I assigned the creativity activity at the end of Unit 3 Lesson 7 to do a free drawing. A few of the drawings look “too good” and I suspect the students got code from elsewhere. Is there a way to confirm this? Look at their version history?
I also look at their version history - I just have them bring up their computer and show their version history to me. I have also verbally quizzed students on “hey, what does THIS part to” if it looks really too advanced.
BUT, I would say 3/5 times, the kid has just spent a lot of time researching and got excited about the project. So, it is possible that it is their own work…
I agree, sometimes it looks “too good”. But I also have to say that I check at least once each day or every other day by walking around or checking in code.org to see their progress. Especially on some of the more detailed work. Like Unit 3 Lesson 10. Getting out to see what they are doing also builds classroom community.
Checking version history in a pinch also works.
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Bump. There is plagiarism detection software available from Stanford called MOSS. I use it in my AP Computer Science A classes. However, it requires that all of the programs exist in a single directory and it only compares similarities between students (e.g. one student copying off of another).
It would be ideal if code.org allowed us to download all of the code for a specific lesson or exercise as a zip file. Then we can utilize other tools to detect plagiarism, if not MOSS then something else. I had 128 students in 4 classes of CS P this year and I have found a few instances of plagiarism across classes. But it would be better if I didn’t have to rely on my memory and use an automated tool instead.
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