ED25-1: Being a Classroom Detective

Instructor: Bill Fane - British Columbia Institute of Technology

Class Description: As an instructor, do you always know for sure who actually created the AutoCAD drawing file that a particular student submitted? Recycling and reusing may be desirable in the real world, but not in the classroom. Unfortunately, techniques such as cut-and-paste, rename, copy, and simple editing can make it all too easy and tempting for students to take shortcuts. This class will explore several archaeological techniques that an instructor can use to determine the genealogy of a particular file. We will start at the beginning. How an instructor sets up an assignment can have a great effect on how easy it is to begin tracing the family tree of a particular file. We will then move on to explore specific details about how AutoCAD creates a drawing file. You might be surprised at some of the information that is embedded within it, and how easy it is to extract and compare that information using standard AutoCAD commands. We will also look at an AutoLISP program that you can use to determine exactly who created every single object within a drawing, and when they were created. This program has virtually eliminated cheating problems at BCIT.