So – we engaged in TMD:
Cheating – friend, foe or scapegoat?
• What does it say to you about learning?
• About teaching?
• About the relationship between students, teachers and the university?
• About the wider social and cultural context we’re working in?
• About the purpose of higher education?
– and some people wrote brief poems in response to their discussions about the prompts…
And here they are!!!
How would you analyse these as qualitative data gathered on the subject of ‘cheating – friend, foe or scapegoat’?
Poem1:
Cheating is cheating, we’ve all done it…
Cheating is cheating, we hide from it…
Cheating is cheating, don’t show it…
Cheating is cheating, we’ve all done it.
Small or big, wrong!
Cheat to win, strong!
Get caught out, long!
You’re a cheat, be gone!
Get away with it, winning!
Tell your friends, singing!
Done it once, just the beginning!
Got the result, grinning!
Poem2:
What is classified as cheating?
Would sharing your own knowledge
be classified as cheating?
You know,
That friend in need
Who could do with a gentle push
Towards the right answer
I’m not giving away the answer
Just merely suggesting…
You look on
Page 13
Paragraph 3
Line 4.
Am I saying the right thing?
I’m reading the same literature
I must be saying the same things
The same words
They must have heard this
A million times over
How can I make them hear me
The way I hear their words?
Poem3:
Can help you when you are stuck
Have you ever?
Everyone does it
As long as you hand it in 1st
That is the deal
Idea sharing could be another term
Negativity is not the key.
Go away and copy someone now!
Poem4:
Why did you cheat?
Why did you cheat?
Why did you cheat?
It was never my first decision to cheat.
Why did you cheat?
Your teaching methods weren’t working.
Why did you cheat?
Your method didn’t apply to everyone.
Why did you cheat?
I couldn’t ask you for help.
But that didn’t answer my question
On why you cheated?
Because there’s 30 of us and
you’re teaching one way.
Why did you cheat?
Everyone was doing it.
I don’t believe you,
Why did you cheat?
Because I’m struggling.
You cheated because you
were struggling?
I cheated because you never
showed us different ways of teaching.
I struggled because, I struggled
because you never created an
environment where I felt comfortable.
Lastly I struggled because I’m
Dyslexic but to you ‘I cheated’.
Poem5:
Communication
That is lost in translation.
Society failed.
Poem6:
Plagiarism is dumb,
You lose your voice in others.
Let your shout be heard.
Poem7:
When you’re in a rut and feeling stressed,
And know full well your words works not at it’s best.
‘Why did I leave it to the last minute?’ you say –
And now, ‘How can I push my guilt away?’
If only I hadn’t spent all of my time
Dossing and glossing
And more working and searching
The maybe the due date wouldn’t loom over me
And my anxiety wouldn’t chase after me
Thinking I could outsmart turnitin and
Then wouldn’t have to turn it in
In the state it was in
Still cheating?
Stop grinning you’re not winning!
Poem8:
Cheating is time concealing,
That can be revealing,
When your head is observable
And being less considerable.
Aim of the game never to be obtained
Use your tricks and trades
And make it your own
Never concede even when
The cows come home.
Poem9:
To cheat or not
To learn or not
Knowledge is the end
Or can I cheat?
Learning is the answer
Cheating is the answer
Is this the truth
Or is this a lie?
Knowledge is the key
Wanting the answer
Wanting the end
May be cheating is the end.
To cheat or not
To learn or not
Knowledge is the end
Cheating is not the key.
Postscript
And just for fun – here’s a collaborative playful poem – with clues! – from the guy who gave us ‘Steal this poem’ – http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/2015/02/10/a-poem-a-puzzle-an-act-of-playfulness/
Becoming An Educationalist 