TO CHEAT OR NOT TO CHEAT DISCUSS HOW

“TO CHEAT OR NOT TO CHEAT…”

DISCUSS: HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE WITNESSED CHEATING AT SCHOOL? HOW WIDESPREAD IS THIS CHEATING ISSUE--HIGH SCHOOL? COLLEGE? THE WORKPLACE? FAMILY AND FRIENDS? POLITICIANS? CELEBRITIES? BEYOND? WHY DO PEOPLE CHEAT?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CHEATING AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY?

VIDEO #1: “PROFESSOR QUINN ACCUSES CLASS OF CHEATING” Video Link http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=rbz. JTTDO 9 f 4 Brief Summary of Video In this 15 -minute video, Professor Quinn reveals to the class that approximately ⅓ of students cheated on the midterm because Quinn found the publisher’s test bank of 700 questions anonymously placed in his box (presumably) by a concerned student. Quinn explains the consequences, specifically that all students must retake the midterm.

1. HOW WELL DOES QUINN APPEAL TO ETHOS? TO PATHOS? TO LOGOS? TO WHAT EXTENT DO THESE RHETORICAL APPEALS LEND TO HIS CREDIBILITY? EXPLAIN. @ 1: 00: “We were going to cover chapter 9, but that has been preempted” meaning that this issue he is alluding to—the CHEATING—is more important @ 1: 25: “the toughest lecture I’ve ever had to give, and for some of you…the toughest lecture you’ve had to hear. ” @ 1: 52: looking at the data, which showed the exam was running “about a grade and a half higher than it was before [last year]” @ 2: 15: “…you don’t see that kind of grade improvement by chance…”

CONTINUED: 1. HOW WELL DOES QUINN APPEAL TO ETHOS? TO PATHOS? TO LOGOS? TO WHAT EXTENT DO THESE RHETORICAL APPEALS LEND TO HIS CREDIBILITY? EXPLAIN. @ 2: 30: the grade distribution for the summer Capstone course (a “relatively normal distribution”) versus the fall (current) grade distribution which is a “bi-modal distribution” … “exist when an external force is applied to the data set”—fancy language suggesting that something outside of natural law affected the test scores @ 4: 30: “thank you to all of the lab instructors, assistants, and all of the team who spent the last 96 hours writing a new exam…with 200 questions, none of which come from a test bank”

CONTINUED: 1. HOW WELL DOES QUINN APPEAL TO ETHOS? TO PATHOS? TO LOGOS? TO WHAT EXTENT DO THESE RHETORICAL APPEALS LEND TO HIS CREDIBILITY? EXPLAIN. @ 5: 45: “over the course of the last 4 -5 days, your lab instructors, academic services, and the Office of the Dean have begun and are continuing a forensic analysis of not only all of the data but all of the available traffic over all of the available environments to provide us with better information about how all of this started…right now we have narrowed the pool of participants to about 1/3 of the class. ” @ 6: 30: “ …when you get to lab this week, look at the person on the left of you and the person on the right of you and, statistically, one of them cheated. ”

CONTINUED: 1. HOW WELL DOES QUINN APPEAL TO ETHOS? TO PATHOS? TO LOGOS? TO WHAT EXTENT DO THESE RHETORICAL APPEALS LEND TO HIS CREDIBILITY? EXPLAIN. @ 7: 50: “…we will turn our findings over to Academic Affairs… and they will do what they need to do to protect the integrity of the university and to protect the integrity of the college [of Business]” @ 9: 45: “…if you want to take a high-risk gamble, I challenge you to take it…because we know who you are. We know where you are. ”

CONTINUED: 1. HOW WELL DOES QUINN APPEAL TO ETHOS? TO PATHOS? TO LOGOS? TO WHAT EXTENT DO THESE RHETORICAL APPEALS LEND TO HIS CREDIBILITY? EXPLAIN. @ 8 -10 minutes: Quinn offers the “deal” of confessing and taking a four-hour ethics course to wipe one’s academic record clean—OR— “when Academic Affairs is done, you will know the outcome [of the consequences if you don’t openly confess]. ” @ 10: 55: “Two legal staffs of two other universities are pursuing this with their legal teams…” @ 11: 45: “To say I am disappointed is beyond comprehension, physically ill, absolutely disgusted, completely disillusioned, trying to figure out ‘what was the last twenty years for? ’”

