How to Catch Students Cheating

Children are becoming more advanced in their ways to cheat every year. Now with Internet and cell phones kids are finding numerous ways to cheat and plagiarize. Since catching students cheat is just part of the job, it's up to you to keep yourself aware of the most recent tools students are using to cheat.

Instructions

How to Catch Students Cheating

1. Make all students leave their PDA's, cell phones, and pagers out of your classroom during an exam. If you see one in use, confiscate it until the end of the class. Students can text answers to each other in the class easily if they have a cell phone on their person.

2. Use a service that detects plagiarism in papers. Most of these services work by comparing your students' papers to thousands they each have in their database. By telling students you use this type of software; it might deter some from plagiarizing in the first place.

3. Keep an eye out for students using tiny pieces of paper that they have written or typed information on. Gum wrappers and bottle labels are only a couple of things students will use to cheat with. You might be amazed by how much information can be included on these pieces of paper with the help of tiny computer fonts.

4. Lock your computer with secure passwords. Have a screen saver be timed to begin after two minutes of inactivity, then require a password to unlock it. Use a secure password on a database where there is any information your students can use to cheat with. A secure password should include letters, numbers, and symbols.

5. Surf the Internet for websites that give students ideas on how to cheat. This way you will learn about the most recent techniques students are using and can look for them in your own classroom.

Tips & Warnings

• Spread students out as much as possible in a classroom to make it more difficult to pass notes or to talk above a soft whisper without you hearing.