5, or Al2Cl?

The Minute Paper

Course Condition Failure/Dropout %

Control sections 34.5Minute paper sections 16.7

“[S]ome comparatively simple changes could make a big difference.”Make it Stick

The Trump Card

In addition to learning, course evaluations improved:

Course ConditionHighest Course Rating %

Control Sections 50“Minute Paper” sections 68.1

Self-Efficacy

Fixed Growth

Mindset and Cheating

“In one study, seventh graders told us how they would respond to an academic failure—a poor test grade in a new course. Those with the growth mindset . . . said they would study harder for the next test. But those with the fixed mindset said they would study less . . . And, they said, they would seriously consider cheating.”

Carol DweckMindset (2006)

International Students

Fixed: “You have a certain amount of intelligence, and you can’t really do much to change it.”

Growth: “You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.”

“Those with the fixed mindset didn’t want to expose their deficiencies . . . to feel smart in the short run, they were willing to put their college careers at risk.”

Mindset

Teaching for Growth

•Praise Effort

•Learning as Effortful

•Study Strategies

•Success Strategies

Final Thought

“Dishonesty reveals flaws in the very way science is taught.”

David Pritchard MIT