Jon, I disagree. If we turn our back on cheating then the entire course/program becomes devalued. Quizzes and exams need to be designed so that the risk of cheating is lessoned, such as making the responses essay format. Plagiarism is another issue that should be addressed when spotted as well.
--Joe Gilkerson
The same as what? I'm guessing you mean the same as during the era when American moral standards were based on a Judeo-Christian ethic. Then, cheating was seen as stealing or lying, both taught in the Bible as sin. Now, there is no moral standard that affects the masses. Anything goes.
Okay, I read the other posts and realize the question means the same for online students and onsite students. I agree that if a student is going to cheat the or she will do it either place. I am proud that my students seem very ethical in their practices.
I think you all missed the point. Is cheating the same? As what, actually learning, doing the work? Of course not. Cheating is getting something you want without doing the actual work. Is research cheating? Only if you pass off someones work as your own. There is no debate that cheating happens and will continue to. But how does one cheat in an online environment? Thats a better question in my mind.
I strongly disagree. Academic honesty and integrity should be among the top precedence of faculty regardless of classroom setting – traditional or online. As a faculty I feel a strong need to address such issues in a manner that will point the student in the right direction and encourage them to learn how to appropriately paraphrase, reference or quote information.
Jon,
Students can cheat as they may email each other during an exam for answers. However, without the exams being graded, they are taking a chance on what is correct and not correct from their fellow classmate. The same applies to onground classes. In the online environment, you have no way of disciplining the offender or detecting if they are cheating.
Gardner,
It can happen, but there are tools that designers and instructor can use to discourage this or make it harder.
Jon
I agree - it is definitely something to consider as you create your classes - Jon
Joe,
I'm not suggesting that we do that! I would hope that we could use some other/different assessment methods to give use variety, and to make it as difficult as possible to cheat.
Jon
Cheating is a major issue in online and traditional issues. I think a lot of the issue is the moral/ethical perception of the students. Doing take home tests together is ok based on their opinions. I have also had married couples and parent child combinations in the same course and it is apparent that they do the work together or one does it and both submit. We have to try and discuss moral/ethics in our classes more rather than try to make it too hard to cheat. I try to express the downsides to cheating, long term effects, and the morals/ethics that you need for the chosen career path. Hopefully they will make the right choice in both online and traditional formats.
Stacy
I have read a lot of impressive responses to this issue and felt compelled to remark upon the validity of the debate. People will find a way to cheat anything if they are motivated to. If there is malicious intent then a way will be found. I believe that the honor system is all that can be relied on. If attention is paid to the merits of learning the material because it may benefit them in the career field over simply passing a course to get their degree we have done all we can. At this point it becomes a matter of honor, and while I personally can’t understand the mindset of malevolent individuals, there are some out there. We can only safeguard as many things as possible to ‘keep an honest person honest’, but there will always be a way for those inclined to get over.
Great thoughts - thanks for sharing. I agree, nothing is 100%, but I do think we should make it as difficult as possible.
Jon
Cheating is cheating. Opportunities to cheat abound, both onground and online.
The best that I have found is to reduce the Quiz and Exam element (outdated at best anyway) and require more writing. Then use the Turnitin.com function, even thought there are ways to get around that also. Getting around Turnitin.com takes a pretty sophisticated student.
Again, cheating is cheating. In my experience it seems that online students are more oblivious - they figure that if it is out there on the internet then they can use it. The problem is that they do not know enough about copyright. I do have several sites I send them to, although you can't require them to do the learning lessons available. Sometimes it is simply a matter of time with them - they have to get it done, don't understand the assignment, or the assignment is too high level in terms of instructing them what to do.
Donna
One of the places for which I teach indoctrinate students constantly about the penalties for cheating, how easy it is to catch (Turnitin), and the effects of cheating on themselves and other students. That is, it attempts to create a culture within which cheating is frowned on, or at least about which there's considerable anxiety on the part of students. I actually think that helps to stem some of the practice of relying on paper-writing services or other easily accessed sources for work other than their own.
We should be concerned with "cheating" regardless of the environment! Recently, I had a student submit an assignment that was plagiarized. It was not the same quality as her previous work, so I decided to "Google" the title of her paper and, sure enough, the paper popped up on the Internet! I believe "cheaters" can come in "all shapes and sizes" and I don't think it has anything to do with "classroom" or "Internet" classes. A student who will cheat in the online atmosphere is just as likely to cheat in the classroom. But, that does not mean that it is "more likely" to occur in the online environment.
Tanya Vanderlinde
I disagree. Cheating is cheating, regardless as to whether it is in an online class or a face-to-face one. Cheating threatens the integrity of the class, and not treating it seriously can lead to a bad attitude on the part of the student involved in it.
Cheating or copying information from another student's paper occurs in both a traditional and online setting. Cheating is the same in both environments. Also, learners steal the words of authors in both environments and use them as their own. However, in an online learning environment, it is easier to catch copying because of software that checks for similar text on web sites.
Belinda
