Faculty Concerned About Student Misuse of Problem-Solving Strategies
The typical format for the Cognitive Program “module” courses is a survey-style overview of the fundamental research in a given specialty. For example, the “Attention” course covers basic phenomena such as distraction, doodling, and daydreaming. The courses are meant to give students very little useful information.
“We design these courses very, very carefully,” explained Dr. Confetti (who teaches the “Language” class). “Some of the research we conduct has very dangerous applications. It is inappropriate for graduate students to be exposed to these ideas too early. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that one of our newest faculty members is now learning the hard way.”
Dr. Confetti was, of course, referring to the Problem-solving module which has been, ironically, the source of many problems in recent months. The course, taught by Dr. Chris Shun, delved deep into the literature on the aforementioned topic. Students who actually attended the class learned about several strategies for problem-solving as well as techniques for generating computer models. Unfortunately, several unscrupulous students quickly turned this knowledge to more nefarious purposes.
The first signs of trouble came when Dr. Shun noticed odd behavior in the coursework grading software, Kn.I.F.E (see inset, p. 2). The software is supposed to analyze and assign grades to student authors and reviewers based on the size of bribes provided to the professor and software programmer.
“I knew there was a problem when I saw that
KnIFE had given some skinflint student an ‘A-’,” explained Dr. Shun. “I would
never give such a high grade to some cheap bastard who would only cough up
pocket change. Something was clearly amiss.”
It was soon revealed that several students had used their problem-solving and modeling skills to hack the KnIFE system. Eventual police raids revealed detailed plans (cunningly designed to look like doodles in class notes) that described the “problem space” and methods to subvert the system (see Figure 1). It didn’t take long for students to figure out how to assign whatever grade they desired.
“I’ve never gotten an A before,” commented Deb Sharp. “It feels pretty damn good.”
Unfortunately, students in the Problem-solving module did not stop at mere cheating and computer hacking.
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The Man Behind the K.N.I.F.E.:
We recently interviewed Wrongsu Cho, the developer of the KnIFE. software, in order to learn how it was vulnerable to student attacks.
Q: What does KnIFE stand for? W: Knowledge Interface Feedback Environment.
Q: How does KNIFE work? W: It’s powered by the StatMagic Engine™. Inside the server are several gnomes who use tiny chalkboards to calculate grades. There are also a few elves inside that sprinkle Correlational Fairy Dust™ over the gnomes periodically.
Q: I didn’t know gnomes were good at math… W: They aren’t. But they do get a pretty good buzz off of the dust.
Q: So how does the bribe system work? How does a payment to you or Dr. Shun turn into better grades for the students? W: We pay for the gnomes’ food out of the bribe money. If you don’t pay up, then a starving gnome, wacked out on Fairy Dust, will be grading your paper.
Q: So how did the students hack the system? W: They slid pizza and beer into the servers while we weren’t looking.
Q: How did you get the idea for KNIFE? W: I was a TA once, and had to grade over 20 papers in one semester! I vowed I would never do that again… and now I don’t have to.
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“I was dating this guy who turned out to be a real jerk. A total loser,” said Nicole Hell. “I just couldn’t stand him anymore, so I decided to solve my problem with a strategy we learned in class. I suggested that we go hiking, and when we reached the top of the hill, I pushed him off the cliff. Problem solved! I call that little strategy ‘Nicole Hill-Climbing.’”
Another student, Sasha Palmist, turned her problem-solving knowledge into a lucrative pick-pocketing strategy.
“I’m a sucker for jewelry. When Dr. Shun started talking about the Tower of Hanoi and those rings… something just clicked,” she explained. “I could simply move one ring from finger A to finger C, then another ring from A to B, and then C to B, then A to C, then B to A, then B to C, and finally, A to C. Voila! A brand new diamond for me.”
Dr. Shun is currently revising his course, removing most of the content and choosing older articles with fewer applications. He says that this has been a significant learning experience for him.
“All I wanted to do was provide the best possible education for my students,” explained Dr. Shun. “Now I realize how naďve I was. These graduate students are malicious fiends, and I’ll never teach them anything useful ever again!”