Student stupidity (part 2)
Almost every semester I get one case of plagiarism. Some are more blatant and idiotic than others. I’m never sure whether I’m upset with them for cheating, or for thinking I was so stupid that I wouldn’t notice.
This semester, I noticed while marking that one student had a couple of functions he was using for validation that didn’t really make sense. He had one function called DateTime() which returned a date object representing the 1st of January 2059, and another function called Default() which returned a date object representing the 31st of December 1959. This didn’t really meet the requirements and was a bit bizarre but most of the rest of the code was OK so I moved on.
Three projects later, I saw the exact same code. Whenever I encounter duplicate code, I search everyone’s project for it, and found another two instances of the exact code. After comparing the code, I found that one student (Student A) had everything pretty much right except for this unusual construct, but he had it actually working. Two others (Students B & C) had the same functions but had called them incorrectly (and identically) and a large chunk of the related code was also identical. The final student appeared to have an exact copy of student C’s code. However, because his data model was slightly different, his project didn’t even run.
As is my usual practice, I called the students in to explain, their stories confirmed my analysis. A had helped B with how to create dates for validation. B and C had worked together/copied each other. Their justification was that they thought this section was worth much so it wouldn’t matter (it was worth 20% of the assignment). However, they had taken the time to slightly change the wording of some of the error message text in their otherwise identical code, suggesting an attempt to conceal their cheating.
Student D sent me an email in which is confessed his sins, saying how he “disgracefully cheated..... and have to face the penalty”. It’s the most honest response I’ve ever had from a plagiariser. Generally, I’m much more inclined to be lenient if they admit what they did and face the consequences. The ones who try to somehow justify their actions and try to evade a penalty are the ones who annoy me.
The university policy for first offences is clear – they lose the marks for the section of the assignment in which they plagiarised. A, B & C lost 20% of the assignment this way, but managed to pass both the assignment and the course overall. D lost 80% of the assignment, and not only failed the coursework, but also failed the exam and therefore the course.
Still, my favourite stupid plagiarist has to be the guy who was taking my course a second time, and handed in my own code as his answers to the lab work, complete with all my copious educational comments. He didn’t even take the time to pretend it was his own work. When I asked him why he did it, he seemed surprised and replied, ‘well, I wanted my solutions to be right’.