Summer Cervantez

At our school, all syllabi specify no cell phone use during class. Now, as we are a culinary school-this makes sense. Even though I don't teach in a culinary lab, but in an academic class I follow the policy carefully. I tell students I expect (and enforce) them NOT to be on their cell phones (no texting, game playing, etc). They can use them during the break, etc. Yes, they like to be connected. I would like to wear my pajamas to school....but being an adult requires you to adjust. I get this generation is "connected" through their technology, but… >>>

I was surprised that this course didn't spend more time addressing technology and plagiarism. Anyone who has been in a school in the last 10 years knows this is a very serious problem for all instructors, at all levels. I was wondering how other instructors have addressed this issue as I am always looking for new strategies. Two things I depend on to reduce plagiarism are homework assignments that are open-ended questions that demand critical thinking by applying knowledge and constantly changing quizzes, tests. It's more work. I feel a lot of teachers don't call students on plagiarism, though they… >>>

One thing I think we need to be careful of as instructors is to make sure we continually evaluate our methods of assessing student performance. In college I worked for a professor who had been using the same quizzes/tests/lecture notes for years, really for at least 15 years. This struck me then as lazy and now as in instructor I find it especially lazy. What a mistake! It is important to remember not every test or quiz or assignment we write is workable for the students and thus evaluation is key. I ask for student feedback and statistically look at… >>>

When I first caught students who were plagiarizing papers/essays/reports I was distressed and angry. To me the concept of academic integrity is one every institution and instructor should emphasize. When I spoke to my students, I started to realize some of them, especially the younger students, really just didn't get what it meant to plagiarize. Saying "don't do it" is one thing. But showing them how not to do it is something else. In my English class I review not only the rules of citation, but also review various specific examples by giving them texts, papers, etc. and having them… >>>