HELP!.. Need to stop CHEATERS!!!

Ritalin Kid · April 15th, 2002, 12:38 PM

I have been presented with a task by an instructor that I work with..

He teaches a Word and Excel Class (CIS100) and the problem is that he has constant cheaters.. people who copy and assignment from someone else and just put their name on it and turn it in..

The only way we have to prove it right now is that the creation date is exactly the same and the errors are all the same on the file BUT there are still some people getting away with this and we really need a way to prove that files are legit or find out who originally created them..

Are there any programs out there that can compare files or show the users that created them originally?? Maybe a program that can make sure each file is created legit... some sort of validation to stop people from copying someone elses work and just putting their name on it and resaving it..

Anyone know of a program or tactic we could use to combat this?

KAknight · April 15th, 2002, 12:46 PM

I had am MIS 1000 level class and the instructor prepared 4 different tests over the same material. The tests were over pretty much the same material, but this way cheating was kept down.

Ritalin Kid · April 15th, 2002, 12:49 PM

Well testing is not a problem as we use SAMXP to administer tests and you only get one chance as everyone takes it at the same time... the only cheating we have to worry about there is the occassional screen peak...

This, on the other hand, is a weekly assignment that is graded but is alos lengthy so even preparing seperate assignment it would still not be hard to find who else has the same assignment as you and copy it, slap your name on it and turn it in.

Ritalin Kid · April 15th, 2002, 03:24 PM

Some one has to know something bout this kinda thing..

**EvilRick** · April 15th, 2002, 03:54 PM

You should be able to open the document in either Word or Excel and look at the "File" and "Properties". You should also be able to right-click the documents and look at the summaries.

deltaf508 · April 15th, 2002, 03:58 PM

How about making all your Documents "password protected" and only give the password to the teacher. That way he has a master list of passwords for all the students when he grades them. I would be this would cut down on cheating quite a bit. See the attachment for how to create a password protected document. It's easy: Save as -> Tools -> General Options.....

That's my Idea.

Gary

Ritalin Kid · April 15th, 2002, 04:00 PM

Well the lab computers all have the same account so the only thing we can use to tell that it is a copy is the time because we all know that 5-6 students are not going to create a files all at the exact same time seeing how it even keeps a sec. property for the file

SimonTemplar · April 15th, 2002, 04:28 PM

Try this. Use a binary editor and compare byte by byte. It would be impossible to be exactly the same. Just download a simple hex editor and you'll be able to see the computer and user name and some other distinct info in office files. Open one file, import another over it or print them out and put them over one another. That should be enough to establish exact matches. Good Luck!!

TonTo · April 15th, 2002, 04:31 PM

my had us personalize it... like,... puppies, and pizza, and cookies and pop... like, "create a program that would let you order a pizza, with up to 5 different toppings and cut into 2 4 6 or 8 slices.... make sure the program gets ALL the relavent data!"

then, he'd give us all different objects.... such as pop, cookies, and we'd have to change it.. "create a program that would let you order some pop, with up 5 different flavors, available in 12 oz, 20 oz, 1 liter or 24packs... " yada yada yada.... that way he didn't get bored either.... plus... after the first 2 times of trying to plagerize someone else's prog... we figured out that, it was just ALOT more work to plagerize than to create...

Emc2 · April 15th, 2002, 05:31 PM

Don't let these children do their assignments in class--force them to go home and do them on their own computers.

Also, there'd be a pattern to it--the same students will do it over and over. Depending on your school's cheating policy, you should be able to get different assignments together and check the dates. We all know that yes, it could be coincidental that they all have the same creation time (down to the second), but that would only happen once, not repeatedly throughout the semester.

Yeah, I'd make the students personalize it too--make them put in different data. After all, they're just numbers. They might still cheat, but it'd take them longer than if they actually had done it in the first place.

You could also make them add comments to their spreadsheets, somewhere down at the bottom, detailing every step they took in creating the spreadsheet, and why they did it, as in what was the significance?. Like in java programming, if everyone turns in descriptions that are just slightly reworded, you could still nail them for cheating, especially with the time-creation similarities.