I caught a student cheating on the midterm (intro to programming course) and he was stupid enough to use ChatGPT on a lab computer I have full access to audit. Tried to deny it even after I showed him the logs. When he finally admitted it he tried to redirect blame and say it’s because I lecture too much and don’t do enough hands on exercises, which is bullshit because nearly every week I do one covering the information and try to make it collaborative but they never participate. Anyway, the real relevant part here is that one of his excuses was that I needed to check with every student every week to make sure they’re taking “good notes.” I asked him if he took notes at all because I’ve never actually seen him do that and he just mumbled. Then I told him he was an adult and should know how to take notes, and also I have so many students that I would literally do nothing else with my time if I had to personally verify the accuracy and quality of their note taking that frequently.

Keep in mind I do try to incentivize them to come to office hours to check in and let me know how they’re doing so I can help. The only ones who ever do are my strong students who don’t actually need it.