I think that whatever some of us might want in an ideal world, we have to acknowledge the fact that test files and exams on the internet and all of these other developments are here, and here to stay. We need to behave as if we acknowledge this environment. You can't prevent faculty from making exam questions available if that is their judgment about the best way to conduct their classes.
I learned the hard way twenty years ago that certain students had access to my exams through files and/or pledge classes or friends, and others didn't, and I stopped repeating exam questions immediately so as to avoid giving those folks advantages. I know it is very frustrating and time-consuming to have to write new questions each time, and it prevents one from fine tuning a great body of exam questions, but to give exam questions more than once in the current environment is just irresponsible, unprofessional, and unfair to many students. I give students copies of the exams I gave in the course the previous semester in their course pack, and I make exams given before that available in test files maintained by various organizations on campus. I use questions from those old exams in teaching material, and also at review sessions before exams. But I don't reuse exam questions without changing them. (And I have found that you don't have to change them much to disguise them.)
I think we just can't afford to reuse exam questions because they are definitely available locally and may well be available world-wide on the internet. I have to start writing a contracts exam this week, and I hate this situation, but I think we are stuck with it.
Laura
-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk on behalf of Linda Samuels
Sent: Tue 3/22/2005 6:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: BLaw and Legal Environment Quizzes on the internet
Michael,
I found all your exams on the internet, so access is not limited to your students. I would prefer if my students could not find samples of other professor's exams so easily.
Linda
Linda B. Samuels, M.P.A., J.D.
Professor of Legal Studies
School of Management
George Mason University
228 Enterprise Hall, MSN 5F5
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael O'Hara <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 5:34 pm
Subject: Re: BLaw and Legal Environment Quizzes on the internet
> My web site (see URL at bottom) has the last six plus years
> of exams
> from all of my classes. Only one (by mistake) has an answer key.
>
> Since I make each exam new each time I give an exam, access
> to the
> old exams is not a negative to me: it is a positive. I encourage
> studentsto get the old and exams and study from them.
>
> Since I always am getting requests for answer keys from
> students,including those students who are socially well connected
> to grape vines on
> campus, it appears to me that greek and other affiliations that do
> collectold exams from those professors that do re-use exams, those
> students do not
> see a duty to contribute my answer keys to those "old exam"
> collections.
> As an undergraduate student who was not in a greek house on
> a very
> active greek campus, and with a prime activity of the greek system
> beingcollections of old exams, I urge all professors to not re-use
> old exams.
> To re-use old exams is not fair to those without access. To re-
> use old
> exams believing (especially in the age of the internet) that there is
> security is not wise.
>
> My wife took a biology class last year at UNO. All greek
> studentsfinished all exams in less than 30 minutes and scored an
> average of 10%
> above the mean. All non-greek students finished all exams in more
> than 45
> minutes and scored 100% of the grades below the median.
> Coincidence, or
> clear evidence of fraud?
>
> When a pure heart is coupled with an empty head it is
> difficulty to
> see a wrong being done. However, after notice is provided to the
> facultymember and to the department Chair of such statistics, then
> it is likely
> that the heart no longer is pure and it is likely that the head no
> longeris empty if more exams are re-used. Personally, in such a
> context, I see a
> violation of each non-greek student's academic freedom. Only
> because my
> wife asked me to not initiate a complaint (and tangentially I did
> not wish
> to force the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee upon which I
> serve to
> explore the contours of standing to sue with me seated at the
> plaintiff'stable) did I not initiate a complaint.
>
> Now for a comment on a related type of problem.
>
> GMAT and other standardized tests are not accurate unless
> there is
> adequate security. (Let's ignore for a moment whether --with
> security--
> such standardized tests offer an accurate assessment of anything
> relevantto admissions.) I had a student, a non-asian, who was
> fluent in Mandarin.
> He sat for a GRE and scored a "disappointing' 640. Within one
> hour of
> taking that exam he was able to read it --and-- the answer key on the
> internet in Mandarin. He then used these Mandarin "study sites"
> to prepare
> for his next sitting for a GRE less than 30 days latter. On his
> second try
> he scored an "acceptable" 750.
>
> I worry about giving one exam in two different sections that are
> farther apart in time than 15 minutes (although I routinely will
> risk 48
> hours). Four months is a tad long by my book; let alone twelve
> months.
> Michael
>
> Professor Michael J. O'Hara, J.D., Ph.D.
> Finance, Banking, & Law Department
> College of Business Administration
> Roskens Hall 502
> University of Nebraska at Omaha
> Omaha NE 68182
> [log in to unmask]
> (402) 554 - 2823 voice fax (402) 554 - 2680
> http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm
>
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