120 Creativity to Deter Cheating in Canvas with Lyn Van Swol – 04.18.2018

In the April 18, 2018 Active Teaching Lab, Lyn Van Swol from the Department of Communication Arts shared strategies for eClassroom management. Participants learned tips and tricks to save time when teaching online or blended courses as well as techniques to deter cheating on quizzes. For more information, check out the slides from the presentation and work through the session’s activity sheet.

Takeaways

• Opt for more frequent, smaller assessments, such as Quizzes in Canvas, versus one large exam only.
• Make each Quiz low stakes (= low points) that add up to a larger aggregate. Mustering up the organization and effort to cheat isn’t worth the effort for only a few points.
• Don’t write “All of the above” or “None of the above” response options on a Quiz if allowing Canvas to shuffle answer choices. “All of these” / “None of these” is much less confusing when presented as option A or B in a multiple-choice question.
• Rotate case studies every semester to minimize sharing of written analyses.
• For written assignments, allow students to choose their own topics. This strategy improves student motivation and engagement while making the assignment more personalized and, thus, more difficult to copy in the future.

Video

Active Teaching Labs are held Fridays from 8:30-9:45am in room 120, Middleton Building (1305 Linden Dr.) as well as some Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30pm in room 302 Middleton Building. Check out upcoming Labs or read the recaps from past Labs.

Similar to the Active Teaching Labs, Active Teaching Exchanges feature instructors sharing their teaching experiences with tools and techniques, but provide more time for discussion without the hands-on investigation time. Exchanges are are held Thursdays from 1-2pm in room 120, Middleton Building. See the full calendar of both events. Stay informed about upcoming Labs and Exchanges by signing up for regular announcements by sending an email to join-activeteaching@lists.wisc.edu.