COVID-19 Money More transactions are going cashless due to the rising concern Esports Opener Langara's esports starts off with mixed results to kick off what No more Upass The loss of Upass not made up by the lack of physical classes. ina COVID world. P2 should be a tough season. P2 Langaravoice.ca NOVEMBER 05, 2020 » VOL. 54 NO. 05 * VANCOUVER, B.C. Youth elect stress American elec- tion stressing out Canadian youth By CATHERINE MWITTA ‘oung Canadians feel uncertain \ about their future in light of the 2020 U.S. elections, says a Vancouver-based counsellor. Tricia-Kay Williams, a counsel- lor at Metamorphose Counselling in Vancouver, said that Canadian youth are experiencing global stress. “It’s definitely circumstantial with COVID-19 and the sort of political climate that we’re experiencing a global stress, a global grieving. So now you're no longer stressed about your job or activities. Now you're stressed about things happening across the world,” Williams said. Many young Canadians like Michaela Peters, a volunteer at the Oct. 24 protests at the Vancouver Art Gallery in support of Mi’kmagq fish- ers and their rights, said that there has been an increasing “negative change” in the political climate since U.S. Presi- dent Donald Trump’s election win in 2016. Antoine St. Marie, a young Cana- dian who is a member of Fight- back, an anti-capi- talist organization, said the increasing political anxiety in Canada and the United States have attected youth very hard. “I think that has to do with [the fact] that we live in a society that doesn't offer people a future,” St. Marie said. “It doesn't surprise me that the system in crisis produces this kind of massive polar- ization.” Stephen Phillips, a political science instructor at Langara College, said that over the last decade, political parties have paid for ads to run throughout the year even before the elections. “This has never been done before in Canada, and political parties adopting this sort of practice from their respec- tive politicians in the U.S. is no coinci- dence,” Phillips said. While tensions may still be high in North America, Williams said the Canadian youth shouldn’t concen- trate on that too much. “Focus on what they can do. Be assertive instead of aggressive.” Stephen Phillips LANGARA INSTRUCTOR A student who was not interviewed for this story studies their textbook in the T Building, at Langara College. Emma Gregory Photo Online exams cant hack it With classes online students now have new ways to cheat By EMMA GREGORY ith courses and exams going online there has been a significant rise in cheating and viola- tions of student integrity that the college and instructors are struggling to control. With college now online, students get to take their exams unsupervised. The online format opens the oppor- tunity for students to call each other and discuss the answers or exchange files as they are both taking the test. While others have beenw taking advantage of the lack of supervision to simply search for the answers online. Manager of Student Conduct and Judicial Affairs Maggie Ross said that incidents of cheating are being reported by Langara instructors more often “Figures for spring 2020 show a 50 per cent increase in reported incidents over the same period in 2019. Faculty are vigilant in identifying and report- ing student Academic Integrity Viola- tions,” Ross said. In an anonymous Brightspace reflective assignment conducted by Langara instructor Jessica Kalra PhD, some students said they did not real- ize the impact that cheating can have on the value of credentials. “IT didn’t realize or think about how an individual not adhering to the college policies could dimin- ish the creden- tials of the entire school,” one student “Figures for spring 2020 show a 50 per cent increase in reported incidents over the same period in 2019. Faculty are vigilant in identifying On some exams, the teachers make it impossible to cheat. In one of his honour-system, closed-book tests, Singh was given 35 minutes to answer 35 questions, and he does not see how a student would have enough time to consult their notes if they wanted to cheat. One student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they commented on and reporting student feared disci- the survey. d . . plinary action “Everybody | ACademicIntegrity | from the cheats,” said Violations ” college, said Gurkiratpreet . they didn’t Singh, a third- — MAGGIE ROSS, MANAGER OF STUDENT think cheating hr CONDUCT AND JUDICIAL AFFAIRS ll year geography was morally student. Singh wrong. said he does not cheat. “I write my notes. I read them twice. I don’t need to cheat.” Especially if teachers are not giving students enough time to think about their answers in high-speed tests. “I need time to stop and consider my answers,” the student said. “But it depends. I don’t think medical students should cheat.” Some schools, such as the Univer- sity of Regina, have employed proc- tor services such as Proctortrack. This software monitors live video feed, tracks student eye movements and identifies any open applications on the student’s screen. Langara College has no plans to use a proctor service, said Erin Hagen, a student conduct officer. “We try to promote academic integrity as a concept.” Second-year, psychology student Alyssa White said she does not cheat, and she thinks cheating is morally wrong, But when presented with a hypo- thetical situation in which a student worked 30 hours a week plus had a four-course workload and cheated on one or two questions onan online exam, White was less categorical about her stance that it was morally wrong, “No,” she said.