Is this cheating?

[thirdworld]

Ok so I take online courses for school. Basically there are graded assignments for each or every couple lessons, a mid unit exam, and then a final exam for each unit then a final exam for all four units. I have always answered questions with my notes and books and I never thought of this as cheating until recently when I began examining my conscience for my first confession. I’m not sure if this is cheating or not.

Here is what my school has to say about academic infractions:

The following are examples of infractions of the Academic Honor Code that may subject the student to disciplinary actions that could include or result in suspension or expulsion from coursework if the action(s) occur during any learning opportunity:
Cheating – Acting dishonestly, copying, or using someone else’s work is an unacceptable educational practice.
Plagiarism – Taking someone else’s ideas, words, images, etc. and attempting to pass them off as your own, or using such work in any way without permission, is an unacceptable educational practice.

I’m definitely not guilty of plagiarism, I don’t copy anyone else’s answers or use someone else’s work. I don’t think of guilty of “dishonesty” either…

There are no “rules” or instructions on how to answer the questions on the graded assignment and exams. They don’t tell you whether it’s open book or not, they just say to answer the questions. So I assumed it was ok for me to use my book for answers. I remember on an English unit final exam awhile back the question was phrased in such a way that I had to look in my book and there was no other way for me to answer the question even if I had studied. So what do you guys say? Is it cheating? Is it a sin? Venial or mortal? I’d really appreciate the help.

 

[baltobetsy]

There must be someone you can ask about the open book policy. From what you say, it seems they do not object to students using books and notes, but it would be better to confirm that for yourself for the future. Is there an advisor, or even a help desk?

Whatever we tell you will be conjecture. The only way to find out is to ask.

Betsy

 

[thirdworld]

Thanks for your response.

I emailed my advisor and got an auto reply that she will be out of the office today and tomorrow. So should I just mention it to the priest anyway? I know it would be a venial sin since I didn’t know it was a sin at all but I just want to be extra careful, it’s my first confession and I don’t want to screw it up.

 

[faithfully]

Generally speaking… if a test is to be taken without books and notes, you are to arrange to take the test at some sort of monitored test center. They could NOT possibly assume that you will NOT cheat. Assumption of your morals or values would be insane. It would give little or no value to the degree earned.

That said, I would assume that you are able to take your test with your books and notes. If you are to write an essay. It would be foolish on your part to cut and paste. But no biggie to clarify definitions and such.

Some tests will even be timed. So, if you’re not savvy enough to answer the questions fast enough, that will/could impact your grade. As it would likely take you longer to get the answer. Meaning, obviously, that you can’t find the answer in a timely fashion…

Making up rules to confess that you’ve broken is kind of silly. If you find out you weren’t supposed to be doing this… you need to let your teachers know your misunderstanding. See if there is something that would have you do. If you find out you weren’t supposed to be doing this, but keep your A’s…and fail to admit your wrong to the school… will require a trip to the priest… who is likely (I’m just guessing) going to tell you to come clean since there is time to do so!

 

[Julian0404]

I have taken several statistic and math classes in college where it was always open book. My wife takes on line classes and uses the book to answer questions. Einstein is famous for NOT memorizing and always using books to look up formula’s, as he didn’t want to fill his mind with stuff that is in “books”.
I think “faithfully” nailed, it. If you were NOT to use your book, they would have a monitored test area for you to attend.

 

[RiaWallace]

In all of the online classes I have ever taken the teachers have always assumed that it would be open book/notes. I have never heard of an online class where it is expected for the students to refrain from utilizing text books, so I think that you are safe. Good for you for being conscientious though!

 

[Spirithound]

Ok so I take online courses for school. Basically there are graded assignments for each or every couple lessons, a mid unit exam, and then a final exam for each unit then a final exam for all four units. I have always answered questions with my notes and books and I never thought of this as cheating until recently when I began examining my conscience for my first confession. I’m not sure if this is cheating or not.

Online and take-home tests are open-book. Open-book tests are designed to be harder than closed-book exams. Don’t disadvantage yourself in ways your teacher never intended.

 

[LilyM]

In my experience as a student, whenever any exams or assignments were intended to be closed-book, we were always very clearly told so, either on the exam paper or by the teacher beforehand, in order to avoid confusion.

If you’ve not been specifically told that these assignments are closed-book then you have every right to assume that they are open-book.

By the way - you have to know with certainty that something is a grave sin, and then freely choose to do it regardless, before it needs to be confessed. Your situation doesn’t even come close. It isn’t even a sin, let alone potentially a mortal one that needs confession. As the previous poster said, don’t make up sin where none exists.

 

[Apollos]

Is it cheating?

I vaguely remember a time when going to school was all about learning stuff, not about scrupling over looking at your textbooks for take-home tests, which are inherently open-book. Tests used to be all about putting together what you learned, instead of obstacle courses where you are graded on your cleverness.

