La tricherie au CÉGEP : causes et solutions possibles

Abstract : Academic dishonesty is not new and is a worldwide phenomenon. It is a problematic that every academic institution must deal with and higher education is, unfortunately, not immune to cheating. Studies pertaining to cheating have been done in various universities, but none have been done on CEGEP students and none have tried to establish a link between in-class examination cheating and types of assessment. The following quantitative research studied the link between students’ stress levels and types of assessment while addressing in-class academic dishonesty. Students’ ethics regarding cheating was addressed as well as their personal experiences with cheating during in-class examinations. An online anonymous survey was used in order to gather data. This research has helped understand that JAC students are under a lot of stress and are no different than other higher education students since they too, also cheat in large numbers. Nonetheless, students have an ethical opinion regarding academic dishonesty. They recognise it is wrong and they are capable of labelling cheating behaviour according to its gravity. Despite all of this, we have discovered that when students help each other cheat during written in-class exams, it is not judged as severely. Yet, students who admitted cheating do not overlook cheating as much as those who do not cheat. Honest students tend to view cheating behaviour as a much more serious issue. This research has also highlighted the fact that only a few students believe assessments used in their courses are effective at evaluating their level of understanding of course concepts. Students have been extremely open pertaining to their behaviour. They have explained why they cheat and how they do it. This research has also confirmed that technology plays a smaller role in academic dishonesty than previously assumed. This contradicted what was said in the literature. Undoubtedly, results obtained through our survey indicate that the types of exam given influences students’ incentive to cheat. In fact, 81 percent of students admitted cheating because of a loss of memory. Since memorization is not the primary tool required to complete an openbook exam, students tend to cheat less during this type of examination as they have access to their course material. Open-book exams (primarily) as well as cheat-sheet exams (secondly) generate the lowest incentive to cheat amongst students as well as the lowest stress level. Finally, we were surprised to learn that most students prepare for an open-book exam. We initially thought the opposite. The aim of this research was to find solutions to decrease students’ incentive to cheat. Our research results show that open-book assessments are a good solution to decrease academic dishonesty and stress levels during in-class examinations.La tricherie à l’école n’est pas un phénomène nouveau ni spécifique à un pays. Elle est internationale. Il s’agit d’un problème qui touche toutes les institutions scolaires y compris celles des études supérieures qui ne sont pas immunisées contre la tricherie. Plusieurs études au niveau universitaire ont été effectuées sur ce phénomène mais aucune n’a été menée dans des CEGEP et aucune n’a tenté d’établir un lien entre la tricherie et le type d’examen donné aux élèves. La présente recherche quantitative a étudié le lien entre le niveau de stress des étudiants et la tricherie durant des examens écrits en classe. Parallèlement, notre étude s’est également concentrée sur l’éthique des étudiants concernant la tricherie ainsi que leurs expériences personnelles de triche. Un questionnaire électronique anonyme (Survey Monkey) a été utilisé afin d’amasser les données. Notre étude a confirmé que les étudiants de JAC sont très stressés et ne sont pas différents du reste des étudiants aux études supérieures car, eux aussi, trichent. Malgré cela, il n’en demeure pas moins qu’ils possèdent une certaine opinion éthique concernant la tricherie. Ils reconnaissent que tricher est immoral, injuste et ils sont capables d’étiqueter ce comportement selon sa gravité. En revanche, nous avons découvert que, lorsqu’il s’agit d’entraide au moment d’examens, ils jugent ce comportement de façon moins sévère que lorsqu’un étudiant triche en solitaire, sans l’aide d’un autre. Dans la même ligne d’idée, les étudiants qui admettent tricher sont plus tolérants voire indifférents face à ce comportement que ceux qui ne trichent pas. Les étudiants honnêtes jugent la tricherie de façon beaucoup plus sévère. Notre recherche a également souligné le fait que les étudiants trouvent que les méthodes utilisées afin d’évaluer leurs connaissances et compréhension du matériel enseigné sont inefficaces. Nous avons été surpris de l’ouverture et de l’honnêteté des étudiants concernant leurs comportements déviants. Ils nous ont expliqué pourquoi ils trichaient et comment ils le faisaient. Par exemple, ils trichent afin d’améliorer leurs notes mais également selon le type d’examen donné en classe. De plus, lorsqu’ils n’ont que la mémorisation comme outil lors d’un examen ou lorsqu’ils sont incapables de se rappeler de faits et données, ils ont tendance à tricher plus fréquemment. En outre, 49 pour cent des étudiants ont admis partager le scénario d’un examen pratique et considérer cela comme une tricherie négligeable. Notre recherche a également confirmé que la technologie joue un rôle plutôt secondaire lorsque les étudiants trichent. Nous pensions le contraire et ce fait contredit également ce qui a été rapporté par d’autres recherches. Conséquemment, les résultats obtenus par notre recherche démontrent que le type d’examen utilisé influence les comportements déviants des étudiants. Ainsi, 81 pour cent des étudiants ont admis tricher lorsqu’ils sont incapables de se rappeler la matière couverte dans l’examen. Puisque la mémorisation n’est pas nécessaire afin de compléter un examen à livre ouvert, les étudiants ont tendance à moins tricher lorsqu’ils passent ce type d’examen puisqu’ils ont accès à leurs livres et notes de cours. De plus, les examens à livre ouvert ainsi que les examens où un aide-mémoire est permis, sont les types d’examens qui génèrent le plus bas taux de tricherie ainsi que le plus bas taux de stress. Finalement, nous avons également été surpris d’apprendre que, contrairement à ce que nous croyions au départ, la grande majorité des étudiants étudient pour un examen à livre ouvert. Le but de notre recherche était de trouver des solutions afin de diminuer la tendance des étudiant à tricher. En répondant à notre questionnaire en ligne, les étudiants ont été très francs et nous ont aidé à mieux comprendre les raisons qui les poussent à tricher. Ils nous ont également éclairé quant à de nouvelles idées et techniques que l’on pourrait utiliser afin de réduire la tricherie lors d’examens écrits et abaisser leur niveau de stress. Les résultats obtenus par notre recherche sont on ne peut plus clairs : les examens à livre ouvert sont une très bonne façon de réduire l’incitation à la tricherie. C’est pourquoi nous croyons que la première solution pour freiner les tricheurs serait de faire passer à nos étudiants des examens à livre ouvert avec pour conséquences positives une réduction importante du stress et un encouragement à ne pas tricher

