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Tales from the College: Deception Be Thy Name...

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  • Tales from the College: Deception Be Thy Name...

    So I only have a few stories this week, but they're some good ones.

    Bit o'background: In addition to our usual haul of degrees, some of our units can also be taken as a single subject, with the idea being that the student then has a qualification that they can add to their resume afterwards and should they wish to enrol in a degree where that subject is required, they'll get credit for it already. In these instances, the students are under the same expectations as if they were taking the full degree.

    We aren't THAT sheltered...
    For one of the subjects, the students had to create a poster that could be theoretically hung up in say, a classroom or a community centre to promote a healthy lifestyle. This particular student decided to be particularly ballsy and rather than create a poster from scratch, opted to take an already-existing poster (as in one that's hung up on the wall in most community centres), changed the colours on it slightly, changed absolutely NOTHING else, then tried to pass that off as an "original" work.
    Her reward for that was to be failed from the subject entirely (meaning that she cannot even claim credit for it in part should she try to return in the future) and be barred from enrolling for 12 months.

    At least TRY and put in some effort...
    Another course had one student who opted for the style of "Simplistic and to the point," in one of their assignments. Specifically, the assignment in question required him to make a mind map and then answer a bunch of questions. The expected word count was around 2000 words overall. He opted to submit around 3-4 bullet points for each half of the assignment. Not 3-4 bullet points per question, 3-4 bullet points per half of the assignment. Since it was his own work at least, he wound up failing the subject rather than being booted as well.

    These are not the pants you're meant to wear:
    As we're switching from a paper-based system to an online system for logging feedback from the mentors while students are on placement, I'm assisting with monitoring the feedback and picking up on things that sometimes get missed (I also do some low-level tech support for this particular system for the mentors as a result). The feedback then goes to us, the student and the mentor (same copy).

    Under the question "Plan moving forward," one of the mentors had written for one of our students "Wear the proper pants next time." (We allow our students to wear navy or black pants or a skirt, provided they can move in it and it's otherwise professional in appearance) I can only imagine what the student had tried to rock up to placement in .

    Yes, we DO need to confirm your registration...
    This one was an applicant for being a mentor. Long story short, for our mentors, we require that you are currently licensed in whatever field you're in. If you have conditions on your license, it'll depend on what those conditions are as to whether you're suitable for the role. (For example, if the condition is one simply requiring you to visit a medical practitioner every so often, that's not a problem. If the condition restricts you to a particular specialty however, you may be in trouble)

    Cue the arrival of this particular person's application. I forward it on to the coordinators to confirm if they're a suitable applicant or not. One of them proceeds to inform me that they'd interviewed her while working in their previous role and she'd not been entirely honest with them, but didn't go into further detail.

    When I went and checked her license later however, it turned out that they had several conditions on their license which basically resulted in them being unable to do any mentoring work whatsoever.

  • #2
    Re: Copying work. -- I once had a student try to argue with me that it isn't considered plagiarism if it's for a timed test. I told him if he felt my assessment was wrong he was free to take it up with the dean of students.

    I gave him a 0 on the essay portion of the test and gave him the option of retaking it so long as he retook it before I handed the tests back since it had been the first and only issue I had with him. He didn't take me up on either offer

    EDIT: Should also clarify this was in a high school setting where I was a long term sub teacher.

    Comment


    • #3
      On the pants issue. It was probably jeans. When I worked in a office that the dress code was business casual( slacks and button up shirts, no ties), it amazed me how many people would show up their first day wearing jeans. Or worse jeans full of holes and a similar t-shirt.

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth seen2much View Post
        Or worse jeans full of holes and a similar t-shirt.
        That's the "casual" part.
        Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth seen2much View Post
          On the pants issue. It was probably jeans. When I worked in a office that the dress code was business casual( slacks and button up shirts, no ties), it amazed me how many people would show up their first day wearing jeans. Or worse jeans full of holes and a similar t-shirt.
          My grocery store allows jeans, but some new guy showed up for his first day last week wearing SHORTS (and it wasn't even a hot day out!), which is a strict no-no. He had to go home to change before starting his shift. It was so dumb, though...have you EVER seen a grocery store employee wearing shorts? Even employees who do nothing but bring carts in from the lot -- even during the most brutal summer months -- have to wear pants.

          Comment


          • #6
            Holes or torn

            Quoth seen2much View Post
            On the pants issue. It was probably jeans. When I worked in a office that the dress code was business casual( slacks and button up shirts, no ties), it amazed me how many people would show up their first day wearing jeans. Or worse jeans full of holes and a similar t-shirt.
            I can understand why someone can think a good, clean, pressed set of jeans is okay to wear, but wearing jeans that are torn, has holes, or worse yet worn so low as to expose the underpants. How did they think that would pass.

            And I would not believe it if I had not seen it myself. A teenager showed up at one job interview wearing a dirty t-shirt with holes in it.

            Comment


            • #7
              Quoth mjr View Post
              That's the "casual" part.
              There can be a fine difference between "casual" and "derelict".