CONTINUED: 1. HOW WELL DOES QUINN APPEAL TO ETHOS? TO PATHOS? TO LOGOS? TO WHAT EXTENT DO THESE RHETORICAL APPEALS LEND TO HIS CREDIBILITY? EXPLAIN. @ 12: 26: “for those of you who took the shortcut, don’t call me…don’t ask me to do anything for you. Ever. ” @ 13: 25: “if you have to give birth, you’re gonna give birth in the exam room…because it’s gonna have to take a signed, hand-delivered note from God for you to get out of taking this midterm exam. ”

2. WHAT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WOULD YOU REQUIRE BEFORE MAKING A JUDGEMENT ABOUT THIS CASE? WHY? Discuss as a class

3. EXPLAIN YOUR OPINION OF THE STUDENTS' ACTIONS. DID THEY CHEAT? HOW DO YOU KNOW? Discuss as a class

VIDEO #2 Video #2 “UCF Richard Quinn Misleads Capstone Students Test Scam Cheating” http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=p. JG 7 a. CQt. I 8 E

RESPOND… Write a few sentences explaining Professor Quinn's students’ rebuttal--what are the students arguing? Is their argument valid? How do you know? What further information might you need? To what extent does the students' argument affect your perception of Professor Quinn's original argument? Discuss. Write your response in the google doc you create on Monday. Be sure to share the doc with Ms. Sayles. The paragraph below is an EXAMPLE to help guide you; your response should be in YOUR WRITER’S VOICE so it will be worded different than the example. The blue text below is meant to guide you in structuring the argument, so some of this wording may sound similar, but remember to make it your own as much as possible. In this three minute, student-created video responding in captioned text to Professor Quinn’s accusations, students assert that Quinn said in he is “responsible for creating the test questions”, however he uses the prewritten publisher’s test bank of questions to create the midterm-therefore, he is misleading students, and students cannot be held liable for using the publisher-provided test bank as a study guide. The students’ argument is somewhat valid, extremely valid, not at all valid because…. EVIDENCE? ? ? My original perception of Professor Quinn was ______ but now my perception is _______ because…. EVIDENCE? ? ?

MORE INFORMATION… Read the following article AND scan the blog’s comments. Article from techdirt. com “ 200 Students Admit to ‘Cheating’ on Exam. . . But Bigger Question is if it was really Cheating or Studying? ” Author: Mike Masnick https: //www. techdirt. com/articles/20101118/214858119 28/200 -students-admit-to-cheating-exam-biggerquestion-is-if-it-was-really-cheating-studying. shtml NOTE: Make sure to view the short video where Professor Quinn ignores the student reporter attempting to question him. It should appear in the techdirt. com article, but if not the link is: http: //knightnews. com/2010/11/ucf-students-give-their-side -in-cheating-scandal-with-video/

CONSIDER…(DISCUSS WITH A PARTNER) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Explain Masnick’s position regarding the situation with the test. Is his position implied or clearly stated? What do you think of his position? What is Masnik’s tone? Make a list of words or phrases that lead you to your conclusion. Does Masnik’s argument rely more heavily on ethos, pathos, or logos? Explain. Is Masnik credible? Why or why not? How do you know? How does this information affect your position regarding Professor Quinn’s accusations and the students’ rebuttal?

AND ANOTHER’S VIEWPOINT… Read the following article AND scan the blog’s comments. The University of Central Florida Cheating Scandal Irony: the You. Tube Ethics Hero is Really the Ethics Dunce by Jack Marshall http: //ethicsalarms. com/2010/11/22/the-university-ofcentral-florida-cheating-scandal-irony-the-youtubeethics-hero-is-really-the-ethics-dunce/