Archive

Academic Integrity

  • GOONx19
    Dear Class: It is my unfortunate duty to notify you that I have clear and direct evidence that the academic integrity of Exam 3 was compromised. As a result of this discovery it is also my duty to remove Exam 3 grades from consideration in the course. The grades will be removed from Blackboard.

    With regard to the syllabus, the course grade will now be determined by Exam, 1, 2 and the Final for 400 examination points in total. The 70% rule will then be applied to having 280 or more points to pass the course. Your final grade will have the homework assignments merged and then a final numercial and letter grade will be determined.

    As you might expect working through this has taken some time. We have not yet processed the final and these changes- there will be a short delay in posting of scores and grades.

    Dr. ********
    Today was my last final of my second year of pharmacy school. The email above was just sent out by my Therapeutics professor. Let me provide some background.

    The course is broken into four modules. We had a month on pain management, a month on parenteral and enteral nutrition, a month on women's health, and a month on inflammatory diseases. Each of the first three exams is worth 100 points. The final is comprehensive, with 100 points coming from block 4, and 100 points on previous material. There is also 100 points worth of homework from the semester. The course is out of 600 total points, with a 90/80/70 grading scale. In all of our pharmacy courses you need a 70 to pass the class, but in this class specifically you need a 70 test average. Homework cannot boost this average, but it is included in the final grade calculation. If you fail a course, you must take the entire semester over again, meaning you can't move forward until next spring.

    Our class average on Exam 3 was a 90%. The course coordinator, who sent that email, was told by a student in our class last week that some students had access to the previous year's exam prior to taking the test. Apparently they were the same questions if that was enough of a concern to throw out the entire exam. Regardless, we had previously covered all of the women's health material in our Endocrine class last spring, and we had the professor teach us previously, which is rare for our college. One of the biggest challenges with our curriculum is that we have anywhere from two to seven professors for each class each semester, so you never really get the hang of how they write their exams.

    Anyway, we had five exams in three days for finals, so many people, including myself, went into the final yesterday with the expectation that they needed a certain score on the test. I needed a 47 to pass or a 72 for a B. I only studied enough material to get about a 70 because I was busy studying for other exams, and I know that most people went in with a similar mentality. The test was extremely difficult (I believe he was trying to lower the average after the high block 3 scores) and I am pretty positive I didn't get a B. I wan't that concerned until we got the above email. By throwing out exam 3 after we had already taken the final, a lot of people got fucked. I'm in much better position than others, but the prospect of taking the year over due to this is ridiculous. For out-of-state students like myself it would be a $40,000 hit in tuition alone.

    Does anyone have any knowledge as to the options the students have moving forward? I'm also pretty certain at this point that he has no proof anyone had the exam.
  • Laley23
    If a teacher isnt going to change the exam its his/her fucking fault if the ones from previous years are still out there. Thats a joke, imo.
  • GOONx19
    TL;DR: For one of my courses, you need a 70 test average to pass. Failing means retaking the entire semester next spring. The professor threw out our highest exam scores due to compromised academic integrity, but didn't inform us of this until after our comprehensive final. It changes what everyone needed and studied for to pass the class. Is this allowed?
  • gut
    If you find you don't pass I would file an appeal, first with the teacher and if that goes nowhere don't hesitate to escalate it. Basically, you shouldn't be punished because the teacher doesn't know who cheated. The change was in effect punative to honest, hard-working students.

    It's especially unacceptable because the change was made AFTER the final - you have the right to know exactly how much that final is weighted toward your grade when the course begins, and certainly before taking the final!
  • justincredible
    Sounds like some bullshit to me.
  • gut
    The teacher has committed a very serious ethical violation. They've changed the grading COMPLETELY AFTER THE FACT in a way that disadvantages the student.
  • Pick6
    Only in the SEC....




    Thats some bullshit. Im sure you could file an appeal like gut said, if it ends up screwing you.

    You left out a piece of information..did you have access to the old exam?
  • Commander of Awesome
    justincredible;1432992 wrote:Sounds like some bullshit to me.
    BullFuckingShit to me. I would pwn the dean. And upper deck the prof
  • GOONx19
    Pick6;1432996 wrote:Only in the SEC....




    Thats some bullshit. Im sure you could file an appeal like gut said, if it ends up screwing you.

    You left out a piece of information..did you have access to the old exam?
    I got a 95 on it, if that helps. But I also think I got every question right about that particular material on the final yesterday, so I knew it well. I was pretty confident going into the exam in question that I would get an A on it, and that was before I looked at the first page.

    Also, these are all reasons why that test should be the highest average:
    1. We've covered the material before.
    2. Because of Easter, we had five weeks to prep for block 3. Only three weeks for the other three blocks.
    3. All of the material for the exam was covered a full week before the test. Usually we have class right up until the day of it. For the final, we had four lectures presented in the last two days of class, all new material on top of the cumulative portion.
    4. We've had the teacher before so we know her usual question-type.
    5. The teacher gave us a practice exam the week prior, so we definitely knew her usual question-type.
    6. We only had two other exams that block, for various reasons. (All exams at our school are given on a block schedule, so once a month we have exams in every course spread over a Friday/Saturday/Monday. We usually have 5-7.)
  • Ironman92
    Too much in your favor. Hope all goes well soon so you don't have to worry.

