Victor,
Online or traditional classroom...we do need to watch for students who cheat.
Shelly Crider
In addition, we should also try to tip the balance of reward (if cheating is successful) with respect to penalty of being caught. If the assessment has a major impact on course success, the pressure to cheat (to pass or for a better grade) is intensified. However, if the assessment is a small proportion of the overall measurement of success, the risk of getting caught outweighs the gain. Many small assessments over the span of the course will make the risk-reward equation balance in favor of not cheating.
When the assessment is a major part of the grading, however, the reward of cheating (if not caught) drives the desperate student to illegal actions. As a case in point, this story of an MCAT tester cheating in an on-ground, proctored environment: http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2011/05/31/b-c-men-charged-with-cheating-on-mcats . The reward of successful completion of the MCAT was so great, the cheater took a stupendous risk.
"Fences keep honest people out" is a truism, but if you have little to steal, you don't worry about thieves climbing over the fence. It also helps the "normally honest but scared" student stay honest, and supports their sense of right and wrong.
Tim,
Oh yes!!! Give credit where credit is due by rewarding those who cite their work and do their own work!
Shelly Crider
Cheating is just another form of lying and stealing. It is wrong in so many levels. I do not at all allow plagiarism or other person's work to be submitted. When I do catch them, I take it to the fullest extent of the policy.
I have had students in the past that I caught cheating and they still had the nerves to ask me if they can do makeup work for the ZERO they earned by plagiarizing. I tell them, there is NO making this up. Just learn from this and do not ever try this again. If you do not have time for the assignment, ask for an extension or take the points for submitting it late. Own up to it.
Antonio,
I have to agree. People can justify lying and stealing just as they can for cheating.
Shelly Crider
If a student feels they need to cheat, they will find a way to do it. Either by texting or numerus other ways. But I feel that the student working on line will be more devoted to doing whats right.
Peter,
Since they are working mostly by themselves, I do hope they take pride and do their own work!
Shelly Crider
I am with you. The theme in much of this thread comes back to the old saying, "Cheaters never prosper".
My observation is: look at the assessment (frequency, type, and outcome desired). Is a research paper necessary? Then the warning and automated tools to discourage cheating will be useful. If not, find better assessments.
Cheating does not provide a student with reasonable knowledge to be successful in the real world. We, as instructors, should be very concerned about cheating since it will ultimately affect the students' ability to become successful in the real world. We may not be able to prevent cheating either online or within the classroom but we can be vigilant and demonstrate to our student how very important it is NOT to cheat.
I agree with Andre, cheating is cheating and it has the inherent ability to destroy a students course of study by influencing and perpetuating poor learning habits. I reach out to my students to suggest good study habits and how to avoid having to even think about cheating. Cheating hurts everyone!
John,
Be a true mentor helps the student in every way.
Shelly Crider
As much as acting distance learning instructors, we don't really have the power to monitor whether a student has cheated or not on the different assignments. One advantage that the college where i work is that we have the privilege to have hybrid courses, where we conduct classes either on campus or online. For my general education classes, I always administer unit, mid-terms and final assessments face to face. This way students know the expectation of learning the desired outcomes is there.
I believe this is really the only way to make online students accountable for their own learning.
German ,
Hybrid courses are really up and coming and are an excellent way to help those students who do not feel competent on the computer. Hybrid is a good way to keep cheating down as well!
Shelly Crider
I disagree. We should be more concerned about cheating in online courses than traditional learning. It is more easier to cheat in an online course. For example, the student taking an online exam could get help from a third party and there is very hard for the instructor to find out. Yes, they are tools such as turnitin that can be used to check if the work submitted is plagiarized. However, for math and science courses it is tough to figure that out if the student being helped instantly.
Darakshan,
True.....if a student had enough time on a test, they could google each question.
Shelly Crider
of course cheating still occur and we try our best to minimize it
sahbaa,
There are times when we do not even know when cheating is going on, but the students certainly need to know that you, the instructor, is watching.
Shelly Crider
As much as the adage states that cheaters only hurt themselves, that is not necessarily true. I teach healthcare students, whose cheating and failure to adequately learn material can have life-threatening consequences. It is important to be able to monitor this type of activity.
I take online courses and have to submit my work through a plagiarism service such as Turnitin, yet I often wonder how my instructors know that I am the one actually creating the work I submit. Anyone sitting at my terminal, logging on as me could take my exams and submit work I represent as my own. So, the game has changed somewhat. I am sure there are safeguards available through activity monitoring systems, but how expensive are these for institutions, and what should the consequences be, and how can mistakes in detection be rectified? I don't know the answers, but know it is something I need to consider in offering online coursework to my students.
Althea,
Thank you!!! Yes, cheating does hurt others....actaully can hurt a patient.
Shelly Crider