 

[PatriceA]

I’d make sure to consult your advisor as soon as she resumes office hours. In today’s world of cyber schooling, what people use to assume that it was open book when its an online exam is no longer an absolute. My husband took an online course last year and my daughter is cyberschooling this year and even though it was not explicitly stated so in the school handbooks, it is assumed the student CAN NOT use their books or notes for the tests.

 

[faithfully]

I vaguely remember a time when going to school was all about learning stuff, not about scrupling over looking at your textbooks for take-home tests, which are inherently open-book. Tests used to be all about putting together what you learned, instead of obstacle courses where you are graded on your cleverness.

You should check what kids have to study in elementary and high school now. What YOU learned is covered MUCH earlier, and is expected to be learned, and understood without a book. By the time a child hits high school, and is in advanced courses (NOTE the word ADVANCED) the questions aren’t adding 2+2, or solving for b. They are solving problems that require that they KNOW how to find certain data. (name removed by moderator)ut it into the equations, and THEN solve for b. This is much more advanced, and is not about being clever. It’s about knowing how to find information that you already understand, and could solve for FIRST, but that would take perhaps an hour of exam time before you get to the nitty gritty of the REAL problem to solve. This type of exam allows for stacking of multiple levels of skill and material. And possibly even cross subjects. A person might be referencing their history, and biology within an economics question for example.

Also, home testing… and therefore online education, allows for people to get a QUALITY education without moving and incurring over the top costs they would not otherwise be able to get. Where as you might remember that only those that lived NEAR a school could actually go to one.

ETA: Some topics aren’t always about right and wrong answers. 2+2. but perhaps to actually show how a person thinks, and how they can present an arguement. And well, then…“Cleverness” is actually IMPORTANT… Those people that do well are the CEO’s of many successfull companies… and well, probably some really successful scams too!
Not really sure if your comment is meant to ridicule or not. Or if you just don’t understand the environment of quality education now a days…

 

[Big_Dummy]

Simply ask the professor out loud before the test in front of everyone if this is open book or open notes? And, go by their answer. It could be, each test you took was closed book and the professor did not want to deal with failing you for cheating. After all, they do want students to return next semister.

In short, unless the professor annouces that this is a open book or open notes test, then you were likely cheating.

 

[LilyM]

Simply ask the professor out loud before the test in front of everyone if this is open book or open notes? And, go by their answer. It could be, each test you took was closed book and the professor did not want to deal with failing you for cheating. After all, they do want students to return next semister.

In short, unless the professor annouces that this is a open book or open notes test, then you were likely cheating.

It’s an online test - it’s stuff people are doing at home. So firstly there’s no possibility of asking ‘out loud in front of everyone’.

And contrary to what you’ve said, the primary assumption in such a situation is and must be that people doing these online assignments at home WILL have their books and materials to hand and WILL use them in completing the assignments. Someone who wants a closed book exam will bring the students into a classroom to do it. A place where they can be monitored, books confiscated and it can be verified that no materials were used in writing the answers. They won’t put questions out on cyberspace and leave the students to do them at home.

And why would a teacher fail a student for using notes unless he or she explicitly SAID (which it seems wasn’t the case) that notes were NOT to be used? It’s a teacher’s responsibility to ensure that a student adequately understands the instructions, including that a test is closed book. Like I said, in an online (completed at home) test such as the OP’s, the basic assumption is absolutely that it is open book unless otherwise stated.

I knew of a situation once where, due to poor instructions by the teacher, students did the test wrong. If memory serves, they thought they only had to answer three questions out of the selection given when the teacher had intended it to be four, or some such. However, no-one was penalised, because all made the same mistake. The teacher who stuffed up, also manned up and marked those who due to his/her stuffup had only answered three questions as if they’d answered the requisite four.

I’m sure the same accommodation would be made in this case even if the teacher HAD intended the assignments to be closed-book, as I can guarantee every one (or nearly all) of the other students would also have been doing the assignments on an open-book basis. It’s not cheating, it’s the natural default assumption when one is doing online assignments at home.

 

[PatriceA]

It’s an online test - it’s stuff people are doing at home. So firstly there’s no possibility of asking ‘out loud in front of everyone’.

And contrary to what you’ve said, the primary assumption in such a situation is and must be that people doing these online assignments at home WILL have their books and materials to hand and WILL use them in completing the assignments. Someone who wants a closed book exam will bring the students into a classroom to do it. A place where they can be monitored, books confiscated and it can be verified that no materials were used in writing the answers. They won’t put questions out on cyberspace and leave the students to do them at home.

And why would a teacher fail a student for using notes unless he or she explicitly SAID (which it seems wasn’t the case) that notes were NOT to be used? It’s a teacher’s responsibility to ensure that a student adequately understands the instructions, including that a test is closed book. Like I said, in an online (completed at home) test such as the OP’s, the basic assumption is absolutely that it is open book unless otherwise stated.

I knew of a situation once where, due to poor instructions by the teacher, students did the test wrong. If memory serves, they thought they only had to answer three questions out of the selection given when the teacher had intended it to be four, or some such. However, no-one was penalised, because all made the same mistake. The teacher who stuffed up, also manned up and marked those who due to his/her stuffup had only answered three questions as if they’d answered the requisite four.

