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Dean of Undergrad Ed Visits CS50, Tells Students Not to Cheat

10 points by sharjeelsayed 9y ago

guskel 9y ago
In an intro CS class, a TA once accused me of cheating because my code was identical or almost identical to someone else's. The assignment was to write a simple Java class with only getters and setters, only a few private variables. The TA assumed me of copying the other student's code, not her copying me. How do you even prove your innocence if people are going to assume you cheated for even dumb things like that? I can definitely see how if the assignment is small and students are using the same coding style and naming conventions it can look as if students are cheating.
ben_jones 9y ago
High schools and indeed the whole college admissions process teach students to cheat a little bit. Whether it's copying a homework assignment before class, working with a tutor to write an admissions essay, taking aderal before the SAT, it is all rewarded with better scholarships at better schools. Then when they get to college we expect them to revert back? Haha.
phamilton 9y ago
Our CS department had harsh penalties for copying code. You would be banned from CS classes for 1 year. It bred a culture of zero collaboration. Our Computer Engineering department was pro collaboration and rarely did anyone get accused of cheating. If it looked like someone else's solution, then you probably worked together on it. I even saw one student get caught copying and the professor asked the student if he understood the code. If so, then who cares. That student did not understand the code, so the professor told him to start over and gave him a deadline extension.
thomastjeffery 9y ago
How about you fix your UX problem instead of whining at your users for "doing it wrong"? "Cheating" is the same sort of absurd metric to academia as speeding is to police. It's not a particularly helpful metric, but it's quantifiable, and therefore gets the focus. Academia has been driving farther and farther from real learning and creating, and closer to memorization and testing. This is why computer science courses focus on physics and math, rather than designing software and writing code. The entry level to creating something meaningful is much higher in abstract science than in practical application, so courses for abstract concepts can lazily slide along with rote learning, and testing -grading tests seems to scale well- rather than have students create something unique and meaningful. The more unique homework is, the harder it is to compare. Cheating is simply the byproduct of an optimised-first design. It is a metric that clearly shows where academia has optimized out the value.

10 points by sharjeelsayed 9y ago

In an intro CS class, a TA once accused me of cheating because my code was identical or almost identical to someone else's. The assignment was to write a simple Java class with only getters and setters, only a few private variables. The TA assumed me of copying the other student's code, not her copying me. How do you even prove your innocence if people are going to assume you cheated for even dumb things like that? I can definitely see how if the assignment is small and students are using the same coding style and naming conventions it can look as if students are cheating.

ben_jones 9y ago

High schools and indeed the whole college admissions process teach students to cheat a little bit. Whether it's copying a homework assignment before class, working with a tutor to write an admissions essay, taking aderal before the SAT, it is all rewarded with better scholarships at better schools. Then when they get to college we expect them to revert back? Haha.

phamilton 9y ago

Our CS department had harsh penalties for copying code. You would be banned from CS classes for 1 year. It bred a culture of zero collaboration. Our Computer Engineering department was pro collaboration and rarely did anyone get accused of cheating. If it looked like someone else's solution, then you probably worked together on it. I even saw one student get caught copying and the professor asked the student if he understood the code. If so, then who cares. That student did not understand the code, so the professor told him to start over and gave him a deadline extension.

thomastjeffery 9y ago

How about you fix your UX problem instead of whining at your users for "doing it wrong"? "Cheating" is the same sort of absurd metric to academia as speeding is to police. It's not a particularly helpful metric, but it's quantifiable, and therefore gets the focus. Academia has been driving farther and farther from real learning and creating, and closer to memorization and testing. This is why computer science courses focus on physics and math, rather than designing software and writing code. The entry level to creating something meaningful is much higher in abstract science than in practical application, so courses for abstract concepts can lazily slide along with rote learning, and testing -grading tests seems to scale well- rather than have students create something unique and meaningful. The more unique homework is, the harder it is to compare. Cheating is simply the byproduct of an optimised-first design. It is a metric that clearly shows where academia has optimized out the value.