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Okay, here we go: some thoughts on academic integrity during These Unprecedented Times, inspired by what I see as an unnecessarily polarized conversation https://twitter.com/texasinafrica/status/1304947528853532672
Like many faculty, my workload has skyrocketed over the past six months. A huge proportion - in fact, the VAST majority - of my extra work is directed toward this question of how to get our students to demonstrate that they themselves understand the work they're being assessed on
I've attended multiple department meetings about this. Multiple department meetings WITH MULTIPLE DEPARTMENTS: I work for a service department and am teaching into three other programs. So - meetings with FOUR different groups, about academic integrity.
I've ruled out the use of Proctorio and similar software that tracks eye movements and the like. I consider them intolerably invasive. And the second I start having this kind of relationship with my students is the second I announce my retirement. https://twitter.com/LegendAriee16/status/1304098649186742273
This term I'm creating multiple versions of short quizzes, and giving them in a short enough timeframe that it's difficult for students to cheat. Then, after they submit their work, they have to film themselves talking me through how they did one of the questions (I choose the Q)
This is my compromise: minimizing the opportunities for my students to cheat, while not turning them my classroom into the panopticon.
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Did some of my students cheat anyway? Probably. Do I care? YES I FUCKING CARE. Sure, we are in the middle of a global pandemic and an economic collapse - the 2nd of which my course is preparing my students to confront, BTW - and the air rn is unbreathable. https://twitter.com/texasinafrica/status/1304949568547835905
But if those are all reasons to STOP CARING WHETHER THE MOST DISHONEST AND OPPORTUNISTIC OF MY STUDENTS ARE CHEATING, then what am I even doing? I'd be better off just giving everyone A's. That's more fair than only bumping up the grades of the cheaters.
Maybe my course is the least important thing going on in my students' lives right now. I don't blame them if it is. But I can't let academic integrity be be such a minor consideration in mine. That's a complete abdication of my responsibility toward my students.
So that's where I stand. Drag Proctorio; criticize the professors who outsource this aspect of their jobs to a third-party algorithm. But I can't see myself shrugging off cheating on the grounds that my course is pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things.
It's big enough potatoes that I'm still teaching it - safely, remotely, and with a good salary. That's more than most people can say about their jobs right now. It's not just a challenge to teach right now; it's an honour and a privilege. And a responsibility I take seriously.