TRUNK MOTION DURING A HALF-MARATHON: THE IMPACT OF PERCEIVED FATIGUE ON MOTION STABILITY AND SMOOTHNESS

Our objective was to investigate the effects of acute fatigue on stability and smoothness of trunk motion during a half marathon. 13 recreational runners were fitted with a GNSS-IMU sensor on their chest. Every 10 minutes of the race, the participant pronounced their perceived fatigue, recorded by a smartphone attached to the arm. We divided the race into 8 equal segments, corresponding to one fatigue score per segment, and considered only level running. Based on mediolateral acceleration and running velocity (v), stability was characterized by spectral entropy, RMS of acceleration (RMSA), and autocorrelation between successive steps and strides; smoothness by jerk cost (JC), spectral arc length (SPARC), and inverse number of peaks (IPV) of v. Both RMSA and JC increased significantly shortly after race onset. RMSA increased significantly at a lower perceived fatigue level, while JC increased at a higher level. Whereas other measures did not change substantially, RMSA and JC showed a clear change with acute fatigue and also differentiated well between the five fastest and five slowest runners. With increasing perceived fatigue, both parameters showed a higher change for ‘slow’ group. This study highlights the loss of stability and smoothness in running due to acute fatigue and the importance of simultaneously measuring perceived fatigue and trunk biomechanics under real-world conditions

