AfterDawn: News

Schools ban MP3 players to combat cheating

No matter how many discovered methods are banned, teenagers seem to have a natural ability to find a way to cheat during exam time. Baseball caps have been banned during exam times in places because answers can be written under the brim. Mobile phones were banned because students were found sending text message answers to each other. Now MP3 players are being thrown out because students are using them to cheat too.

Devices like Apple Inc.'s iPod and Microsoft's Zune are easily hidden, while an earbud and wire can be hidden from supervisors. For example, some students have been caught with an earbud and wire concealed in their sleeve which can be held to their ear easily by pretending to rest their head on their hand. MP3 players have been found loaded with mathematic formulas and other material.



"It doesn't take long to get out of the loop with teenagers," said Mountain View High School Principal Aaron Maybon. "They come up with new and creative ways to cheat pretty fast." Mountain View banned digital audio players of all types when cheating activity was discovered. "A teacher overheard a couple of kids talking about it," said Maybon.

Of course, even though MP3 players can be used to cheat, their useful purposes in education should not go unnoticed. A student could easily record themselves speaking out quotations, mathematical formulas and even translations of words in a language being studied. Considering how many teenagers own MP3 players, there are so many who could benefit from using them for education as well as entertainment.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Written by: James Delahunty @ 29 Apr 2007 19:02

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• 27 comments

• Mik3h

  edit.
  

  http://my.afterdawn.com/mik3h/blog_entry.cfm/351/myafterdawnguides - Guides written by me.
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  29.4.2007 19:20 #1

• rihgt682

  They still didn't figure out the bluetooth so i'm good.

  29.4.2007 19:46 #2

• aone

  Originally posted by rihgt682:They still didn't figure out the bluetooth so i'm good.you know you just probably screwed it up for everybody by saying that lol.

  29.4.2007 21:07 #3

• Mik3h

  ^
  
  Wonder why I edited out my comment earlier? lol.

  29.4.2007 21:09 #4

• sk8flawzz

  dang kid should edit that message hahahaha
  cause thats what i do

  29.4.2007 21:54 #5

• spydah

  Hahaha. What they going to do ban all small technology lol.

  30.4.2007 06:07 #6

• aone

  Originally posted by spydah:Hahaha. What they going to do ban all small technology lol.why are you saying that like they can't do it? they're well on their way. all you really need to take a test is a pencil/pen and eraser.

  30.4.2007 06:32 #7

• cashman91

  hey i know people who do that teacher knows but doesn't care

  30.4.2007 07:43 #8

• georgeluv

  yeh lets see some old ass teacher spot a nano from across the room, aint happening.
  
  they are too small, technology beats authority yet again.

  30.4.2007 08:23 #9

• eiffel65

  On the picture, they put the song I'm listening to right now on there. :)

  30.4.2007 08:33 #10

• Auslander

  at my school, if you're caught cheating on an exam, you lose credit for the course and very well might be expelled. does anyone want a doctor or teacher or auto mechanic or anyone else to have gone through school cheating? hell no. if you can't do a task on your own, you need to switch educational paths. cheaters need to be punished severely. and all possible methods of cheating need to be banned.

  30.4.2007 08:36 #11

• borhan9

  Quote:Of course, even though MP3 players can be used to cheat, their useful purposes in education should not go unnoticed. A student could easily record themselves speaking out quotations, mathematical formulas and even translations of words in a language being studied. Considering how many teenagers own MP3 players, there are so many who could benefit from using them for education as well as entertainment.At least this guy is level headed in his view. I totally agree with using it as a study guide or helper. But not have it in exam time.

  30.4.2007 12:49 #12

• 21Q

  although expensive, a shuffle and a wireless earbud made to look like a hearing aid could work

  30.4.2007 14:08 #13

• bobiroc

  Unfortunately that is why we had to ban the use of portable devices such as Cell Phones, MP3 Players, and other pocket Devices because we caught a ring of students using these devices to cheat on tests and in school.
  
  We tried to play nice and let the kids have the devices and only allow them to use them before and after school but they had to be sneaky and use them to cheat so a couple of bad apples will ruin it for everybody.

  30.4.2007 14:27 #14

• cart0181

  Good to hear at least something is being done about rampant cheating. The younger generations seem to think it's okay. They don't think about the consequences. In the end, all they are cheating is themselves. Sure, if they're "cool" enough they might land a comfy job with their best buddy, but in the end they just look stupid.

