<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>Cheating has always been the unspoken elephant

in schools. Teachers don’t want to experience it, and students

don’t want to get caught doing it.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>Just like schools have evolved over the years,

so has cheating. What started as writing answers on your hand

changed to taping a sheet on the inside of your shirt. Now, some

students are using technology to get ahead on

tests.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>“I’ve heard of students in the first row texting

the answers to the students in the back row, but I can’t see how

that would work,” said UNA professor Dr. Jim

Martin.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>Many teachers are taking action on cheating from

the very start by banning cell phones and Internet surfing in class

altogether.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>An article from takepart.com stated that

cheating is at an all-time high with even the teachers getting

involved by giving out answers prior to the test or even changing

wrong ones while grading. However, with more effort to elude

detection comes even more effort to detect it. Caveon is a company

dedicated to detecting cheaters and educating teachers on how to

catch them in class.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>Even with more preventative actions taking place

in schools across the nation, cheaters still get

through.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>“In my advanced reporting class, I had one

student whose beat was fraternities and sororities,” Martin said.

“He wrote an acceptable article with two different sources about

the activity. However, for whatever reason, The Flor-Ala did not

publish it. Two years later, unbeknownst to me, one of the young

ladies in the class turned in a fraternity-sorority story. I didn’t

recognize it and The Flor-Ala ran the story. They assumed that

since The Flor-Ala didn’t run it once they wouldn’t run it

again.”

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>Instances like this are not completely uncommon

at UNA, but Martin believes that just as easy as it is to cheat

with technology, it is even easier to detect it.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>“If I suspect a phrase or quote of being

suspicious, I’ll usually google it,” he said.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>While the university is tight-lipped on previous

plagiarism cases that have gone to trial, their policies are more

than clear. In fact, all professors are required to include the

university’s plagiarism policies on the syllabus at the start of

the year.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>While cheating cases are not nonexistent at UNA,

Martin feels they are significantly less common than at other

universities.

<span style=

“font-size: 14pt;”>“I honestly believe that most students [at UNA]

are honest and hardworking. Other universities may have more of a

problem [with cheating],” said Martin.

While

cheating will never really be eliminated from educational settings,

it is clear that teachers and faculty will not sit back and let it

happen. Steps will continually be made to further educate on how to

prevent cheating.

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“font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;”>