Academic Dishonesty
When I first read this assignment, two incidences came to mind. The first experience was
in college taking a prerequisite, Biology 101.. The second incidence was my first year teaching,
when I had a student cheat for the first time in my career. Each incidence made me reflect on
My first experience, I was sitting in Biology 101, which was needed for my
undergraduate degree, when a professor told us the expectation for the test. A lot of reading was
involved, but we had some formulas to memorize. I remember thinking, “I won’t ever use this
again!” As I was thinking this, I noticed a group of pre-nursing students’ sitting together. We
took the test. Early on, I noticed that the group, I had seen together before, all had water bottles.
During the test, each of them had formulas written down on the bottles. I had studied for hours to
memorize these formulas, that I can say I have never used. I did not report the incident, and I am
unsure that disciplinary actions were taken or if they were reported. All items should have been
removed from desks and a proctor should have been monitoring. At this point in my career and
before, I know, I should have taken a stand, and reported the behavior.
The second experience was when I had my student the first year, cheat on spelling test. I
took offence to this act, because I feel that I prepare my students for the assessments that they
take. The student put the spelling words on his notebook paper that he took out to take the test. I
should have given papers to take the test to avoid this conflict. I did ask students to clear their
desk and monitored the test, which was why I discovered academic dishonesty took place. I
teach second grade, which is appropriate to start teaching test taking ethics and be clear on
consequences.
With my experience, I have found that making sure the students feel confident in the
assignment, checking work, and having tests monitored at all times is helpful to avoid cheating
or plagiarism. In addition to proctoring, teaching students’ ethical behavior and enforcing those