CONCURRENT ASSESSMENT OF SYMMETRY, VARIABILITY, AND COMPLEXITY OF STRIDE DURING PROLONGED OUTDOOR RUNNING

The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of acute fatigue on the asymmetry, variability, and complexity of the running pattern. We equipped 11 half-marathon participants with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) on each foot and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-IMU sensor on chest. Every 10 minutes of the race, the participant pronounced their perceived rating-of-fatigue (ROF) on a scale of 1 to 10. We divided the race into 8 equal segments, with one ROF score per segment, and included only the flat running parts. Temporal gait parameters were extracted using validated algorithms, followed by the computation of their asymmetry, and the variability and complexity of the cycle time (CT). Gait asymmetry increased significantly toward the end of the race and at higher perceived fatigue; faster runners showed a greater increase in asymmetry. CT variability increased significantly at the beginning of the race and then remained stable for all participants, but faster runners showed up to 20% less variability. No significant change was observed in CT complexity. This study highlights the increase in asymmetry and variability due to acute fatigue, with differences between fast/slow runners, and the importance of simultaneously measuring perceived fatigue and gait parameters under real-world conditions

SWIMMING PHASE-BASED PERFOMANCE EVALUATION USING A SINGLE IMU IN FRONT CRAWL

The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of using a sacrum-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU) for performance evaluation in each swimming phase (wall push-off, glide, stroke preparation, and swimming) of national-level swimmers in front crawl technique. Nineteen swimmers were asked to wear a sacrum IMU and swim four one-way 25-m trials in front crawl, attached to a tethered speedometer and filmed by cameras in the whole lap for validation. Based on the literature, several goal metrics were defined over speedometer data, each one representing the performance of the swimmer either in one phase (maximum velocity of wall push-off phase) or several phases (time of 15 meters for wall push-off, glide, stroke preparation phases). Following a macro-micro approach, the IMU parameters of each swimming phase were used to predict the goal metrics. The selected IMU parameters were in line with the characteristics of movement within each phase and can estimate the corresponding goal metric with an R2 over 0.8 and relative RMSE lower than 10%

Alternatives to prison for drug offenders in Belgium during the past decade

Objective: Imprisonment has a more pronounced criminogenic effect on drug offenders than on other types of offenders. Additionally, little research has been conducted on the practical application of drug-related alternatives to prison. Therefore, this study describes drug-related alternatives to prison in Belgium over a ten years' period since 2005. Methods: The applied drug-related alternatives to prison ('probation', 'conditional release', 'mediation in criminal cases', 'community service' and 'electronic monitoring') were subject to a secondary data analysis of the database of the Houses of Justice. Results: Men, the age group of 16-24 years old and Belgians are most sentenced to alternatives to prison. Nevertheless, 38% of women are guided towards 'probation' while 8% is 'mediated in criminal cases' compared to 30% and 5% of males respectively (p < .001). 26% of non-Belgians are involved in 'conditional release' and 'electronic monitoring' compared to 22% and 16% among Belgians (p < .001) respectively. With regards to age, 21% of the offenders older than 24 years are involved in 'electronic monitoring' compared to 6% among the offenders younger than 25 years (p < .001). Conclusions: The results highlight differences in punishment judgments by age, gender and nationality that continues to be indicative for perceived threat, danger and culpability of the offenders

Cheating in CEGEP: Causes and Possible Solutions

Essai présenté à la Faculté d’éducation en vue de l’obtention du grade de Maître en enseignement (M.Éd.) Maîtrise en enseignement au collégial.Comprend des références bibliographiques

In-field assessment of change-of-direction ability with a single wearable sensor.

The Agility T-test is a standardized method to measure the change-of-direction (COD) ability of athletes in the field. It is traditionally scored based on the total completion time, which does not provide information on the different CODs. Augmenting the T-test with wearable sensors provides the opportunity to explore new metrics. Towards this, data of 23 professional soccer players were recorded with a trunk-worn GNSS-IMU (Global Navigation Satellite System-Inertial Measurement Unit) device. A method for detecting the four CODs based on the wavelet-denoised antero-posterior acceleration signal was developed and validated using video data (60 Hz). Following this, completion time was estimated using GNSS ground speed and validated with the photocell data. The proposed method yields an error (mean ± standard deviation) of 0 ± 66 ms for the COD detection, - 0.16 ± 0.22 s for completion time, and a relative error for each COD duration and each sequential movement durations of less than 3.5 ± 16% and 7 ± 7%, respectively. The presented algorithm can highlight the asymmetric performance between the phases and CODs in the right and left direction. By providing a more comprehensive analysis in the field, this work can enable coaches to develop more personalized training and rehabilitation programs