Cheating in an online environment should be of concern, just as it is in a traditional classroom. There is concern with cheating online as well as identifying students in courses. Some institutions opt for online proctoring as well as third party assignment submission software. When institutions make it clear and enforce academic integrity policies, students know upfront the consequences of cheating.
I think in some respects the online environment is better able to guard against cheating. For example, most LMS will allow you to have a bank of quiz questions so that each student gets a 'unique' quiz with different questions having different numbers. In a traditional classroom there is often only one version of an exam, i.e. the answer to question 3 is "C".
I think there may be less peer pressure to cheat in online classrooms as it may be more difficult for a student to pressure another into cheating.
In developing exams I think one should assume that students will have access to their text and focus on critical thinking questions that require them to apply knowledge learned rather than repeating basic facts.
Dona
Online instructors need to be cognizant of academic integrity in the online environment too. It is very easy for a student to copy and paste information into a discussion response or in an assignment. Students need to be aware of the expectations and consequences of plagiarism. Various software tools can help faculty determine if plagiarism has occurred. What are ways to reduce this potential problem?
Jay Familant
Zachary,
Setting expectations right up front will help students realize what you will be looking for.
Shelly Crider
Rakisha,
I would like to think that all institutions enforce academic integrity! It is so important.
Shelly Crider
Dona,
Good point. There are many LMS platforms that offer a variety of options for quizzes and exams.
Shelly Crider
Jay,
Copy and paste has become an easy fix for students. Making sure that you post your expectations right up front will help with the retention.
Shelly Crider
There' no difference in cheating in any environment. It affects all parties involved whether you are the one cheating, or the one allowing it.
The institution suffers credibility and the instructor suffers it as well. With almost all educational institutions, cheating can result in being expelled from the school. It's a serious offense that each program deals with with their own set of policies - and they are usually well defined.
Most important - it's a lapse in personal ethics and procedures if cheating is allowed in any form.
I disagree I think cheating happens more in the online courses because the students do not have the controlled environment in which to take tests and complete assignments. I think technology like turnitin.com continues to assist with keeping honest people honest.
Eric
I think that there is a major concern for on-line students cheating. My experience as a on-line instructor for 15 years is that the format is much easier to cheat in than the campus class. If the college does not monitor the students attendance or progress it is very easy for someone else to do the work and even be in the discussion group of a on-line class. I have had students over the years who have had their parents, friends, and tutors do the work for them along the way. I have even caught students plagiarizing other students work from the discussing boards. As always their is complete denial that they are cheating but it shows when they do not pass the license or certification test after several attempts in the end.
I've taught both ground and online courses, and I honestly feel less concerned about it in the online environment. This may be due to the course being based primarily on individual projects. Also the effort it would take to cheat online would far surpass the amount need to do the projects legitimately.
Daniel,
I love talking ethics....personal or professional!
Shelly Crider
Eric,
Teaching that honesty extends into any realy world job is an important lesson to keep discussing in the classroom.
Shelly Crider
Jerome,
I love project based assessments! This is a real test of what the student grasp.
Shelly Crider
Cheating is a big issue online and offline. The students just go about it different ways. In my experience students have been caught sharing work, posting former lessons on online "tutoring" sites, buying lessons from former students on online tutoring sites, plagiarizing from essays online and on one occasion a student was enrolled but his daughter was taking the courses for him.I have had more than one spouse caught in the discussion forums outing themselves with careless mistakes. I think instructors should be savvy about the ways students cheat online and colleges should be concerned about trends. Tuition fraud is all over the place. Once criminals realize which schools do not use Turnitin they will take advantage. One such college I worked for had dozens of papers coming in about a "lost clutch". The same essay was showing up over and over again. Sometimes it was a clutch, sometimes it was a purse, and sometimes it was a handbag but the essay was nearly the same each time. If the school was keen they would have great plagiarism software and this issue would have been avoided. I personally think it is a huge concern and something instructors and institutions need to be vigilant about. Once students find a loophole they will take advantage of it.
Hi Dona,
I love that most LMS systems allow for that but the question is whether the school uses all tools the platform contains? Even with random questions, the answer key will make it online eventually because often the students are provided the answer to incorrect questions. Schools need to change the tests frequently to keep students on their toes and spend more time on putting questions in the pool/bank. I worked for one college that would see the scores on the exams go up considerably after a few terms - because the answers had already made the rounds.
Best,
Tanya
Patrick,
I agree. I have been around the block and I have seen many instances of cheating. I have been threatened before by students angry with me about what they felt was a false accusation. I found it is much easier to have the proof attached to the correspondence - it is hard to argue with proof. :) I think my most memorable example of cheating occurred when I called a student and instead connected to his daughter's cellphone. All of his essays were about typical college campus life. So, I asked her his number which was not the number listed in the student directory. Once I was on the phone with him he was unable to tell me anything about the paper he turned in two days prior. In fact I could barely communicate with him because English was barely his second language. Basically the daughter was pulling double duty with her college classes and his.
Best,
Tanya
Eric,
Agree! Colleges that do not use Turnitin are at a disadvantage. Once cheating starts to occur at a school I think that particular school gets a reputation for it and it can be miserable for instructors.
Best,
Tanya
I believe we should be concerned about students cheating in an online environment. There are programs and technology that maybe used to review and audit materials as to discourage cheating.
I think cheating is cheating in all aspects of education. If your in an online classroom, or traditional classroom cheating is unacceptable in any environment.
