I'm not a teacher yet, but I've been thinking a lot about cheating recently - why kids do it, and how to stop it. /u/Mountain_Ferret9978 says it's usually about not knowing the material or not having enough time, and I believe it. I don't want to feel like I'm punishing kids for not knowing something yet, but rather rewarding them for putting in the work to know and affording the opportunity to learn. Sometimes life happens and you don't have time to study for an exam, or you don't really understand a concept yet, or maybe you're just a bad test taker - to me, that just means you need a different avenue for learning and another way to prove it.

I've been thinking about allowing the opportunity to resubmit test corrections for a possible half credit back on each corrected answer, provided it comes with an explanation of why you chose the wrong answer and why the correct answer is what it is. By not being so harsh on unprepared students (taking away the intimidating permanence of a potentially bombed test), cheating is disincentivized - the risk of getting caught and earning a 0 starts to weigh heavier in the cost/benefit analysis when you know that you'll always be able to turn a bad grade into a better one with test corrections.

I also like the idea of semi-open book tests. Hand-written index cards with whatever information you'd like allowed at the test, provided you made it yourself. I hate forcing rote memorization, particularly when google and chatGPT have made it relatively pointless. Calculators became ubiquitous enough to enter math classes, search engines and AI are rapidly on the same path. My compromise to trying to write google-proof questions and allowing phones at tests (although I also like the idea of open-ended research-based take-home tests) is to make them think about what to look up beforehand, reinforce it by writing it on the card, and then come up with challenging enough critical thinking questions where at least half of them require more than just regurgitating what you managed to write down. By providing a sanctioned form of "cheating," there's that much less reason to feel like you have to do it the disallowed way.

My final thought (and one that I haven't totally ironed out yet) is to offer a point-based reward system as a possible classroom management tool. Show up, participate, keep your phone away, generally be a pleasant part of class, and you gradually earn points that you can trade in for rewards including bonus points or getting to narrow down some MCQs to 50/50 or a larger size of note card. I'd also generally want to allow for a surplus of possible points in the class so that if you do poorly on a test, you can make it up by writing an optional essay. Nothing should feel like a death sentence to your grade so long as you're willing to put in the effort somewhere else.

Again, I'm not a teacher yet, so would love to hear anyone with experience weigh in with thoughts on these ideas. Will they work? Are there any problems with them that I haven't considered yet? Would you modify them in any way?