Short Circuit

Not that long ago I was administering an examination in one of my classes. I like to use short answer questions because it requires that the student demonstrate more understanding than the typical multiple-guess format. This type of format also reduces the possibilities of cheating since it is much more difficult to read handwriting from a few feet way than it is to see which bubbles have been marked.

This one day the examination was in full-swing; everyone was worrying or writing. Some were probably doing both. I was at the front of the classroom and decided to sit. I was seated a few feet from the front row of desks. There was one student in the front row; he was right in front of me. It was a rare thing to have anyone in the front row, especially during exams; but he was there. I was looking through a book. He was "thinking," and then writing.

I don't remember just how much time passed before I noticed that this front row guy was sitting with a peculiar posture. His arms were on the desk and his head was hanging. It was a familiar posture for regular class as students fell asleep listening to my provocative lectures. It was not, however, a normal posture during exams. I was curious.

Within a few moments of watching this student I noticed a glow coming from under his desk. The desks were like table tops. They didn't have any front or sides on them. So, I am seeing this glow and thinking that this is not normal. Was he watching television? Was he an alien with special reproductive organs that glowed to attract mates? It was only a few seconds before I recognized that it was a Palm Pilot.

I leaned forward and asked the student, "What is that?"
Without any hesitation, he said, "It's my Palm Pilot."
I then asked him, "What are you doing with it?"
Again, without hesitation, he said, "Sometimes I use it to play games."
I thought, "What a non sequitur," and then in that question/demand tone of voice I said, "Why don't you turn it off?"
He said, "Okay," and the light went out.

Now, the dilemma: I can confiscate the Palm Pilot immediately and take the exam from the student, or wait. If I interrupt the exam, and he is somehow innocent of cheating, I have injured him. If I confiscate his Palm Pilot, which probably has other personal data on it, I run the risk of invading his privacy, which is beyond the scope and privilege of my investigation. If I take his Palm Pilot and it gets damaged while in my possession, I have more liability. I decided to allow the student to finish the exam and keep the device in his possession.

I required that he stay in the room until the last student had left the exam. I then told this student with the previously glowing crotch to follow me to my office. As we were walking down the hall I noticed that he was doing something with the device in question. I suspected that he was trying to delete any incriminating information. I told him to turn the device off and leave it alone until we reached my office. He complied.

Once we got to my office I asked him to explain what was going on. He didn't hesitate to confess to cheating. According to school policy, merely having the device in class, even turned on, did not constitute cheating. It would have been deemed irregular testing taking behavior until proven otherwise. Without his confession or the discovery of information that would have helped him in the exam, I would have had a difficult time escalating the charge to cheating. His confession made all of that moot. I didn't need to prove anything.

It took a real short circuit for that student to attempt using his device with me sitting only three feet away, especially sitting at a level where I could hardly help but see the glowing screen. Perhaps it was mere stupidity, or desperation. Perhaps he didn't think that the screen created a glow. It was funny because it was so blatant, and risky, with me so close at hand.

The decision regarding the penalty for his actions will be left for another time. There was no humor in it that I can see at this time. There was only the difficult question about how we should view this cheating behavior with regard to someone training to become a health care professional.