I’m sure the same accommodation would be made in this case even if the teacher HAD intended the assignments to be closed-book, as I can guarantee every one (or nearly all) of the other students would also have been doing the assignments on an open-book basis. It’s not cheating, it’s the natural default assumption when one is doing online assignments at home.

From the way I read the OP’s post, this is purely a course they are taking online. Meaning, there is no brick and morter type classroom setting and if that’s the case, it is more than likely there is an honor code that the teachers presume the students adher to and the tests and quizzes are not open booked. Online schools would lose all their credibility if they had an open book policy for all their courses, especially if its a course that is required for a degree of any sort.

 

[faithfully]

From the way I read the OP’s post, this is purely a course they are taking online. Meaning, there is no brick and morter type classroom setting and if that’s the case, it is more than likely there is an honor code that the teachers presume the students adher to and the tests and quizzes are not open booked. Online schools would lose all their credibility if they had an open book policy for all their courses, especially if its a course that is required for a degree of any sort.

And how would they enforce this? Online courses do infact allow open book testing. And if they don’t want people to use a book, they utilize a certified test center. The honor system is not a valid enforcement system.

ETA: Good Article that explains how online/open book testing is fine. As a person generally does not do well if they aren’t prepared…

 

[Spirithound]

Online schools would lose all their credibility if they had an open book policy for all their courses, especially if its a course that is required for a degree of any sort.

Two further considerations are in play for an open-book exam. First, the questions are harder. Since the books are open, the student should know where to get the information. Second, there is a time limit, which makes extensive book-reading very unwise.

An open-book exam is nothing different from an essay.

 

[thirdworld]

Hey guys I just wanted to thank you for all of your responses they’ve been very helpful.

My advisor ended up replying to me today and yes I am allowed to use my book to answer questions and it is not considered cheating.

 

[LilyM]

Online schools would lose all their credibility if they had an open book policy for all their courses, especially if its a course that is required for a degree of any sort.

Wherever did you get this idea? It might possibly apply if your discipline of study is of a scientific or mathematical nature, but even then students do at times do written assignments that involve, for example, researching journal articles and using them in the written assignment. Obviously in such cases the notion of ‘closed book’ is not even an issue.

I did a five-year history/law double degree with nary an open-book exam or assignment in the whole five years of study. I don’t know any university in Australia that WOULD (except very rarely) employ closed-book tests for law or history subjects, or any other humanities subject, such as English literature, philosophy or whatnot.

Historians, philosophers and students of English literature are NOT any the less credible for not having information memorised - in fact the ability to research is an essential skill, and no historian, philosopher or English lit professor worth their salt would say otherwise than that the ability to research and absorb current knowledge is much more important than rote memory of facts, dates, or any other material that might possibly be included in a non-closed-book exam.

To a lesser extent the same is true of law - it changes constantly, so a good percentage of what law I might have been able to learn off the top of my head when I began my degree was certainly redundant by the time I reached the end of it. Rote memorisation of legal cases is a similarly pointless exercise for tertiary students as the rote memorisation of the date of the Battle of Gettysburg or Marx’s definition of dialectical materialism.

 

[PatriceA]

Wherever did you get this idea? It might possibly apply if your discipline of study is of a scientific or mathematical nature, but even then students do at times do written assignments that involve, for example, researching journal articles and using them in the written assignment. Obviously in such cases the notion of ‘closed book’ is not even an issue.

I did a five-year history/law double degree with nary an open-book exam or assignment in the whole five years of study. I don’t know any university in Australia that WOULD (except very rarely) employ closed-book tests for law or history subjects, or any other humanities subject, such as English literature, philosophy or whatnot.

Historians, philosophers and students of English literature are NOT any the less credible for not having information memorised - in fact the ability to research is an essential skill, and no historian, philosopher or English lit professor worth their salt would say otherwise than that the ability to research and absorb current knowledge is much more important than rote memory of facts, dates, or any other material that might possibly be included in a non-closed-book exam.

To a lesser extent the same is true of law - it changes constantly, so a good percentage of what law I might have been able to learn off the top of my head when I began my degree was certainly redundant by the time I reached the end of it. Rote memorisation of legal cases is a similarly pointless exercise for tertiary students as the rote memorisation of the date of the Battle of Gettysburg or Marx’s definition of dialectical materialism.

Got the idea from my husband’s professors, as he is taking his graduate degree through online courses. Same with my daughter’s cyberschool. All tests are closed book, unless otherwise stated by the teacher/professor and if it is determined they have used their notes or an open book for a test, they can be expelled.

 

[PatriceA]

And how would they enforce this? Online courses do infact allow open book testing. And if they don’t want people to use a book, they utilize a certified test center. The honor system is not a valid enforcement system.

ETA: Good Article that explains how online/open book testing is fine. As a person generally does not do well if they aren’t prepared…

We had to sign school documents, both my husband and my daughter. No open book testing unless the teacher specifically states its allowed. No use of books or notes while taking the tests or quizzes.