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cheating 101
I'm an educator and as I was proctoring for an exam in another college department,& I caught two students cheating.
One of them was mouthing the words
" What is the answer to number two?" when I caught them. She even gestured number 2 with her fingers. Her seatmate had her back on me, it was obvious that they were talking to each other.
I reported them to the Discipline Officer and the D.O. in turn, called for the 2 students. The students insisted that they were just making small talk during the exam & they obviously reversed my statements.
Since I do not have any substantial evidence, I am the one now being in question as to why I confiscated their test papers for cheating. My question is, DOES CRYING WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THEIR SINS, A TELL TALE SIGN OF GUILT?
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Crying is not a tell-tale sign of anything at all. Sometimes commercials make me cry. Sometimes I wake up with tears in my eyes. It's just a physical reaction to a whole bunch of different feelings.
Now, for actual advice for you, even though you didn't ask for it:
Take a deep breath and don't get defensive. You did the right thing, even if they were just 'talking'. The very worse that your colleagues might feel you did, is error is judgment. So, stop being so defensive about this. Don’t get upset. That will make you look uncertain. You aren’t uncertain. You are very certain about what you saw, so don’t act like you aren't.
If 'hard evidence' was required for cheating, almost no one would ever get caught. You know they were talking, they don't even deny that. You know, and the DO likely does too, that they were more then likely cheating as well.
So take a deep breath and just tell the truth. They were speaking during the exam and making hand gestures. You felt this was academic dishonesty and you took away their papers. You believed them to be trying to cheat. You believed you were abiding by the code as laid out by the college when you took away their papers.
If your supervisors don't feel this was warranted, ask them what they think warrants having ones paper taken away and what they would do differently in your position. Don’t get your back up, just ask your superiors, who likely have more experience with teaching then you, what they would have done in your position.
Who is going to take the word of 2 college students over their teacher when it comes to academic dishonesty really? I’m sure most of your colleagues are on your side in this one. In fact, it might be a very good idea to have a sit down with an instructor you respect and ask for their insight in to this situation. The DO is likely simply required to document both sides of the incident. They might not be questioning your judgment at all! Just recoding it.
You are NOT going to loose your credibility. Sesh. If the DO decides they really disagree with your assessment of the situation, do NOT treat it as a hit on your credibility. Hold your head high and consider it a learning experience. Nothing more. Everyone makes errors in enforcing the rules, even the police and lawyers.
You were entitled to make decision in that exam room, and you are entitled to make an error. Remember those two things, and no matter what the outcome, you’ll be just fine.
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My girlfriend cries at the drop of a hat. Happy, sad, angry, any level of strong emotion can generate that reaction in her.
Its not evidence of anything except strong emotion.
My advice, drop it. Yeah, as a teacher they drill all that "academic honesty and school code honor" bull shit into you, but in all reality is it that big a deal here? No, you don't want people obviously copying each other left and right, but in the grand scheme of things.
College students doesn't mean jack. A college student is a teenager a few years later, which is no guarantee of any maturing. That being said, if you cant prove it, is it really worth your time and effort to crucify two people who take shortcuts? I can guarantee that people who don't do all the work for themselves suffer for it long after college, you don't have to worry about that.
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I do not believe that crying is a tell tale sign of anything. Some people cry in certain situations and others do not. It might be a tell tale sign for a specific person, but without knowing how they normally react, its impossible to tell.
I also, as usual, agree with YG. The thing is that you are not allowed to talk during an exam. That in itself should be adequate.
Just stick to your guns and remember why you were hired. Its your job to police that event. Explain to them exactly what you saw, in the same detail as you told us, and remain calm and collected at all times. I cannot believe that they would take the word of the two "accused" over the teacher who was responsible to watch them. If that is the case, anyone can cheat as long as they stick together (there will always be more students than teachers in an exam).
I wish you the best of luck and sincerely hope that the two culprits dont get away with their lie.
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I think you will do fine. I'm sure asking
you questions about it is just routine.
Tell them what you saw, I agree that the
fact they were "making small talk" should
be reason enough anyway. Just tell them
exactly what happened. I'm sure they have
to write some kind of a report for their
records.
Unless they expect you to give exams armed
with a camera, Your word should be good enough.
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