Zoology-2013. Unpleasant News: Theft of Test Assignments and Cancellation of Testing Results

Dear second-year students! Your course, at least some of your classmates, have surpassed all predecessors in their ability to deceive and steal information covertly. Tests in vertebrate zoology and ecology courses have been used since 2007 or 2008 – it's hard to remember now. There have been instances of unfair play, but, if I'm not mistaken, no one before you managed, despite all measures taken, to photograph assignment sheets and turn testing into a comedy. Unfortunately, you yourselves have broken the system that allowed you to master and pass the course material in parts (and, as a result, gain more solid knowledge and higher grades). We and our colleagues noticed oddities in testing from the second test. For example, a student comes to take a module test not with their group, but with the last one, passes the test brilliantly, and yet, after many attempts, cannot answer elementary questions on the topic to the instructor. This year, in the third test, the overall picture was completed by photographs of test tasks taken on a mobile phone – despite categorical prohibitions and quite serious control by the instructors. How this will be formalized, I will decide after consulting with colleagues. I think that the number of points earned during the semester should be reduced by the amount corresponding to the canceled tests (at least the second and third). You will be able to pass this material and earn the missing points by answering an additional question on the exam. I fear that the destruction of the system of phased submission of material will likely prevent your course from passing vertebrate zoology as well as the previous course did. I consider it incorrect to award high grades, in the end, for skill in deception. If you feel that I have unfairly offended you, think about it: what were you doing while your classmates were photographing tests and distributing the photos? Did any of you say: "What are you doing, stop it?!" to your skillful groupmate? I understand that it was difficult for you to overcome solidarity with other students. I have repeatedly encountered manifestations of the fact that a student who deceives a teacher does not seem dishonest to other students – teachers are perceived by many of you as someone to whom honesty is superfluous. If so, it will be quite fair for all of you to lose the advantages that the system of testing and step-by-step submission of material provided when studying vertebrate zoology and ecology courses. Of course, I will have to rework the control system in the ecology course as well... This year.