Ethical Case Study : Is It Cheating?

A brief description in our own words of the situation.

I am teaching 10th grade. One of my best students turned in a paper that obviously shows
he/she used CliffsNotes. CliffsNotes have not yet been specifically prohibited, but "conduct
that undermines the academic objective of the assignment" is prohibited by our school
handbook. It's up to me to make and ethical decision regarding how to deal with this student
and his/her paper.

The Conflict:Teachers should be able to recognize that individuals' interests might conflict,
that each of these individual’s interests carry the same initial weight, and that careful
deliberation is required to arrive at some justified course of action. (Fawn)
Major interests involved:

The student: since they are one of my best students, this student obviously has an interest in
keeping good grades and a clean academic record. There might be an issue of stress or over-
load of classes on the student, however, that prompted this use of Cliff's Notes.
The teacher: I want students to do the work as assigned in order to prompt learning and
develop critical thinking skills. Using a set of pre-written notes has another person's bias
attached and if any phrases were written verbatim from Cliff's Notes then it might be
construed as plagiarism.
i. The school: my school has an interest in maintaining a proper
educational environment and has a vested interest in the decision that I
make in this situation.

Could this decision or situation be damaging?

Yes. The student, as one of the best in my classes, has a reputation to uphold and
obviously cares about her grades and academic performance. I want to
promote an environment of academic progress and creativity and if I allow one student to blur
the line of cheating then others may follow that path as well and that would be incredibly
damaging to the overall class' learning.

Does this decision involve a choice between two alternatives?

Yes and No. We could boil it down to “yes it is cheating” or “no it's not” but there are also
grey areas between the two where a satisfactory resolution might be reached. For
example, I might decide to permit this infraction because it was not expressly forbidden
beforehand, but specify that from this point forward that Cliff's Notes are
not allowed.

Is this issue about more than what is legal or what is most efficient?

The heart of this issue rests not only on what is legal, but what will encourage
constructive behavior from this student and other students in the future who will look to
this as an example of what is correct to do.
Facts:

Known:

Cheating, as defined, is prohibited

Student used CliffsNotes

CliffsNotes was not specifically prohibited

Use of study aides not mentioned

One of your best students

-Inferred- Student did not plagarize

-Inferred- Student did not copy

Unknown:

Did the student even read the work?

-Options- a. Did not read work. b. Could have read the work, but used CliffsNotes as a study
guide.

What was “the academic objective of the assignment”?

-Inferred- “A critcal analysis after the student's own reading of the book”

Is student's paper “academic dishonesty”?

-Inferred: “...turns in a paper that is obviously the result of using CliffsNotes...”

Can I learn more? Do I know enough to make a decision?

Knowing specifcally what the assignment was would help, as well as how the paper was
“obviously a result of using CliffsNotes.” Speaking with the student about this would gather
more useful facts which may shift an understanding of the stakeholders. Use “Interpersonal
Skills” and “Empathy” to see if the student understood the assignement and/or was aware of
their mistake. However, in this case we will use what is inferred from the given information to
make a decision.

3. What groups have a stake in outcome? What are their concerns? (Howe's Interpersonal
skills and Empathy are used here)

-Student:
Needs: good grades, recognition. Pressure: parents, teacher, peers

-Teacher:

Needs: respect, fairness. Pressure: time contraints, effort to punishment (vs. no

consequence).

-Other students:

Needs: fairness. Pressure: parents, peers.

-School:

Needs: Upholding ethics, consistency. Pressures: parents, community

-Parents:

Needs: Being too busy to be involved in this issue, child's achievement vs. child learning
lesson (not to cheat).

-Community:

Needs: raising individuals with concern for resposibility and honesty.

4. Are some concerns more important than others?

All stakeholders concerns are equally important, although some are more timely. The
students' grades will be affected immediately, whereas as parent's and community suffering
because their student did not learn a lesson is more long-term or cumulative.

5. Because the handbook (in this assignment) does not define the punishment for cheating,
there are many options for acting.

a- Do nothing, grade the paper as usual.

b- Give a slightly lower grade for cheating.

c- Tell the student solely using CliffsNotes is prohibited and let the student re-do the
assignment.

d- Give the student a zero for cheating.

e- Any of choices b - d, in combination with notifying students parents.

f- Any of choices b - e, in combination with notufying school superiors.

Empathy: The ability to assume the viewpoints and imagine the feelings of others is one of
the the hallmarks of moral deliberation. (Mike to do)
I like this student, she is one of my best and I am pleased with how engaged she is in the
class. I do not know what prompted her to make use of the CliffsNotes for this assignment,
whether she did not understand the book to be analyzed, or if she managed her time poorly
and needed a quick fix to complete the assignment, or if she just found the notes to be helpful
in beginning her analysis. I cannot tell if she read the book, or if she just paraphrased
CliffsNotes. Since I have a good opinion of her, I am inclined to think she did not knowingly
intend to "undermine the academic objectives of this assignment," but I will need to quiz her
and find this out.
I can understand that other students, who did the more difficult work of reading and
analyzing on their own, would believe that it is unfair for her work to be evaluated in the same
way that theirs was. To restore a sense of fairness and equality to the class, I will need to
make clear my policy on the use of CliffsNotes and other prepared study guides on future
assignments.
Interpersonal Skills (Katie to do) I did it. Its included in #3 above. Should I be writing more about
it?? (no, just put it here) oops. I reorganized somewhat because interpersonal skills are used both
in Getting the Facts and Acting and reflecting on the outcome. the assignment says to analyze the
case keeping howe's in mind, so I'm not sure that organizing with Howe's as headings is the best
way. The bulletpoints (in the assignment) of what to address in our analysis seems to coincide
with santa clara's "framework for ethical decision making" and the rubric, so Fawn and I have
been organizing it this way. I'm open to discussing this.
Knowledge: Teacher must possess knowledge that allows them to formulate reasonable
strategies and anticipate their consequences. ( Mike to do)
I would like to think through my possible actions in the case by considering the 5 sources of
ethical standards. The choices that I have for action are
a- Do nothing, grade the paper as usual.

