Complete Schedule

Presentation Type

Open Access Panel Presentation

Keywords

Cheating (Education)--Prevention;

Abstract

Our panel discussion will focus on James Lang’s Cheating Lessons. Our goal is to capture the attention of any faculty members who suffer from plagiarism fatigue and think that everything that can be said about cheating in higher education has already been said. Our presentation will demonstrate that Lang breaks new ground. He draws on case studies of cheating, but not primarily to teach his readers about why students plagiarize or commit other academic ethics infractions. Rather, Lang invites his readers to treat each case as a distinct lesson in how students learn. Focusing on contextual rather than dispositional factors linked to cheating and drawing on a body of empirical research, Lang explores powerful pedagogies that come into view in the wake of learning failures to which his case studies attest. Scrutinizing the Olympics of Ancient Greece, civil service tests in China’s dynastic history, and Atlanta’s No Child Left Behind testing scandal, among other examples, Lang establishes that high-stakes testing settings as well as those that focus on performance rather than process offer students only an extrinsic motivation to learn. Most significantly, these environments are highly conducive to cheating.

Juxtaposed with these cases are chapters by Lang that describe four distinct cheating-resistant learning environments. These environments will be the primary focus of our panel discussion. These settings promote learning through mastery rather than performance, feature low-stakes assessment, activate students’ intrinsic motivation to learn, and support learners’ self-efficacy. Lang draws his examples from interviews, observations, and teaching materials shared with him by award-winning college and university teachers. In our panel discussion, we will build on the examples in Cheating Lessons as four faculty members illustrate how we implement one of Lang’s teaching-resistant pedagogies in our classes.

Lang’s account of powerful pedagogical practices, rich with possibilities for enhancing learning in the classroom, makes Cheating Lessons a valuable resource. But we believe his book will be even more valuable if persons attending the conference are able to engage in discussion with faculty who have implemented Lang’s ideas in the classroom. By demonstrating how Lang’s ideas can be applied in our local context, we hope to encourage other faculty to try his recommendations for creating cheating-resistant learning environments in their classes.

Start Date

18-9-2015 10:15 AM

End Date

18-9-2015 11:15 AM

Event Host

Center for Academic Ethics, University of Northern Iowa

Department

Department of Philosophy and World Religions

Department

Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

Comments

Location: Maucker Union - Ballroom A, B, & C

Comments?

Share

COinS
 
Sep 18th, 10:15 AM Sep 18th, 11:15 AM

Cheating Resistant Pedagogies: Applying Insights from “Cheating Lessons” in the Classroom

Our panel discussion will focus on James Lang’s Cheating Lessons. Our goal is to capture the attention of any faculty members who suffer from plagiarism fatigue and think that everything that can be said about cheating in higher education has already been said. Our presentation will demonstrate that Lang breaks new ground. He draws on case studies of cheating, but not primarily to teach his readers about why students plagiarize or commit other academic ethics infractions. Rather, Lang invites his readers to treat each case as a distinct lesson in how students learn. Focusing on contextual rather than dispositional factors linked to cheating and drawing on a body of empirical research, Lang explores powerful pedagogies that come into view in the wake of learning failures to which his case studies attest. Scrutinizing the Olympics of Ancient Greece, civil service tests in China’s dynastic history, and Atlanta’s No Child Left Behind testing scandal, among other examples, Lang establishes that high-stakes testing settings as well as those that focus on performance rather than process offer students only an extrinsic motivation to learn. Most significantly, these environments are highly conducive to cheating.

Juxtaposed with these cases are chapters by Lang that describe four distinct cheating-resistant learning environments. These environments will be the primary focus of our panel discussion. These settings promote learning through mastery rather than performance, feature low-stakes assessment, activate students’ intrinsic motivation to learn, and support learners’ self-efficacy. Lang draws his examples from interviews, observations, and teaching materials shared with him by award-winning college and university teachers. In our panel discussion, we will build on the examples in Cheating Lessons as four faculty members illustrate how we implement one of Lang’s teaching-resistant pedagogies in our classes.

Lang’s account of powerful pedagogical practices, rich with possibilities for enhancing learning in the classroom, makes Cheating Lessons a valuable resource. But we believe his book will be even more valuable if persons attending the conference are able to engage in discussion with faculty who have implemented Lang’s ideas in the classroom. By demonstrating how Lang’s ideas can be applied in our local context, we hope to encourage other faculty to try his recommendations for creating cheating-resistant learning environments in their classes.