[Gotcha]

In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal with a
few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of a
project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far, my
evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list of
detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor intensive
for me.

Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would uniquely
identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same copy of
Word or from the same Wintel machine?

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If they're not very savvy (and are using their own personal computers and
not ones in a lab somewhere), looking at the document Properties might be
revealing. But I would use Compare Documents to compare the files and, if
they are identical (or even sufficiently similar), give an F to *all* the
students involved. It doesn't matter who wrote the document; if he shared
it, he is cheating just as much as the ones who copied it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"gotcha" wrote in message
...
In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal with
a
few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of a
project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far, my
evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list of
detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor
intensive
for me.

Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would uniquely
identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same copy of
Word or from the same Wintel machine?

[p0]

Some students are not computer savvy enough to delete their files from
temp directories, so the next student at the machine might be capable
of finding the solution of the previous. I don't think you can blame
the original creator for that.

Maybe you could do something with track changes. If you activate
'track changes' and make sure the display is set to 'final' (this
probably is possible in a template), you might catch a couple of them
as each change by a different user should be clearly visible. So if
they would have to put their name on the first page, you would notice
if only that was changed. Smart students might of course get around
that.

If you can provide each student with a separate document to start
from, then you have a couple of options:
-you could add some kind of hidden field
-Word 2007 docx files are nothing more than simple zip files, you
could put an extra unique file in there for every student

An alternative solution, which involves more work for you, is to come
up with a couple of variations to the same exercice (bold vs italic,
small caps vs capital letters, different alignment, different font
size, ...). When the students have to alter the file they copied for a
different variation of the same exercice, they will pretty fast
realise that it is just less work to do the entire thing themselves.

Yves

On 30 sep, 23:42, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
If they're not very savvy (and are using their own personal computers and
not ones in a lab somewhere), looking at the document Properties might be
revealing. But I would use Compare Documents to compare the files and, if
they are identical (or even sufficiently similar), give an F to *all* the
students involved. It doesn't matter who wrote the document; if he shared
it, he is cheating just as much as the ones who copied it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"gotcha" wrote in message

...



In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal with
a
few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of a
project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far, my
evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list of
detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor
intensive
for me.

Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would uniquely
identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same copy of
Word or from the same Wintel machine?- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -

[macropod[_2_]]

Unless Word crashes, its temp files are deleted when the app is closed. Consequently, it's highly unlikely one or more miscreants
were simply lifting material from another student's temp files. For starters, they need access to the same machine and have reason
to believe the previous student's Word session crashed.

--
Cheers
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]


"p0" wrote in message ...
Some students are not computer savvy enough to delete their files from
temp directories, so the next student at the machine might be capable
of finding the solution of the previous. I don't think you can blame
the original creator for that.

Maybe you could do something with track changes. If you activate
'track changes' and make sure the display is set to 'final' (this
probably is possible in a template), you might catch a couple of them
as each change by a different user should be clearly visible. So if
they would have to put their name on the first page, you would notice
if only that was changed. Smart students might of course get around
that.

If you can provide each student with a separate document to start
from, then you have a couple of options:
-you could add some kind of hidden field
-Word 2007 docx files are nothing more than simple zip files, you
could put an extra unique file in there for every student

An alternative solution, which involves more work for you, is to come
up with a couple of variations to the same exercice (bold vs italic,
small caps vs capital letters, different alignment, different font
size, ...). When the students have to alter the file they copied for a
different variation of the same exercice, they will pretty fast
realise that it is just less work to do the entire thing themselves.

Yves

On 30 sep, 23:42, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
If they're not very savvy (and are using their own personal computers and
not ones in a lab somewhere), looking at the document Properties might be
revealing. But I would use Compare Documents to compare the files and, if
they are identical (or even sufficiently similar), give an F to *all* the
students involved. It doesn't matter who wrote the document; if he shared
it, he is cheating just as much as the ones who copied it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"gotcha" wrote in message

...



In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal with
a
few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of a
project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far, my
evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list of
detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor
intensive
for me.

Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would uniquely
identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same copy of
Word or from the same Wintel machine?- Tekst uit oorspronkelijk bericht niet weergeven -

[Tom [Pepper] Willett[_2_]]

Back in the *old* days, before computers, people were able to identify
plagiarism.

