Use of cell phone during tests – cheating?
A new poll* indicates that 35% of students admit to cheating at least once using their cell phones during tests. The results of the study were announced in June, 2009 after 1000 students in grades 7-12 were interviewed. About 800 parents of teens with cell phones were also interviewed.
Methods of cell phone cheating included storing information on the phone to look at during a test; texting friends for answers during tests; searching the Internet for answers; and taking pictures of the test to pass on to friends.
Over 52% of the students admitted to some form of cheating involving the Internet. This included downloading a paper or report from the Internet and turning it in as their own work, or copying text from web sites and claiming it as their own.
Many of the students didn’t consider this behavior as cheating. Some explained that they were just helping a friend. Some parents reported discussing this issue with their children, but only 23% thought that their teens use their cell phones in school.
Most schools have cell phones policies but studies show they’re barely making a dent in the problem. Students are either unaware of the rules at school or ignore them.
How do you feel about this issue? Is it okay to refresh your memory during a test by looking at stored information on your phone? Is it wrong to help a friend by giving them a heads-up about a test? Are there different shades of cheating, where some types are acceptable and others clearly wrong?
*Common Sense Media
nope! maybe there are some people who “cheat” with there phones, omg lets cry about it. I’ve had my phone for 2 years, texted all throughout school, never once cheated with it. i recently moved, and the school i was attending, allowed phone use, amazing. it worked out great, the teacher said if you are using it during a lecture or during a testing period, you would be stripped of the cell phone “privalige”. which this is how it should be anyway. people who abuse this privalige shouldnt be able to txt again. one warning and thats it. done.
per a group of seven teen boys, the above behaviors are cheating