Splicetoday

On Campus
Jul 17, 2008, 08:04AM

Challenging Cheating

The Internet's widely celebrated for facilitating the easy exchange and organization of information. Just think about eBay and how it makes a global yard sale possible. But is some information, like the content of academic tests, better kept away from the collective prying eyes of the Internet? Is it cheating to look at old questions on tests? A new website is forcing colleges to grapple with exactly these questions.

A Web site developed this year that allows students to share old exams online is causing debate among professors about its ethical implications.

PostYourTest.com is an educational tool that lets students anonymously upload materials and tests from their previous and current classes, said Demir Oral, creator of the site. However, there are teachers who do not want their tests to be posted for every student to see.

In response to criticism of the site from professors, Oral said he wants people to know the site is a tool for education and not a tool for cheating.

However, Mary Bojan, professor of chemistry at PSU, said she wouldn't mind if students posted her tests online.

He added teachers can ban their exams from the site if they don't want students sharing them online.

"The first professor that banned his exams said he wanted to ban them because he was copyrighting them and publishing them in a book, and that made total sense to me," Oral said.

Bojan said the biggest problem she saw with students posting material online would be putting up tests the teachers wanted handed back in.

"Common sense needs to come into play with something like this because there's a student responsibility side to it," she said. "Having access to an exam you're not supposed to is cheating."

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