We Take Academic Integrity Seriously

We believe that students learn Physics best when:

  • They work with symbolic expressions, rather than simply final numeric answers
  • They receive immediate and helpful hints and feedback
  • They solve multi-step problems without easy access to solutions online

Read how Expert TA encourages academic integrity through multiple unique features.

Textbook Independent Library
Most homework systems have problems that are directly copied from textbooks. It is easy to catalog and find problems because students know the chapter, section, and problem number that is associated with a particular problem. All it usually takes is copying and pasting the initial sentence of these problems into a search engine for the answer to the problem to pop up.Expert TA’s Independent Library consists of new, unique problems that are unavailable in textbooks; this inherently helps keep answers offline.
Proprietary Web Crawler
Expert TA checks monthly for all of our problems online. When any problems are found, we get them removed quickly. Less than 15 percent of our problems have ever been found online.
Problem Masking
When students take an assignment in Expert TA, the problems are identified as Problems 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., rather than listing the chapter, section, and problem number. Without having a specific name for a particular problem, cataloging problems for online searching becomes much more difficult.
Randomized Variables
Expert TA makes sure that 100 percent of our problems that involve solving for a numeric have at least one randomized variable. This way no two students have the same givens, and therefore the same answers.
Randomized Phrases
A portion of Expert TA’s independent problems also incorporate randomization in the wording of the problem statement. By setting placeholders for specific words and phrases, which are then swapped out at random, students receive different versions of a problem statement while working on the same question. Through our extensive research, we have determined the level of randomization necessary to prevent problems from being searchable online while still keeping the Physics content in each problem the same.
More to Come
We are working on a full suite of Academic Integrity Instructor Preferences to include a variety of controls for Physics instructors. This will include sample syllabus language, honor code pop-up messages within the system, smart problem tracking and identification practices, and reminders/notifications for students who violate academic integrity standards as outlined in our Terms of Service.