Cheating and Pedagogy: the Ethics of Disruption
I am late posting this because this week was start-up week at our
college - meaning as an administrator I had the responsibility of making sure
classes started without a hitch. There was no ability to cheat, to cut corners here, it required dedication and long hours. But at the same time this week has
provided me with many opportunities to think about cheating in relation
to pedagogy. Also since one of the courses I teach was held on Thursday
at the same time as the syncronous unhang out, I am playing a bit of catch-up.
As someone who is invested in ethical pedagogical strategies the topic of cheating is one loaded with potential. There is definitely a power dynamic involved in learning and I strong believe emphasizing a rhizomatic way of thinking within the classroom is one way to challenge an overtly top down power structure which sees the instructor/ professor as the keeper of all knowledge and all other learners as those who need to heed what is being said.
There are many ways to achieve this rhizomatic learning within the classroom. (I will speak about it's ability in online platforms tomorrow with my colleague Karen). One concept that I constantly engage with is how HigherEd reinforces the belief that one should not show lack of knowledge if you are the instructor. This is often seen as a sign of weakness or poor prep. Sure seeming completely out of ones element does not encourage learning nor a safe productive learning environment. What I am speaking of are those moments when a student asks you a question that you may not know the answer to instantaneously. This is a perfect example/opportunity of how collaborative learning can mimic the rhizome.
Instead of the hasty, I don't know, or I'll get back to you, we can choose to make these teachable moments where all participate in finding the answer (or more often answers) to a query. As I say often this is seen as balking at traditions, namely the lecture type sage on stage teaching paradigm. These are in fact powerful moments to be embraced. It is a way to disrupt and at the same time reinforce learning.
In some ways this week I have participated in embracing and resisting cheating. I have avoided reading any one else's posts so I could not cheat off of them, crib ideas, until I had my starting point firmly in writing. Now I am going to go in search of ideas, in search of other great moments of connection to see where it all leads.
I already have many points of departure prepared even without searching for collaborative learning moments on Twitter or P2P. As I say I will speak to how cheating and the rhizome works/ can work in an online with my colleague Karen tomorrow. I also want to speak to citations with an English classroom in order to pick up ideas from (cheat off of?) Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) to show how citation (or lack there of) may have larger cultural foundation.
Finally, I will post on the larger ethical repercussions of poorly phrased math problems, following a discussion on Twitter this week with Bonnie Stewart (@bonstewart), in order to demonstrate the rhizomatic ability of the feeling of ineptitude to shadow one's confidence about the ability to do math.
Long live the rhizo!
As someone who is invested in ethical pedagogical strategies the topic of cheating is one loaded with potential. There is definitely a power dynamic involved in learning and I strong believe emphasizing a rhizomatic way of thinking within the classroom is one way to challenge an overtly top down power structure which sees the instructor/ professor as the keeper of all knowledge and all other learners as those who need to heed what is being said.
There are many ways to achieve this rhizomatic learning within the classroom. (I will speak about it's ability in online platforms tomorrow with my colleague Karen). One concept that I constantly engage with is how HigherEd reinforces the belief that one should not show lack of knowledge if you are the instructor. This is often seen as a sign of weakness or poor prep. Sure seeming completely out of ones element does not encourage learning nor a safe productive learning environment. What I am speaking of are those moments when a student asks you a question that you may not know the answer to instantaneously. This is a perfect example/opportunity of how collaborative learning can mimic the rhizome.
Instead of the hasty, I don't know, or I'll get back to you, we can choose to make these teachable moments where all participate in finding the answer (or more often answers) to a query. As I say often this is seen as balking at traditions, namely the lecture type sage on stage teaching paradigm. These are in fact powerful moments to be embraced. It is a way to disrupt and at the same time reinforce learning.
In some ways this week I have participated in embracing and resisting cheating. I have avoided reading any one else's posts so I could not cheat off of them, crib ideas, until I had my starting point firmly in writing. Now I am going to go in search of ideas, in search of other great moments of connection to see where it all leads.
I already have many points of departure prepared even without searching for collaborative learning moments on Twitter or P2P. As I say I will speak to how cheating and the rhizome works/ can work in an online with my colleague Karen tomorrow. I also want to speak to citations with an English classroom in order to pick up ideas from (cheat off of?) Sarah Honeychurch (@NomadWarMachine) to show how citation (or lack there of) may have larger cultural foundation.
Finally, I will post on the larger ethical repercussions of poorly phrased math problems, following a discussion on Twitter this week with Bonnie Stewart (@bonstewart), in order to demonstrate the rhizomatic ability of the feeling of ineptitude to shadow one's confidence about the ability to do math.
Long live the rhizo!
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