b- Give a slightly lower grade for cheating.

c- Tell the student solely using CliffsNotes is prohibited and let the student re-do the
assignment.

d- Give the student a zero for cheating.

e- Any of choices b - d, in combination with notifying students parents.

f- Any of choices b - e, in combination with notifying school superiors.

If I consider what will do the most good and the least harm (The Utilitarian Approach) I
would choose to have the student re-do the assignment. The student would not be punished
for the use of what should have been a prohibited source, nor would she gain unfairly from its
use, she would gain the benefits of doing the work herself, and the rest of the class would not
have their efforts compared to those of the non-conforming student's. If I consider the moral
rights of all affected (The Rights Approach) I might give the student a lower grade for the use
of the CliffsNotes. If I let her re-do the assignment, this might be considered an unfair second
chance by the other students, some of whom may like the chance to redo the paper for a
better grade.
If I consider how I might treat every student evenly (The Fairness Approach) I would also
choose to give the student a lower grade. She did violate the portion of the handbook that
prohibits "conduct that undermines the academic objectives of the assignment" since the
directions were to do the analysis on her own. If I consider the good of the entire classroom
(the Common Good Approach) I would reach the same conclusion as the previous two
approaches - I would give her a lower grade (knock her down one letter).
If I think of how the decision would reflect upon me as a person, I would like to be
considered "tough, but fair." With that in mind, I would give her the choice of either re-doing
the assignment without the CliffsNotes, or taking a lower grade than she would have earned
if the quality of the work had been completely of her own doing. So, the five different
approaches do allow me to narrow my choices, though they do not settle upon one choice.
Nice job! Quite concise! still, question of format from Katie- Mike would you want to change
this into a bullet point format for the ppt? List the options under headings from howe's and the
assigment, namely moral principle, strategy and possible consequences? Or should we
all change into paragraphs and turn in a doc?
(I really hate turning this into a presentation. It's going to be read, therefore it should be a
wordprocessor document. That said, I can bulletize it if we agree to make it a presentation -
Mike)
How about a pres with notes, as Vail suggested in your email?
Fawn Says: I vote for a presentation with notes. I volunteer to compile it. Let's talk about this
on Sunday a.m.
The Bullet/Presentation version of the above would be
Slide 1:
Choices for Actions: (Title)

a- Do nothing, grade the paper as usual.

b- Give a slightly lower grade for cheating.

c- Tell the student solely using CliffsNotes is prohibited and let the student re-do the
assignment.

d- Give the student a zero for cheating.

e- Any of choices b - d, in combination with notifying students parents.

f- Any of choices b - e, in combination with notifying school superiors.

Slide 2:

Ethical Approaches and Consequences (Title)

* Utilitarian Approach

* Most good/least harm - Re-do assignment

 * Rights Approach

* Give Lower Grade

* Fairness Approach

* Give Lower Grade

* Common Good Approach

* Give Lower Grade

* Virtue Approach

* Give choice of lower grade or re-do

In Notes, I would add the text and reasoning that I had above.

Reasoning: Teachers must be able to draw conclusions on the basis of the preceding
characteristics to derive a rule of conduct to apply in an ethical dilemma or to recognize that
the situation is covered by previously derived moral principles.
Make a Decision and Test It

Which option best addresses the situation?

Student will redo the assignment. In this case, the Ulitarian Approach gives me the best
decision. It will allow the student to learn from her mistake as well as complete the learning
objective from the original assignment. I will consider it fair to the other students because
she/he will have to spend time working on the assignment again. Although she/he did violate
the terms of the student handbook, that portion of the handbook is somewhat vague, and I
know that this student would not intentionally cheat.

Further, the next time I create an assignment, I will specifically prohibit the use of CliffNotes
and similar study aides. I will reference the student handbook and turn it into a discussion with
my class to see if they can understand how study aides can "undermine the academic
objectives of [an] assignment."

Consequences

Student may be upset by my decision, but I will explain how I arrived at it. I could have given
a zero, called parents, etc, but I felt this decision had the most benefit to all involved.

If other students find out about my decision, and they are upset, I will again explain how this
decision was the most fair, given the language of the rule, and did the least harm.

Act and Reflect on the Outcome:

Courage: Finally, teachers must have the courage to follow through on the conclusions of
their deliberations. (Katie done- may need to be changed depending on fawns decision.)
To implement my decision with care to all stakeholders, I will again use Howe' Interpersonal Skills.

Student- Privately discuss my decision with the student.

Parent- Not neccesary to discuss with parents if student complies.

Other students- Announce that use of study aids is prohibited. Discuss the language of the cheating
rule. No one benefits from a class discussion regarding one student.

School- Announce decision at department or faculty meeting for discussion and feedback.

Community- Need not be notified but benefits regardless.

How did my decision turn out and what have I learned?

I have to consider my decision based on student's reaction. If student does not comply, I will have to
start all over and reconsider my options. If student complies, decision is successful

I have already learned that assignments and rules must be very clearly worded to help with future
ethical decisions.