    What school?
  • gut
    GOONx19;1433007 wrote: Also, these are all reasons why that test should be the highest average...
    You could also use that to justify an appeal. But simply put, it doesn't sound like the prof had actual proof of cheating (one student saying people had old copies of the exam the prof re-used =/= proof). I don't have enough data to say if that 90 average is an actual outlier, or if the class make-up is an outlier for the reasons you mentioned. Maybe it is, I don't know.
  • GOONx19
    ^ I think the averages for the other two were both 82.
    Ironman92;1433038 wrote:Too much in your favor. Hope all goes well soon so you don't have to worry.

    What school?
    Kentucky.
  • GOONx19
    Ironman92;1433038 wrote:Too much in your favor. Hope all goes well soon so you don't have to worry.

    What school?
    Kentucky.
  • Ironman92
    GOONx19;1433044 wrote:^ I think the averages for the other two were both 82.



    Kentucky.

    Good deal.....someone I know in the next room is going to Marshall in September for pharmacy....your situation, while greatly in your favor, would make about any of us do some panicking. Hopefully, you won't have to fight at all for your grade.
  • hasbeen
    GOONx19;1433007 wrote:I got a 95 on it, if that helps. But I also think I got every question right about that particular material on the final yesterday, so I knew it well. I was pretty confident going into the exam in question that I would get an A on it, and that was before I looked at the first page.

    Also, these are all reasons why that test should be the highest average:
    1. We've covered the material before.
    2. Because of Easter, we had five weeks to prep for block 3. Only three weeks for the other three blocks.
    3. All of the material for the exam was covered a full week before the test. Usually we have class right up until the day of it. For the final, we had four lectures presented in the last two days of class, all new material on top of the cumulative portion.
    4. We've had the teacher before so we know her usual question-type.
    5. The teacher gave us a practice exam the week prior, so we definitely knew her usual question-type.
    6. We only had two other exams that block, for various reasons. (All exams at our school are given on a block schedule, so once a month we have exams in every course spread over a Friday/Saturday/Monday. We usually have 5-7.)


    So you did have access?

    Still the professor's fault.
  • Azubuike24
    GOONx19;1433044 wrote:^ I think the averages for the other two were both 82.

    Kentucky.
    I had a similar professor at UK who did the same thing. Well, not exactly, but he basically realized halfway through the course, that his curriculum breakdown was not subjective enough and basically changed the entire grade in the class to be three papers and an essay only final exam. If I recall right, 15% of the grade before he made this announcement came from a project and activities. No points were actually deducted, so the totals didn't change after the fact, but the make-up of said points were altered to give him complete control over the scores.

    I hated the guy from the get go, and I think I ended up with an 81 overall in the class. At the time I remembered thinking it was against the code of ethics, but I really didn't care enough about my grade to do much about it.

    Sounds to me like your teacher is sour that he goofed, and now wants to find a way to "punish" people without really having any evidence. Like you said...can he PROVE people had the test, or is it rumors/hearsay? If it's the latter, that's complete bullshit. I don't care if he heard someone mention it or admit it, I'd think he has to show a paper trail of some sort...
  • dlazz
    While it does sound like bullshit, I don't know if there's an easier way to tackle the situation.

    Either you risk passing a bunch of people who don't deserve it, or you risk failing a bunch of people who half-assed their final.

    It's really a catch-22. I don't know how the professor is supposed to not look like a bad guy(girl) in this case.

    My first year at OSU I took a BIO class and it had ~500 students in it. When the first midterm rolled around, The professor of one of the other 500-student sections didn't bring enough scantrons for the class so they sent everyone home and they got perfect scores. Naturally, my section had to take the midterm as required because they had enough scantrons.

    That's a sketchy situation. I wouldn't be the least bit shocked if you weren't issued a grade and everyone got "Incompletes" until student affairs settles it.
  • Azubuike24
    It's different if people were found cheating. Having an old exam that he failed to change or that had the same questions isn't cheating.

    If he had any proof, that would mean he could identify individuals. Let those specific students and the professor battle it out. You can't just change the rules in the middle of the game.
  • dlazz
    Azubuike24;1433112 wrote:You can't just change the rules in the middle of the game.
    You can if half of the team is playing with an unfair advantage.

    Regardless, it will probably still get dealt with in student affairs and more than likely the professor will lose.
  • like_that
    I skimmed the first post, but does the average affect your grade (perhaps a curve)? If not that student that ratted out the other students is a POS bitch.
  • Ironman92
    like_that;1433172 wrote:I skimmed the first post, but does the average affect your grade (perhaps a curve)? If not that student that ratted out the other students is a POS bitch.

    Sounds like he is anyways.
  • gut
    Azubuike24;1433112 wrote:Having an old exam that he failed to change or that had the same questions isn't cheating.
    I would say in most cases this is not true. That is typically addressed by a student honor code, and/or professors that re-use exams don't let students keep their copy (and that's why they offer practice exams or sample questions in its place).

    He may very well have the stats on his side to validate the student's claim the exam was compromised. But I don't think you can penalize someone for cheating without proof they did so. You can't very well respond to an issue of Academic Integrity with a solution that further compromises it.
  • gut
    dlazz;1433097 wrote: Either you risk passing a bunch of people who don't deserve it, or you risk failing a bunch of people who half-assed their final.
    The first part is really the responsibility (and failure) of the professor alone.

    The latter is irrelevant. It's perfectly rational and acceptable for a student to budget their time based on the score they need/target. Every prof knows the amount of effort on the final is proportional to it weight...it's a trade-off.
  • Manhattan Buckeye
    It is the utmost in laziness for a professor to re-use the same test, even at colleges with strict honor codes. It is part of your job. Do it.
  • ernest_t_bass
    Dumb bitch misspelled numerical.