Is It Cheating…Or Just Laziness?

December 14, 2010 at 9:08 pm (Uncategorized)

Cheating in any setting, especially in college, is a very serious situation.  That’s why when 200 students enrolled in a business course at the University of Central Florida were accused of cheating by their professor, Richard Quinn, the story grabbed the attention of the entire country.  But who is to blame in this situation?  Should the blame be placed upon the students who acquired the test answers early with the help from an online test bank, or should Richard Quinn be at fault for not taking the time to create his own exam and relying on a test bank.  I believe Richard Quinn should be blamed for this issue because he made the decision to use and easily accessed test bank to create his exam and if the students were unaware of this, then they should not be accused of cheating.

A person can find virtually anything on the internet these days.  They simply need to do a Google search and have thousands of websites pertaining to their needs at the click of the mouse.  Professors need to be aware of this, especially if they are basing the questions of their midterm exams off of something that can be accessed on the internet.  A person has to be extremely ignorant if they expect things on the internet, especially answers for a test, would never be found.  Speaking as a student, I would be under the impression that questions and answers I found online would be useful study tools, not ways to cheat the class. 

A student in Richard Quinn’s class made a video on YouTube claiming they were unaware their professor used a test bank to make his exam and used his first lecture in the course to support his side.  This video is called UCF Richard Quinn Misleads Capstone Students Test Scam Cheat and its used Quinn’s own words to make their statement.

Professor Richard Quinn specifically states, “I am responsible for creating and administering the midterm and final exam.”  Although this may not have been his intention, the word “create” to me means he wrote the questions and didn’t take them from a test bank.  This is misleading the students into the belief that what they find online could be used to aid their studying.  The flip side to this would be people arguing that Quinn does in fact “create” the exam by assembling the questions, even though they are from a test bank.  However, later on in the lecture he tells the class, “I may very well write a question that I can’t answer.”  This clearly shows that professor Quinn told his students he writes his own question when in fact he takes them from the publisher of the text-book they class uses.  I also feel like you would never not know the answer to a test question unless you didn’t write it yourself.  The students I believe acted upon the belief their professor wrote his own tests.  There is nothing unethical and wrong with studying for an exam.

I understand why opposers are accusing the students of cheating.  They used the test bank which had the answers to the questions on it, and perhaps they acquired it by unethical means, but that has yet to be proven.  These students did not go into the exam room unprepared and cheating because they didn’t study.  They didn’t bring the answers with them, obscuring them with a hat or writing them on their body.  They didn’t ask to go the bathroom and then text a friend the answers.  They simply studying before hand using information they already knew and were assisted by what they believed was similar to a study guide.

I feel that accusing 200 students of cheating is a serious allegation that must be backed with strong evidence. Yes, Richard Quinn made a graph of the grades the students earned, which didn’t match up to his previous classes sources,  and a person anonymously gave him the test bank used by the students, but neither of these is enough to tarnish the reputations on 200 seniors when faced with the fact they were unaware they were cheating.  Robert Talbert, owner of the blog Casting Out Nines, states, “cheating is when you use and unauthorized resource to substitute for your own.”  Since the test bank was not an unauthorized source, and Professor Quinn did not specify to the students that they were unable to use it, there really is no solid case against the students signifying that they cheated.  This is all attributed to the laziness of Professor Quinn.

The students of the University of Central Florida should not have been accused of cheating.  Professor Richard Quinn should have instead taken the time that the students deserve to create and write his own exam with his own questions, as he told his class of senior students he would in the lecture on the first day of the course.  Because the students were unaware their professor was basing his exam on the test bank they were studying from, you can hardly accuse them of being un ethical and immoral.  If anyone was being unethical it was Quinn, he specifically told his students he would write his own questions, and then it was revealed he took them from a test bank, thus lying to all of them.  The students deserve an apology for being put through this fiasco and the professors need to be more aware of what’s on the internet and what information regarding their classes can be accessed by students.

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References:

UCFscam. “UCF Richard Quinn Misleads Capstone Students Test Scam Cheating” YouTube. 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.

Talbert, Robert. “Students Respond to UCF Cheating Scandal.” Casting Out Nines. 27 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.