Tom
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
: If they're not very savvy (and are using their own personal computers and
: not ones in a lab somewhere), looking at the document Properties might be
: revealing. But I would use Compare Documents to compare the files and, if
: they are identical (or even sufficiently similar), give an F to *all* the
: students involved. It doesn't matter who wrote the document; if he shared
: it, he is cheating just as much as the ones who copied it.
:
: --
: Suzanne S. Barnhill
: Microsoft MVP (Word)
: Words into Type
: Fairhope, Alabama USA
:
: "gotcha" wrote in message
: ...
: In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal
with
: a
: few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of a
: project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far, my
: evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list of
: detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor
: intensive
: for me.
:
: Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would
uniquely
: identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same copy
of
: Word or from the same Wintel machine?
:
:
:
:

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Sometimes rather belatedly, though. My mother, who taught English for six
years, wrote in her autobiography:

There were some bleak moments [in teaching], too, such as the time one of my
smartest boys, assigned to write a poem, turned in one that was really
outstanding. If the boy had been a less talented student, I might have
suspected him of cribbing, but I never gave that a thought about this
particular boy. When I later ran across that poem in an anthology, I was
crushed. I have often wondered how he felt when I bragged on him so lavishly
and he knew he had cheated.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"Tom [Pepper] Willett" wrote in message
...
Back in the *old* days, before computers, people were able to identify
plagiarism.

Tom
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
: If they're not very savvy (and are using their own personal computers
and
: not ones in a lab somewhere), looking at the document Properties might
be
: revealing. But I would use Compare Documents to compare the files and,
if
: they are identical (or even sufficiently similar), give an F to *all*
the
: students involved. It doesn't matter who wrote the document; if he
shared
: it, he is cheating just as much as the ones who copied it.
:
: --
: Suzanne S. Barnhill
: Microsoft MVP (Word)
: Words into Type
: Fairhope, Alabama USA
:
: "gotcha" wrote in message
: ...
: In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal
with
: a
: few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of
a
: project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far,
my
: evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list
of
: detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor
: intensive
: for me.
:
: Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would
uniquely
: identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same
copy
of
: Word or from the same Wintel machine?
:
:
:
:

[p0]

I was thinking about students who made something on a lab computer and
then copied the result to a memory stick or mailed it to the tutor. I
know it happened a lot when I was a student. That aside, the temp
files that Microsoft creates with autosave are temporarely stored on
your hard disc and can often be recovered afterwards. All you need is
the correct tools and some patience.

I wouldn't consider handing out your version to others cheating
anyways. I remember doing it as a student to verify my work with
others. Of course, I only handed my work out to one other person I
knew well enough to trust him with it.

Yves

On 1 okt, 06:21, "macropod" wrote:
Unless Word crashes, its temp files are deleted when the app is closed. Consequently, it's highly unlikely one or more miscreants
were simply lifting material from another student's temp files. For starters, they need access to the same machine and have reason
to believe the previous student's Word session crashed.

--
Cheers
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]



"p0" wrote in ...
Some students are not computer savvy enough to delete their files from
temp directories, so the next student at the machine might be capable
of finding the solution of the previous. I don't think you can blame
the original creator for that.

Maybe you could do something with track changes. If you activate
'track changes' and make sure the display is set to 'final' (this
probably is possible in a template), you might catch a couple of them
as each change by a different user should be clearly visible. So if
they would have to put their name on the first page, you would notice
if only that was changed. Smart students might of course get around
that.

If you can provide each student with a separate document to start
from, then you have a couple of options:
-you could add some kind of hidden field
-Word 2007 docx files are nothing more than simple zip files, you
could put an extra unique file in there for every student

An alternative solution, which involves more work for you, is to come
up with a couple of variations to the same exercice (bold vs italic,
small caps vs capital letters, different alignment, different font
size, ...). When the students have to alter the file they copied for a
different variation of the same exercice, they will pretty fast
realise that it is just less work to do the entire thing themselves.

Yves

On 30 sep, 23:42, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
If they're not very savvy (and are using their own personal computers and
not ones in a lab somewhere), looking at the document Properties might be
revealing. But I would use Compare Documents to compare the files and, if
they are identical (or even sufficiently similar), give an F to *all* the
students involved. It doesn't matter who wrote the document; if he shared
it, he is cheating just as much as the ones who copied it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"gotcha" wrote in message

...

In teaching an Intro to Office 2007 at a tech college, I have to deal with
a
few students (usually young males) who want to pass around one copy of a
project file for 3 or 4 of them to submit as their own work. So far, my
evidence is that each student displays exactly the same lengthy list of
detail errors. I would like something more concrete and less labor
intensive
for me.

Is there something buried in a Word, Excel, etc., file that would uniquely
identify that 3 copies of the same project file came from the same copy of
Word or from the same Wintel machine?