Comment Re:Only one thing shocked me (Score 1) 590
For code similarity (Computer Science applications), there is an excellent piece of software from UC Berkeley called MOSS. For the kind of text similarity this guy was doing, you don't have to home-grow your software either. Just look at findsame. Both use some rather sophisticated algorithms.
As with security through obscurity, cheating detectors need to do only well enough that fooling them is more work than doing your own work. A six-word match doesn't meet that criterion. I'm not surprised that he didn't find many matches this year, but I'd be surprised if some students didn't get around the check by, say, changing tense throughout the passage.
Preventing cheating should of course be easier than prosecuting it. Smaller class size, with instructors teaching somewhat different --more up to date-- material is more expensive, but better for the students; I have a feeling that if the instructor thus knows her students and is percieved to care whether they learn, that they will be less likely to cheat.
Good job to the students for teaching their prof a hard lesson -- he needs to care and be involved. Kudos to the prof for caring and going after them.
Gremio
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As with security through obscurity, cheating detectors need to do only well enough that fooling them is more work than doing your own work. A six-word match doesn't meet that criterion. I'm not surprised that he didn't find many matches this year, but I'd be surprised if some students didn't get around the check by, say, changing tense throughout the passage.
Preventing cheating should of course be easier than prosecuting it. Smaller class size, with instructors teaching somewhat different --more up to date-- material is more expensive, but better for the students; I have a feeling that if the instructor thus knows her students and is percieved to care whether they learn, that they will be less likely to cheat.
Good job to the students for teaching their prof a hard lesson -- he needs to care and be involved. Kudos to the prof for caring and going after them.
Gremio
--
