The Poison of Points

Some recent turmoil in the Twitterverse about points and cheating…

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Exhibit A: Clickers and Points

Why I assign participation pts: RT @hannahmeisel This class went from 750 persons to 100 after prof announced not using #iclicker for pts.

— Roger Freedman (@RogerFreedman) October 5, 2011

@fnoschese @rogerfreedman @hannahmeisel I have seen large lectures where one student sits down and pulls out 4 clickers. Attend 1/4 classes.

— Gary Heaton (@gary_heaton) October 6, 2011

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Exhibit B: Cramster and Homework Points

@mathhombre The sad thing is, one of my students *did* copy at least one solution down correctly. #uhoh

— Robert Talbert (@RobertTalbert) October 8, 2011

@RobertTalbert @mathhombre Why would a student copy the solution from Cramster?

— Frank Noschese (@fnoschese) October 8, 2011

@fnoschese @mathhombre It's a HW problem from the book submitted for a grade.

— Robert Talbert (@RobertTalbert) October 8, 2011

@RobertTalbert @mathhombre Well, that's the problem right there. 😉

— Frank Noschese (@fnoschese) October 8, 2011

@fnoschese @mathhombre I hear you. This was an experiment this semester I don't think I'll be repeating.

— Robert Talbert (@RobertTalbert) October 8, 2011

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Exhibit C: Khan Academy Cheats

Still found a way to cheat on the new khan academy #yeah@AlexxratedisfuckingawesomeatlifeCADMONEY!

— Bryce Plant (@BPlant18) October 5, 2011

@BPlant18 Which cheat did you find?

— Ben Kamens (@kamens) October 5, 2011

@alexxrated dude from khan academy tweeted back at me

— Bryce Plant (@BPlant18) October 5, 2011

@kamens wouldn't you like to know

— Bryce Plant (@BPlant18) October 5, 2011

@BPlant18 Hahahaha — when people submit cheats we give 'em "Hacker" badges nobody else has. If they don't we subtract 8,000,000,000,000 pts

— Ben Kamens (@kamens) October 5, 2011

@kamens hmm that's a tough decision

— Bryce Plant (@BPlant18) October 5, 2011

@BPlant18 is that khan cheat the one Jessie told us?

— Jeffrey Herbst (@JHerbst22) October 5, 2011

@JHerbst22 yeah it worked on the ipad

— Bryce Plant (@BPlant18) October 5, 2011

See also:

• Cheating Khan Academy Point Counter in watching videos
• Khan Academy Bookmarklet that is meant to automatically answer your current question correctly

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Exhibit D: Khan Academy and Points

@astillman @fnoschese I found some students spent valuable time reviewing simple concepts they knew really well for more points.

— David Wees (@davidwees) October 10, 2011

@smartinez @fnoschese She said she really liked seeing her points go up quickly "without having to think too much."

— David Wees (@davidwees) October 10, 2011

@davidwees @fnoschese when the goal is points, it encourages point scoring behavior.

— Sylvia LibowMartinez (@smartinez) October 10, 2011

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I think all of this cheating and gaming is great. Why? Because it forces us to improve our practice. (Or would you rather wear yourself out playing “To Catch a Cheater?”)

If students do homework and go to class solely because if points, there is a larger systemic issue that needs to be addressed.

To which you say, “But if I don’t give points, they won’t do it.”

So where does it stop? Why do we let ourselves become willing participants in this game for points? We need a culture shift.