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Blackboard cheat I Teachers look for increased security as students share online exam answers By Stephanie.Schubert @iowastatedaily.com

t’s easy to do. It might also be easy to fix. It’s not surprising to hear that students cheat on exams. What isn’t always apparent is the ways in which people cheat, as well as the toll cheating has on those who wish to achieve their grades honestly. One student, who wished not to be named because he fears backlash from his peers, said many of his peers at Iowa State have been known to cheat through Blackboard. He said it’s a common occurrence in his large lecture hall classes. He first noticed people cheating during his sophomore year. Someone was passing around previous exams in biochemistry 301, a 200-person lecture hall class that requires students to take exams in the testing centers. “I think I figured it out around exam number two,” the student said. “I was in such a hole at that point, that I was considering using them. They were obviously helping.” The student spoke with Robert Thornburg, professor of the class, who had mentioned he noticed a discrepancy in scores among exams one, two and three. “[Exams] one and two were extraordinarily high, and then

three was very low,” the student said. “And it was assumed that it was because of the fact that these exams were being passed around.” The student said for the first two exams, there was a matching previous exam passed around. For the third exam, there was no test file and grades went down, Thornburg said. For the fourth exam, there was a test file and grades went up again. Exam number three had been an eye opener. “I distinctly remember — I was relieved when I got like, a 55 percent,” the student said. “That is what the rest of the class got on exam three because (before), everybody was getting Bs and high Cs while I’m getting Ds on these exams and I was freaking out.” Thornburg also recognized the trend. “Some students who had good grades on the first two exams did not have good grades on the third exam,” he said. The fluctuation in grades was enough for Thornburg to rewrite the exams for his biochemistry class, which takes time. “To write an exam question is five to 10 minutes of work,” he said. “Multiply that by 50.” Thornburg said this situation is frustrating because it’s important for him to guard against cheating. “If people can do that, I would like to know how,” he said. “I want everything to be fair for everybody

Photo illustration: Kelby Wingert/Iowa State Daily

One common way of cheating on exams at Iowa State is for a bunch of students in the same class to get together and take the online test all at once.

and I really try hard to make it that way.” Thornburg has been teaching this class for two years now. He said he has never given a test back. His understanding was that Blackboard was highly secure, which is one of the reasons the university invested in it.

So how is cheating done? “It’s easy,” the student said. He had received a test file through an email from another student for Thornburg’s class. In fact, he continued to receive them last semester for another class.

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Hillary Clinton takes on Iowa Candidate plans trip through Iowa, talks with local businesses

By Makayla.Tendall @iowastatedaily.com While Hillary Clinton takes a second chance at campaigning for president and begins to do so through small personal events, she will visit an Iowa company that believes in second chances for employees and works to promote local growers. After visiting Kirkwood Community College on Tuesday, Clinton will visit Capital City Fruit in Norwalk, Iowa on Wednesday. The company was originally founded in 1949 as a small fruit market in downtown Des Moines before the creation of Interstate 235 and is now run by brothers Brendan, Kieran and Christian Comito. Brendan Comito, chief operating officer for the company, said Clinton’s campaign reached out to the Capital City Fruit last Friday before Clinton officially announced her candidacy. Comito said he is not sure just why Clinton chose his business, though he assumes it is because the company was an economic success through the recent recession and cares about its employees. “At first we were kind of like ‘we’re too busy to handle something like that,’” Comito said. “Then we were like ‘how often do you have a former first lady, a former senator, a former secretary of

state and a presidential candidate all rolled into one come and visit your business and learn about your successes and challenges?’” Clinton has announced her hasty tour through Iowa is meant to foster closer relationships with voters in the early-voting states. Political analysts have theorized Clinton’s closed meetings and delayed campaign stop announcements — as well as her idea of traveling in a van instead of flying to early-voting states — are meant to establish her as an approachable candidate for the middle class, or “everyday Americans” as she claimed in her announcement video. “It is basically her coming here to learn about our business and our company. We’re going to have a roundtable with other business owners and we’ll get a chance to tell her about our businesses and our struggles,” Comito said. Clinton is working to establish personal connections, but Comito said Capital City Fruit has a history of using local growers to establish their business, drawing much of their product from within a 300-mile radius from Des Moines during the summer. “We try and do what the customer wants, and this is what we’re hearing from the customers what they want. We’ve been working with local growers for over 30 years, before it was popular. In the last five years, we’ve

Campaign meets with students in first day of tour By Alex.Hanson @iowastatedaily.com

company has a desirable candidate who cannot be hired because it is found the person is here illegally. “What that points to me is that there is probably a need for some type of work visa program or some type of immigration reform, so that all these people that are kind of hidden could get a job legally, could get a license legally,” Comito said. “Our country’s really been built by immigrants and I think it’s important that we invest in this new generation of immigrants.” Comito said there is “no question” immigrants will “require a lot of resources, a lot of help and a lot of assistance,” but they are worth it because the first generation of immigrants are making the sacrifices and working hard so the second and third gen-

Hillary Clinton is in Iowa for a two-day swing to meet with Iowans, the first official stops on her 2016 campaign for president. Clinton, who announced her candidacy Sunday afternoon with a web video, is using a different type of strategy than her 2008 campaign by driving almost 15 hours to Iowa, and opting for small group interactions with voters instead of big campaign rallies. Instead of flying, Clinton drove from New York to Iowa on Sunday evening and most of Monday with just a few of her advisers and secret service protection. Mostly keeping it low key, Clinton did talk with some citizens at a gas station stop in Pennsylvania and was also spotted ordering lunch at Chipotle in Ohio, where she went unrecognized. Clinton stayed overnight in Davenport at the Hotel Blackhawk, and to the surprise of several Quad City residents and Iowa activists, made her first official campaign stop by sitting down at a coffee shop in nearby LeClaire. Carter Bell, a University of Iowa student who is also president of the UI College Democrats, said it was a surprise to meet with

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Iowa State Daily

Hillary Clinton speaks at the 37th Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on Sept. 14, 2014. Clinton will speak at Capital City Fruit at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday in Norwalk, Iowa.

seen a significant increase in demand for local produce,” Comito said. While Clinton begins her second presidential campaign, Comito said Capital City Fruit and Comito himself are strong proponents for second chances for their employees, 38 percent of whom are immigrants or refugees from places such as Vietnam, Burma, Mexico, El Salvador and African countries. Though Clinton has not announced why she chose to visit Capital City Fruit or detailed any stance on immigration reform, Comito said he believes that is an issue any presidential candidate should focus on. “What we’re finding is that the people from these other countries are extremely reliable and dedicated and hard-working,” Comito said. There are times when the

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