We should always be concerned about cheating. I think that some learners think it will be easier to cheat in the online environment, but in fact it is not. The temptation may be stronger, but most platforms include mechanisms to help faculty identify cheating. Cheating is a serious offense and should be treated the same in the online environment as in the on-ground environment.
I believe that we should still be concerned about online cheating but i am not sure how much control we have over the matter. Some stratagies to discourage cheating would be randomizing questions on exams and imposing a time limit. This makes it difficult to look up questions in a book or print copies of the test.
Thanks for your comments, Alysha. Cheating is still certainly a challenge in the online environment, yet, of course, there are ways other than exams to measure student performance, particularly utilizing the technological resources we may have; other assessments might include inidividual and team online presentations and reports, journals, etc. I particularly like the idea of the time limit to help curb turning to unauthorized resources.
Thanks again for your input,
Jay Hollowell
Guest Facilitator
EL101
I disagree; the quality of a career degree program is significantly judged on the effectiveness in the career placement of students. To be consistent in successfully placing students in jobs over a period of time you need to be developing knowledgeable and skillful individuals with respectable character. These students invest in our programs as a means to improving their lives and allowing cheating to take place in class or in an online environment compromises the learning environment and the quality of graduates that are produced.
In an online environment, when teaching adult learners, is the objective of an assessment to test their memory or to assess their ability to apply the learning? Given the latter, then wouldn't it be fair to allow an open book exam? It is possible that the student has learned the skills and has the knowledge but has not memorized the content. As such, having a book that they can refer to in order to assist them to answer the exam questions would be appropriate. After all, would they not be able to look up information on the job, whether through books or on the internet? The important thing is that they know what they want to achieve and how to find the information, no? I would be interested in your perspective on this.
Also, I would be interested in hearing from others on the subject of proctored examinations for Distance Learning students. How do you know that it is the student who is enrolled in the course that is taking the exam? I know there are identification technologies that would uniquely identify an individual but, once the validation process has been completed, what is stopping someone else from completing the questions? Are there any suggestions as to how this can be overcome without requiring students come in to a brick and mortar facility?
Nancy,
Great post and interesting questions. I agree that assessing using exams that just focus on memorization don't really hit the mark for two reasons: 1) what good is that really doing the student (especially in classes beyond the freshman level) and 2)it creates an incentive to cheat (since the text is right there). I prefer to use open book exams (that might be timed) and assessments that focus on assimilation of knowledge (generally papers and projects).
Proctored examinations are quite troublesome, there is a group of schools working on various alternate authentication methods. I have been involved with the one at this site:
http://www.franciscan.edu/home2/Content/dean/PAPERS/Inovation%20and%20change/3065.pdf.
Thanks,
Jon
I feel that cheating is cheating no matter in what environment it is done. In my opinion, the students that are going to cheat in a traditional classroom are the ones who will cheat in the online environment also. When a student cheats they are really only cheating themselves and I believe that most of the students we encounter really want to learn and understand this.
I disagree with that statement because I feel as any good teacher should be aware of and try to discourage any kind of cheating whether online or on campus. However, I do feel that if a student wants to cheat they will find any way to do so. But if a student is concerned with integrity and doing things honestly so that they will actually get something out of their education then they will be honest and not cheat.
I disagree that we should not be concerned with cheating in an on-line environment. I do believe that students will try to cheat in an on-line environment as much as they would try in a traditional course. That doesn't mean we throw in the towel and give up. As an instructor, we should adopt policies and practices that prevent it in the first place. We should apply the old adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Mark,
I agree - the difference with online is that we should try to design to decrease the temptation/ability to cheat.
Thanks,
Jon
Jaclyn,
Yes, its not fair to the instructor, class and the student themselves.
Jon
I agree that if a student is going to cheat, he or she will be inclined to do so regardless of the environment. What I fear, however, that in an on-line situation it may be more tempting to cheat because there is no face-to-face confrontation that will take place. Therefore, I disagree because I feel it would be easier and therefore more tempting to cheat in an on-line environment.
Hi Julie,
You brought up a good point about the lack of face to face confrontation when catching someone cheating in an on-line environmnet. Someone who might not be tempted to cheat in a classroom situation, might find it easier to cheat in the anonymous on-line environment.
Julie - great points, unfortunately I agree that the incentives may change online. - Jon
I believe cheating is the same in any environment. In the online classroom it can be easy for a student to cheat, but I think it depends the instructional setup. If discussion questions and especially quizzes and tests are structured to prevent cheating, it will certainly make a difference.
We must be concerned about students cheating in an online enviornment. How do we really knoe the student taking the class is even that student. After all, we have no retina eye scans or finger prints to identify them. We go on by a sort of honor system...It doean't alwats work, but it is all that we have!
No matter what safeguards are in place, cheating can still occur. This is regardless of the delivery method. What I try to instill in my students is the value of knowing the material. I encourage them to be subject matter experts. That cannot be accomplished thru cheating. My favorite expression that gets students to think is “When you get called out of your home at 2:00 Am to fix a widget that’s down, there’s nobody there to copy off of. You must know the material.”
Cheating will never end. It will remain in the classroom as well as the online environment. We do our best to ensure that students learn, then there should be less effort on cheating. There are many ways to evaluate a student's learning through the activities as well as discussions and exams. If the course is well designed and engages the student at all levels, and all indicate that indeed the student is learning, then the instructor has done their job. Just as Clark wrote in volume 53 of the Review of Educational Research...it's not the media delivery that makes that makes instruction better, but the content...
So, all we can do as instructors is create a learning product with good design, and communicate, communicate, and communicate to our students.
I agree Celeste
I believe that it is up to the instructor to design, present, and implement the material in such a way so everyone understands, thus less cheating. That’s our job! For instance one of my courses is Excel Expert. I Utilize study guides that can be used during quizzes and repetitive examples. Then I show how these examples are implemented in real circumstances.
(THEN PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE) Then we have group testing were students can help each other, but not utilize their notes. Come time for their certifications, 98 % pass the first time. I would imagine this would be harder to control in an online environment. You’ll never get rid of cheating, but we can always try and implement ways to cut down on the desire to cheat.:)
Rob
Rob - interesting!
Focusing on *why* students cheat and trying to remove the incentive.
Good thought!
Jon
