To whom it may concern, It has come to the attention of many students within the electrical/computer engineering department that

academic dishonesty is rampant. Those of us who have seen it occur have taken what limited actions we could as students: talking to professors, advisors, and even TAs. It seems many instructors feel that we (the students) are all adults, and have made it to the 300 & 400 level classes due to hard work and studying. While this is in fact the case for many students, others seem to have made it this far by taking less honest roads. Cheating is still a problem that persists, but there are solutions to several of the cheating methods that have been witnessed. The Problems The biggest concern for cheating is during exams. Exams are typically the largest portion of a students grade for a class, and thus, the biggest factor in affecting a grade. Many of the methods students use to cheat are: Using unauthorized material during exams such as notes (if theyre not allowed) and solutions manuals to text books. Unauthorized communication between students during an exam Passing written material such as notes or the exams themselves Verbal communication between students during an exam Looking at the exam next to them, or allowing other students to do so Working on the exam past the allotted time

While these problems may seem obvious, this document wouldnt exist if they were not an issue. Because all of these problems have been observed, some students have spoken to their professors about these cases of academic dishonesty. Some of these professors reacted and tried to remedy the problem, but many made absolutely no changes and provided only excuses. Below are some of the common responses students received. Instructor Responses You will be better off in the long run than the students who cheated. This may hold true in some cases. It would not be surprising to find a student who got away with cheating on an exam fired from a job later in life for their inability to work independently, or for other dishonest activities. This excuse however ignores the fact that the cheating hurts the honest students now. It has a direct and negative impact on the grades of these honest students because it affects the overall curve on the exam/class. This in turn hinders their chances of getting an internship, or a job, or the course grade they deserve. The exam is over so there is nothing I can do to fix it now. While sometimes this is true, it implies that the professor recognizes there is in fact a problem. This statement is bothersome because the problem could easily have been prevented. Many instructors who

have said this made no changes to the way the next exam was given. To recognize a problem like this and do nothing is not only unethical, but highly unprofessional. The TA I had proctor the exam is a smart student, he is just unfamiliar with how to properly proctor exams. If a professor says this it means that they already recognized that the TA they had proctoring the exam might not be able to handle cases of academic dishonestly. To knowingly put someone like this in charge of proctoring a test is unacceptable. We feel that even though these problems have been around for years, the only reason they persist is because some instructors have become complacent in their test giving methods. We have outlined several solutions to this problem that would greatly reduce the amount of overall academic dishonesty within the department. The Solution What follows is a set of simple rules to be followed when an instructor gives an exam. The course instructor must be present at all given exams or quizzes. We feel that one of the main reasons individuals get away with cheating is because for the most part, the TAs do a poor job of proctoring exams by themselves. We have come across several situations where the TA will simply pass out an exam, and then sit down at a desk behind a computer, completely unaware of what the students are doing. They will not be looking for signs of cheating. Its this complacency that allows cheating to persist. Even if a TA does see cheating during an exam, not only are they powerless to take disciplinary action, but they wouldnt feel comfortable using this authority if they had it. All exams must also have an additional observer other than the instructor watching out for academic dishonesty. Because exams have such a large impact on the overall grade, this is where most, if not all of the cheating occurs. This extra individual can be a TA, another instructor, or even an unbiased student with an hour to spare for the sake of fairness. We know of several students willing to do this, ourselves included. Not only must there be two sets of eyes, the individuals watching the exam must be walking around, making sure that there is no foul play. Whenever possible, create gaps between students during exams. We know that most classrooms are completely full of students, so this will not always be applicable. However in any class there exist groups of friends who like to sit next to one another. This is fine for day-to-day lectures, but during exams, there should be some randomness between students. They should not be sitting next to friends or anyone that might be willing to let them cheat. This policy goes for all groups of students, because you cannot only apply this to a select few.

Instructors should be encouraged to create multiple sets of different exams. This does not mean creating two completely different sets of exam questions, it simply means altering the numbers to the problems a bit so the same answer will not appear. This would create obvious discrepancies between exams and would make it much more difficult to copy answers from a neighbor. Conclusion While it is unfortunate that these cheating problems exist, we feel that with the solutions we provided, the problem can be drastically reduced. We dont believe we are asking too much of our instructors to follow these simple rules. With the cost of tuition and fees as high as they are, we expect high academic standards. All we are striving for is fairness during exams so that our grades reflect how well we actually did. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. We hope that you will support us in our efforts to reduce academic dishonesty. Regards, Tyler Bohlke tbohlke@iastate.edu Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Iowa State University

David Callen dwcallen@iastate.edu Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Iowa State University