ONLINE Courses - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jun 22, 2005

ONLINE Courses

Date: Jun 22, 2005

I've been amazed by how few profs give proctored examinations. Many don't bother giving face-to-face exams at all. Shhhhhhhhh......don't tell SACS.

Date: Jun 22, 2005

amazing grace wrote:

I've been amazed by how few profs give proctored examinations.

I thought that it is customary for graduate students to proctor examinations. What's the problem?

Date: Jun 22, 2005

I'm puzzled about this as well. At one point, the proctoring fee paid for a person who kept up with the exams (as in making sure professors scheduled them and sent them -- you know who you are) and made sure they got sent around securely. We proctored online exams in the IS office. Is that no longer done?
This was one of the concerns about parts of CEDL being turned over to the departments with no increase in budget or personnel. Coordinating online proctoring was more of a job than you would think, and it needed to be centralized. I can understand having it done at least on the college level. LB is a great person, very dedicated and capable.

Date: Jun 22, 2005

USM needs to face the facts. The students are cheating during the quiz-exam-testing activities online. Students are making the quality of our online courses a joke. How many faculty would tolerate cheating by a student in a class held in the classroom? It seems that I have heard that the CoB situation involves two accounting courses - both taught online by an adjunct in Jackson, giving very easy exams, students learning little, cheating is a given on all of his exams, minimal course expectations, etc. Now when the CoB finally tries to address the issue by having proctored exams its appears it wants to break a promise to a staff person to be compensated for overtime. That is consisten in the CoB from what I hear, broken promises and ignoring problems by failing to insure proper supervision over the content taught by an adjunct. Let's face the facts - USM has a problem with the credibility of its online courses and this is only one of many examples that could be used. I also hear that there are other online courses on campus are having similar problems with cheating by students. Maybe SACs is right USM does have problems with distance learning. Now which administrator has the greatest influence over distance learning? Here's Kenny once again.

Date: Jun 22, 2005

Face Facts wrote:

USM needs to face the facts. The students are cheating during the quiz-exam-testing activities online. Students are making the quality of our online courses a joke....Maybe SACs is right USM does have problems with distance learning.

I hear that the cheating in Eng 203 is especially high. Are such matters of interest to SACS?

Date: Jun 23, 2005

If we're to "face the facts," we need to hear a few more of them. What little has been posted sounds like hearsay.

Date: Jun 23, 2005

There are a percentage of students who get caught cheating in 203. The papers are run through a system used by many disciplines in many Universities. I think it is pretty hard to successfully cheat in 203.

Date: Jun 23, 2005

not a cheater wrote:

There are a percentage of students who get caught cheating in 203. The papers are run through a system used by many disciplines in many Universities. I think it is pretty hard to successfully cheat in 203.

Cheater, I think you missed the point on Eng 203. It's not the papers, it's the lack of proctored exams. How do you know who is actually taking tests? How do you know who is sitting next to the test taker? It could be his roommate, his girlfriend, or even a hired ringer. By not requiring proctored tests, the powers that be are winking at cheating and encouraging profs not to test.

Could it be that cheating and low standards are part of the plan to hit 20,000? Dismantling the staff and system for proctoring on line courses may be part of the "grand plan."

Date: Jun 23, 2005

Cheetah wrote:

not a cheater wrote: There are a percentage of students who get caught cheating in 203. The papers are run through a system used by many disciplines in many Universities. I think it is pretty hard to successfully cheat in 203. Cheater, I think you missed the point on Eng 203. It's not the papers, it's the lack of proctored exams. How do you know who is actually taking tests? How do you know who is sitting next to the test taker? It could be his roommate, his girlfriend, or even a hired ringer. By not requiring proctored tests, the powers that be are winking at cheating and encouraging profs not to test. Could it be that cheating and low standards are part of the plan to hit 20,000? Dismantling the staff and system for proctoring on line courses may be part of the "grand plan."

There are many well respected (tier-1) universities offering a broad array of on-line courses. How have they dealt with the concerns you describe with respect to cheating? I don't wish to put words in your mouth, but it sounds as though you believe that cheating is given a wink and a nod at USM, but isn't an issue at other institutions. In other words, when other schools offer on-line education it's OK, but when promoted at USM it's a facet of a sleazy Thames plan to increase enrollment. I'm truly not trying to be argumentative. I just want to know how other universities have addressed these concerns. What are they doing that we aren't doing?

