Comments on: On the habit of cheating http://teachingthursday.org/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/ A Teaching Blog from the University of North Dakota Office of Instruction Development Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:55:12 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Jay Nickson http://teachingthursday.org/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/#comment-137 Jay Nickson Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:05:25 +0000 http://teachingthursday.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/#comment-137 oops. meant to be a comment on the article. Sorry. J oops. meant to be a comment on the article. Sorry. J

]]> By: Jay Nickson http://teachingthursday.org/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/#comment-136 Jay Nickson Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:46 +0000 http://teachingthursday.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/#comment-136 Good analysis. A note on the possible pervasiveness of the cheating problem. Perhaps you all know this, but it was a unpleasant surprise to me: Lego is a manufacturer of blocks and childrens' games for many age ranges one of which (StarWars) reached the top ten in games charts. http://www.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx Lego games have what are called "Cheat Codes" which are recorded on many sites, e.g. http://cheats.ign.com/ob2/068/694/694419.html My uninformed and opinionated guess is that by age eleven or so most pre-adolescents have acquired a cheat code habit with (to me) pretty straightforward unintended consequences for habits later in their educations. Lego has many awards from educational organizations. http://www.lego.com/education/aboutus/default.asp?l2id=6_3&pagename=main_awards Perhaps these organizations could be convinced to stop giving awards to firms that publish games with cheat codes except for those rated M or A; better still remove the right of publishers to use the awards' logos until all non M or A games have cheat codes eliminated. Ahh, the joy of being a game fasc***. Well, it was just a thought. Good analysis.

A note on the possible pervasiveness of the cheating problem. Perhaps you all know this, but it was a unpleasant surprise to me:

Lego is a manufacturer of blocks and childrens’ games for many age ranges one of which (StarWars) reached the top ten in games charts.
http://www.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx

Lego games have what are called “Cheat Codes” which are recorded on many sites, e.g.
http://cheats.ign.com/ob2/068/694/694419.html

My uninformed and opinionated guess is that by age eleven or so most pre-adolescents have acquired a cheat code habit with (to me) pretty straightforward unintended consequences for habits later in their educations.

Lego has many awards from educational organizations.
http://www.lego.com/education/aboutus/default.asp?l2id=6_3&pagename=main_awards

Perhaps these organizations could be convinced to stop giving awards to firms that publish games with cheat codes except for those rated M or A; better still remove the right of publishers to use the awards’ logos until all non M or A games have cheat codes eliminated.

Ahh, the joy of being a game fasc***. Well, it was just a thought.

]]> By: Kathryn Nedegaard http://teachingthursday.org/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/#comment-119 Kathryn Nedegaard Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:00:58 +0000 http://teachingthursday.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/on-the-habit-of-cheating/#comment-119 I'm not entirely sure where this would fit in, but, being the parent of two teens on the threshold of entering university, I have been shocked by the amount of leniency and tolerance that high school environments provide soon-to-be college first years. This is true not only for cheating, but for late assignments and truancy. Across the board there is little or no accountability for any of these transgressions at the high school level. Should parents/guardians have the same attitude as teh school, first years arrive with little to no training that prepares them for university expectations. Disturbingly, it is possible that new students are simply continuing a learned pattern of behavior, or engaging in cheating as a way to cope with the "sudden" demands of their new situation. I’m not entirely sure where this would fit in, but, being the parent of two teens on the threshold of entering university, I have been shocked by the amount of leniency and tolerance that high school environments provide soon-to-be college first years. This is true not only for cheating, but for late assignments and truancy. Across the board there is little or no accountability for any of these transgressions at the high school level. Should parents/guardians have the same attitude as teh school, first years arrive with little to no training that prepares them for university expectations. Disturbingly, it is possible that new students are simply continuing a learned pattern of behavior, or engaging in cheating as a way to cope with the “sudden” demands of their new situation.

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