100 UBC students accused of cheating on math midterm

The University of British Columbiahas launched an investigation after more than 100 entry-level math students were accused of cheatingon their midterm examseveral days ago.

The investigation became public after an ominous note from the students' professor was posted online late Monday. It was also circulated to students directly.

"I am extremely disappointed to tell you that there were over 100 cases of cheating," said the note, a screenshot of which was posted to the UBC Redditthread.

"If confirmed, the students involved will receive a 0% for the course (not just the midterm) and I will recommend their expulsion from UBC."

The note is signed "Mike." The CBC has not been able to verify the UBC professor's identity. However,the university has said it's investigating allegations of widespread cheatingin one section of the math department involving entry-level math students.

There are more than 1,500 students currently enrolled in Math 100 at UBC, split up into classes of about 250.The class is being heldentirely online this semester, due to the pandemic. Midtermsarerun online as well.

Matthew Ramsey, director of university affairs, confirmed the university is investigating allegations of widespread cheating. He said itistoo early to be able to provide details on how the students might have been cheating or how they were caught.

"Those details, I'm sure, will come clear in the investigative process," he said by phone on Tuesday.

Ramsey said the professor's note was first sent to students, then posted online.

Test monitoring tools

Many schools across the country, including UBC, have been using online software extensionsto help detect and discourage cheating since classes went virtual.One test-proctoring tool, calledProctorio, monitors students for suspicious behaviour while they're writing a virtual exam.

UBC faculty canoffer an alternative, like a final project, to replace exams if they are overly concerned about cheating, but exams can't always be replaced.

"Insome instances, it is necessary to use ...software like Proctorio to ensure academic integrity," Ramsey said.

"Incidents of academic misconduct themselves are very uncommon, very rare at the university," added Ramsey, who has been with the school since 2014."I have not seen allegations of this nature in my time at UBCbut, again, they are, at this point, allegations."

Investigations into academic misconductbeginwith a professor reporting their concerns to the dean's office. That office can either dismisscomplaints, give students a warning or pass the case along to thePresident's Advisory Committee on Student Discipline for potential punishment.

Penalties can range from a formal warning to being expelled from the university.

Since investigations are complex and take time, Ramsey said, it'stoo soon to gaugewhether there has been an overall increase in cheating since classes and exams began moving fullyonline in the spring.

"If the students are disciplined, we will get a sense as to those numbers in the coming months. At this point, it's just too early to say," he said.