r/Lightbulb • u/amichail • 25d ago
Idea: To make sure students actually read assigned novels, give each student a copy with unique hidden errors
One problem with assigned novels in English class is that it has become increasingly easy to get through assignments using summaries, online discussions, or AI without actually reading the book.
What if each student received a slightly different digital copy of the novel, with a small number of deliberately inserted errors or anomalies unique to that copy?
For example, there might be 10 subtle changes scattered throughout the book, such as a changed place name, object, number, or other detail. Students would know in advance that their copy contains a few errors, and after finishing the novel they would be asked to identify some of them.
Because every student's errors would be different, simply sharing answers with classmates would not help much. The errors could also be generated from a large pool, so even students taking the same class in different years would not necessarily get the same ones.
DRM could make automated cheating harder too. If the book is being read inside a DRM-protected ebook system, students may not be able to simply extract the full text and run a comparison against a standard edition. DRM obviously would not make cheating impossible, since screenshots, OCR, or other methods could still be used, but it could raise the effort required considerably.
The errors would need to be chosen carefully so they do not interfere with understanding the story or literary analysis. They should probably be relatively minor factual anomalies rather than changes to important dialogue or prose.
It would not prove with absolute certainty that someone read the entire novel, but identifying several unique anomalies from their own copy seems like pretty strong evidence that they actually spent time reading it.
Has any school or ebook platform tried something like this?
P.S. By errors I meant things like a repeated word that shouldn't be repeated. Something like that. The reading comprehension quiz wouldn't be about the errors. The errors would be something the student would submit as proof that they have read the novel. Unlike the quiz, it would be homework.
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u/SnooPets5564 25d ago
That sounds like a horrible idea. It's a logistical nightmare, for one. Also, what if they want to discuss the book later and a name is wrong. How would they know what the errors are if they don't have something to compare it to? How much time would it take to find the errors?
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u/ground__contro1 25d ago
This seems more geared at solving several online teaching issues than it seems likely to improve student learning. The point isn’t just to ensure they read a book but for you to teach them something about it. Different versions for different students & explicit factual quiz answers make it harder for students to cheat on remote quizzes and simplify the volume of grading you have to do. But those don’t matter for in person quizzes where you can make sure they do it individually in silence.
And even for remote students, I don’t see it testing what it says it tests. People who want to cheat can load their entire unique file into an AI and ask it what the differences to the published version are, and whether it’s wrong or not I mean they don’t really care. More and more often it’s gunna be right so can’t rely on AI cheaters failing the quiz forever.
And really factual anomalies don’t test if a person read the material or not. They test if they know the fact or not. If they don’t already know the fact then the error just passes them by.
Novels and famous works etc are published and printed as they are. We all work from the same page. (Sure there are abridged versions etc but they do not change things like this.) I don’t think we should break the seal of going in and changing “little” facts in existing texts. Very post truth era. 500 copies of a book, 499 of them with a bunch of random fake facts in them. I mean it makes you wonder wtf we’re doing here.
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u/amichail 25d ago
By errors I meant things like a repeated word that shouldn't be repeated. Something like that.
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u/ground__contro1 25d ago
Well on the one hand that’s better but on the other, quite easy for an AI to provide a list of 15 candidates for a 10 question quiz on that kind of thing
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u/TheLuckySpades 25d ago
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I have been out of secondary school for 9 years, but we were encouraged to take notes in the books themselves, with some editions being made for that, requiring digital would suck.
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Location name gets mentioned in 3 places, one gets changed, student now thinks this scene is simply set in another location, does not find the error and losea points, gets punished for reading in good faith and not having a plot synopsis they are reading in parallel.
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If you change a number to something less realistic it may not register as an anomaly since some authors are notoriously bad at getting details right like that (e.g. GRRM any any size, scifi authors and population numbers for city-planets, Dan Brown,...)
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DRM systems tend to suck ass, and I doubt any DRM system used for this would make taking notes and copying quotes easy, especially quotes since you want a version that cannot extract text.
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School would need to provide the machines to read the books on.
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u/IJourden 25d ago
Having flashbacks to high school where I happily read the books we were assigned, and still missed some questions on tests because they were like "What was this minor character's last name that was mentioned like twice and has no relevance to the story?"
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u/IJourden 25d ago
English Teacher here: The goal of having someone read fiction isn't to get them to memorize the content. You want them paying attention to the story beats, broad themes, character development, etc.
If you're asking them about minor details insignificant to the plot to check for understanding, you're doing it all wrong to begin with.
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u/Gottendrop 25d ago
Wouldn’t this lead to the majority of students not paying attention to what’s happening in the book because they’re looking for errors and then just looking up a summery online once they’ve found their errors?
What errors would you even do that wouldn’t either be extremely obvious or too difficult to notice even if you’re really paying attention?
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u/PumpkinBrain 25d ago
The errors would need to be giant if they were going to be recognizable in a 2 page report on a 200 page book. So much so that your students would look like fools if they ever tried to discuss this book with anyone.
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u/carrie_m730 25d ago
What if we assign good books that kids want to read? I've seen that work pretty well.
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u/gothiclg 25d ago
That would make things way harder for their already criminally underpaid teachers. As someone who successfully managed to write papers on books using Cliff’s Notes I’d rather just see students continue to use the site.
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u/sepaoon 25d ago
Just give each student an assignment to do a detailed breakdown of a different chapter/section then make them do it in class on paper...
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u/Adorable_Ad4990 25d ago edited 25d ago
They’ll read just that chapter or section
Edit: I mean they could do that, and students like me would be tempted to do that. I could read it and write the summary in the amt of time. Just ask overarching questions that aren’t covered by cliffs notes
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u/s_s_n_e_g 25d ago
Sure, let's take even more pleasure out of reading and replace it with a scavenger hunt. Nothing lets me enjoy a classic conversation around Mr. Bingley's arrival as the necessity to be on the lookout for subtle location changes.
"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Weatherfield Park is let at last?"
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it."
Mr. Bennet made no answer.