Cheating is prohibited while the exam is in progress. Every student must follow the rules, especially for national exams. The invigilator in charge of the exam must be strict and have more than one person. Students will get a deferred warning if caught cheating.
Recently, a lecturer in the Philippines used an unusual way for her students to avoid peeking at their peers. At the same time, she also encourages her students to uphold honesty.
Creativity leads to “No Cheating.”
Students of a university in Legazpi City must wear headdresses to prevent them from peeking at their classmates’ answers. Most of the students use recycled materials, cheap and easy to obtain, to produce head ornaments. There are egg boxes, hangers, manila cards, cloth, paper bags, newspapers, etc.
Mary Joy Mandane-Ortiz, a professor of mechanical engineering at Bicol University College of Engineering, said the idea yielded good results. She also told BBC that she had been looking for “fun ways” to ensure “integrity and honesty” in her classes.
The professor carried out the project during the mid-year exam in the third week of October. Hundreds of students sat the exam, which means diversity in imagination and creativity to realize their headdress.
In 2013, a photo of students wearing “ear flaps” in an exam room went viral. “Ear flaps” are pieces of paper placed on the side of the student’s head to cover their view. The technique used in Thailand inspired Professor Mandance-Ortiz with the idea she uses for her students.
Professor Mandane-Ortiz said her engineer-to-be students only take five minutes to create their headdresses before the exam begins. The photo showing the lecturer’s students wearing the headdress they made gained media attention and received extensive coverage in the Philippines. At the same time, it inspired other universities and schools to implement the same project.
As a result, Professor Mandane-Ortiz’s students each answered the exam very well due to the strict rules during the exam. Most of them also take a short time to send the answer scripts, and students are kept from cheating while the exam is in progress.
Here is a collection of photographs taken by Professor Mandane-Ortiz:
Source: BBC