Date: Jun 23, 2005

Serious Question wrote:

There are many well respected (tier-1) universities offering a broad array of on-line courses. How have they dealt with the concerns you describe with respect to cheating? I don't wish to put words in your mouth, but it sounds as though you believe that cheating is given a wink and a nod at USM, but isn't an issue at other institutions. What are they doing that we aren't doing?

I have no idea what well respected (tier-1) universities do about this. I hopethat USM thoroughly explored that before implementing the system. I imagine that what USM is doing is not necessarily what the well respected (tier-1) are doing. Either way, it is USM's responsibility to see that it is done right. Administering exams without a proctor is appropriate only at a school that has an honor system that prohibits the faculty member from monitoring the exams. USM is not in that category.

Date: Jun 24, 2005

Face Facts wrote:

USM needs to face the facts. The students are cheating during the quiz-exam-testing activities online. Students are making the quality of our online courses a joke. How many faculty would tolerate cheating by a student in a class held in the classroom? It seems that I have heard that the CoB situation involves two accounting courses - both taught online by an adjunct in Jackson, giving very easy exams, students learning little, cheating is a given on all of his exams, minimal course expectations, etc. Now when the CoB finally tries to address the issue by having proctored exams its appears it wants to break a promise to a staff person to be compensated for overtime. That is consisten in the CoB from what I hear, broken promises and ignoring problems by failing to insure proper supervision over the content taught by an adjunct. Let's face the facts - USM has a problem with the credibility of its online courses and this is only one of many examples that could be used. I also hear that there are other online courses on campus are having similar problems with cheating by students. Maybe SACs is right USM does have problems with distance learning. Now which administrator has the greatest influence over distance learning? Here's Kenny once again.

The problems with distance learning at USM predate the offering of online courses. The administration chose to imply that the "problem" resulting in SACS probation was with online courses, but if you look at the timeline, online courses were not offered at USM until the fall of 1998.

You are correct in saying that Ken Malone has great influence over distance learning--the Gulf Coast operation falls within SACS' definition of distance learning because the GC operation is away from the main campus.

Date: Jun 27, 2005

Just curious - at the beginning of this thread it was stated that a staff person who had proctored exams had not been paid. Does anyone know if she has been paid yet? If not then it says much about your university - cheap. When you fail to pay a staff person who probably makes little over min. wage it says volumes about the administration of any organization, public or private, in education or not. If she has not been paid some administrators should be very ashamed. Who does this staffer work for?

Date: Jun 30, 2005

No she has not! It's a sad situation. She's expected to proctor again next week then twice more this semester. The lady in question already works an outside job just to make ends meet. Do the powers care? Absolutely not.

Date: Jun 30, 2005

The infamous CoB is where she works. Proctoring is being done for an Accounting adjunct that never sets foot on this campus.

Date: Jun 30, 2005

So who is to blame for this staff person not being paid? The chair? The Dean? The Provost? The VP of Business? Can this university not even pay someone for work performed? I understand an agreement was made. So the university can't pay a bill to an employee? Not much integrity in this chain of command.

Date: Jun 30, 2005

InquiringMind wrote:
From my sources in the CoB, one secretary was asked by her boss to proctor exams for an adjunct faculty member, not on campus, for four nights this semester with the understanding that she'd be compensated.

Is there an HR expert out there who can chime in here? If the secretary is classified as "non-exempt" and is asked to work overtime, doesn't the law say that he/she has to be paid time and a half overtime?

Date: Jun 30, 2005

Magnolia wrote:

Is there an HR expert out there who can chime in here? If the secretary is classified as "non-exempt" and is asked to work overtime, doesn't the law say that he/she has to be paid time and a half overtime?

Synopsis of Law

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $5.15 an hour. Overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/

Date: Jul 2, 2005

Obviously she should be paid. Now.

Isn't the real question why does any department offer online classes if none of its faculty are willing to cover them? Whether in-load or out of load, online courses must be covered by USM faculty members. Hiring non-faculty, especially out-of-towners (like Jackson), begs for exactly what has happened. The person hired has no loyalty to the course, department, college, or university, and is merely doing it for whatever money he or she can extract from it (no long-term commitment). Care to wager that the administrator hiring these people told them something like "there is not much to it" and "it will not take much time"? Lo and behold, it doesn't. Brothers and Sisters, this is another sad chapter in our history.