              Comment


              • #8
                Way back in the olden days the grocery store I worked at allowed shorts but only for the women and then only on hot days, they could also wear skirts/dresses. They also had to wear a real ugly green smock. The guys could wear jeans but they couldn't be raggedy or very faded, we also had to wear pressed white dress shirts an d clip on velvet bow ties. We had to wear this regardless of the weather.
                For the last several years I've had bunches of kids/young folks show up to interviews wearing raggedy jeans, nasty shoes, dirty shirts and bad cases of bed-head. Never hired a one and that was to work in a car wash. I tell my folks they can wear short pants but they must be clean and good repair. I'll provide barn-boots to keep their feet dry. I also provide company logo shirts, they must be clean and good repair. I also provide coats and ball-caps. Oh and comb your hair.
                These wall socket hair styles just look stupid and trashy.
                Bow down before me for I am ROOT

                Preserving precious bodily fluids sine 1952

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth seen2much View Post
                  On the pants issue. It was probably jeans. When I worked in a office that the dress code was business casual( slacks and button up shirts, no ties), it amazed me how many people would show up their first day wearing jeans. Or worse jeans full of holes and a similar t-shirt.
                  Given that this very rarely crops up in the feedback we get from mentors and I know this particular mentor is fairly understanding, I suspect that it's not jeans, or if it is, that the jeans were very obviously not work-appropriate. (eg the stonewash was patterned or something)

                  My office's dress code DOES allow jeans, but only if it's like a very dark denim.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    AAAAHHHHHH YES the plagiarism thing......

                    Way back in the mists of time I was a TA for a entry level IT class as in BS-101: Intro to Computing. This course covered the VERY basics of computing from Mainframe to PC with some concepts of and actual programming to the use of DBA programs (like dBase III anyone remember that program?), spreadsheets and word processors. I did this for 3 semesters.

                    During the programming part of the class I had one group that just did not seem to understand that one copy of a very simple program =/= work of 4 different students. They did NOT even change the variable names or the comments. The Prof let it slide because it was a simple assignment but still at least be a little creative in your copying.
                    I'm lost without a paddle and headed up SH*T creek.
                    -- Life Sucks Then You Die.


                    "I'll believe corp. are people when Texas executes one."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth LadyofArc View Post
                      We aren't THAT sheltered...
                      For one of the subjects, the students had to create a poster. This particular student opted to take an already-existing poster, changed the colours on it slightly, then tried to pass that off as an "original" work.
                      Her reward for that was to be failed from the subject entirely and be barred from enrolling for 12 months.
                      Quoth catcul View Post
                      Dear Principal,

                      I did a paper on The Great Gatsby. I turned it in on time and I wrote it without spelling or grammatical errors. Yesterday, the teacher had three of my classmates read my essay in front of our class. Then she muttered something about "copying" and "cheating." Then she gave me an F.

                      I demand that you make her reverse that and give me an A.

                      Sincerely,

                      Ben Johnson
                      -----
                      Dear Principal,

                      I did a paper on The Great Gatsby. I turned it in on time and I wrote it without spelling or grammatical errors. Yesterday, the teacher had three of my classmates read my essay in front of our class. Then she muttered something about "copying" and "cheating." Then she gave me an F.

                      I demand that you make her reverse that and give me an A.

                      Sincerely,

                      Alex Rodriguez
                      -----
                      Dear Principal,

                      I did a paper on The Great Gatsby. I turned it in on time and I wrote it without spelling or grammatical errors. Yesterday, the teacher had three of my classmates read my essay in front of our class. Then she muttered something about "copying" and "cheating." Then she gave me an F.

                      I demand that you make her reverse that and give me an A.

                      Sincerely,

                      Lance Armstrong
                      That seemed appropriate for this thread.

                      She's lucky she isn't going to a college that has a zero tolerance policy on cheating. The University of Virginia had a cheating scandal a few years ago. Many students were caught cheating, had their credit hours wiped from their records, their degrees disqualified, and were told they would not be able to attend UVa. ever again.

                      I guess you could say they're not Cavalier about cheating.
                      This site proves Corey Taylor right. Man really is a "four letter word."

                      I'm now using my Deviant Art page to post my humor.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth catcul View Post
                        That seemed appropriate for this thread.

                        She's lucky she isn't going to a college that has a zero tolerance policy on cheating. The University of Virginia had a cheating scandal a few years ago. Many students were caught cheating, had their credit hours wiped from their records, their degrees disqualified, and were told they would not be able to attend UVa. ever again.

                        I guess you could say they're not Cavalier about cheating.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Catcul has been spying on me. The test I ended up giving a 0 on was in fact for the Great Gatsby

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Chanlin View Post
                            Catcul has been spying on me. The test I ended up giving a 0 on was in fact for the Great Gatsby
                            I may have predicted it since I wrote that 4 years ago as an entry in The Customer Complaint Letter Game.

                            Of course, given how some people are desperate and/or dishonest, that's an easy prediction to make.
                            This site proves Corey Taylor right. Man really is a "four letter word."

                            I'm now using my Deviant Art page to post my humor.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth LadyofArc View Post
                              We aren't THAT sheltered...
                              For one of the subjects, the students had to create a poster that could be theoretically hung up in say, a classroom or a community centre to promote a healthy lifestyle. This particular student decided to be particularly ballsy and rather than create a poster from scratch, opted to take an already-existing poster (as in one that's hung up on the wall in most community centres), changed the colours on it slightly, changed absolutely NOTHING else, then tried to pass that off as an "original" work.
                              Her reward for that was to be failed from the subject entirely (meaning that she cannot even claim credit for it in part should she try to return in the future) and be barred from enrolling for 12 months.
                              So wee bit of an update on this story - the student appealed her ban, claiming that the information about referencing wasn't easy to find among other things.
                              After a bit of discussion around whether she actually was right or not and how to go about it, it was eventually pointed out that by only changing 10% of the details on the poster, she knew what the hell she was doing. The ban got upheld.

                              (And as it turns out, Turnitin did NOT pick up on this one - one of the tutors for this particular subject did. What's more, the poster she'd plagiarised wasn't even an Aussie one!)

                              Comment

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