  30.4.2007 17:08 #15

• Shinraboy

  It wont be long now. Soon they'll figure out something else but who cares? Personally im a straight A student. I do all my work but I can't focus on tests. I use this to help me on test. Remind myself of formulas....

  1.5.2007 06:52 #16

• georgeluv

  the problem is cheating is too easy and so many people do it, the people who dont want to cheat are almost forced to just to keep up. its like inflation, or a domino affect.

  1.5.2007 07:19 #17

• Auslander

  the school system can't get much worse, anyway, eh? -_-
  
  grades don't inflate like money. unless there's infinite extra credit, which there doesn't tend to be on exams, there is a ceiling all student swill hit, honest and dishonest alike. as for formulas, for mathematics and science classes where many are used, most students are allowed a formula sheet.
  
  this type of cheating is more for lists of facts, i would think.

  1.5.2007 07:33 #18

• cart0181

  @georgeluv
  You're absolutely right, it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It's like escalation. Rampant cheating was the main reason I left college. I became disillusioned to some's idea of "learning." Since I utterly refused to cheat, I found myself studying all the live-long day just to "keep up" as you say. (Of course, I was still in the top .5% most the time).

  1.5.2007 22:40 #19

• craftyzan

  Pretty soon they'd have to ban clothes, cuz there's pockets in them. Where there's a pocket, there's room for a gadget...as for cheaters, many of them have creative minds that are going to seed.

  2.5.2007 00:41 #20

• beaters

  Originally posted by Auslander:at my school, if you're caught cheating on an exam, you lose credit for the course and very well might be expelled. does anyone want a doctor or teacher or auto mechanic or anyone else to have gone through school cheating? hell no. if you can't do a task on your own, you need to switch educational paths. [...]That's spot on. I don't want my surgeon to have cheated his way through school. I remember being in a chemistry class at UM Ann Arbor where it looked like the majority were cheating. That's one of those courses they use to determine who gets into med school. Not only that but since the class was graded on a curve, honest students were effectively penalized. I say expel the cheaters or at least let them take an F on the test concerned.

  3.5.2007 09:05 #21

• Auslander

  just give me their names and addresses, and i'll take care of it. ^.^

  3.5.2007 09:07 #22

• wantoknow

  People who want to cheat will always find away to. As for the rest of us we are the winners. Losers will be losers unless they change the way they think. :) Its though hard work and sacrifice you reap great rewards.

  3.5.2007 12:42 #23

• aone

  lol, some high horses here...
  
  no offense, of course.
  
  people cheat. so what? there are very many unnecessary classes you're required to take that have absolutely nothing to do with your eventual profession. so people cheat, because they don't care. if i'm a math major why should i give a damn about art history? vice versa, if i'm an art major why the hell do i have to take math for? if i'm a sociology major, what the hell is biology for? and conversely, if i'm a biology major wtf am i taking sociology for? as for the classes that do matter, well, there always comes a certain point in your college career where, if you didn't know the stuff, and you cheated your way through it, then you'll have effectively screwed yourself all those years of time and money. but as for the rest of the time, people cheat, so what? just because they cheat doesn't mean they don't know their shit. there are plenty of exceptions to the rule.
  
  anyway.

  3.5.2007 15:49 #24

• Auslander

  everybody just needs to know some things. have you not noticed that society is dumbing down? and the school systems are in shambles? if people can't make it through a certain requirement of classes, they need to leave the school system so that people who can make it will have a better shot.

  3.5.2007 15:54 #25

• bobiroc

  In general society is dumbing down. I have been working in High School district for years in the IT department and I see kids cheat and cut corners all the time. They plagiarize their essays by stealing them from Free Essay websites. They use their cell phones to store answers and send text messages with the answers to other student. Technology is supposed to be a tool to help you learn but many use the technology to do it for them. Many kids have resorted to downloading PowerPoints off of the web instead of making their own. They are more interested in goofing off and their social status at school and spend all day trying to get around web filtering so they can get their MySpace page or to play online video games. The really sad part is many of the teachers are oblivious to what they are doing and when I try to bring it their attention they just think I am being a jerk. I actually put this article from Yahoo news in our monthly technology news letter and I got criticized for it. Forgive me for caring about the kids and trying to make sure they get a quality education so when they get into the real world and get a job where they cannot cheat they don't look like an idiot because they cannot solve the simplest problems.

  3.5.2007 16:41 #26

• cart0181

  Wow, Amen bobiroc
  I applaud you for your courage. Keep up the good fight. As it says in the article, "it doesn't take long to get out of the loop with teenagers."

  4.5.2007 06:55 #27