Well I think that cheating and academic dishonesty are a problem in any environment and students who submit the work of others occurs regardless of the instrucational paradigm. However, I think that in the nearly anonymous environment of online there are other issues that instructors should be cognisant of. For example, in a ground-based classroom, it is fairly certain that instructors will know their students at least by sight and as a result, having other students submit exams and quizzes is unlikely (however large classrooms are an obvious exception to this). In my opinion that does not necessarily mean that online is less effective, it simply means that instructors need to be aware of the possibility of these activities and monitor the students' submissions with that in mind. One way to combat this is to get to know the students more fully in order to have a better handle on the students' level of comprehension. In other words, if a student is clearly not grasping the concepts, acing a quiz might raise some red flags.
Joe,
Excellent post! Glad to hear that your university is doing something proactive.
Shelly Crider
I disagree. We have had issues with individuals other than the student doing the online work. Even with some biometric useage, this still is a problem. Plagerism has also been detected. We use a commercial system to check assignments and track "resubmissions." Cheating online is similar to cheating in the classroom, but the identity issue is a bigger challenge to detect. The US Department of Education and Accrediting Agencies are addressing the issue through regulations. One local university has resorted to only proctored exams to address the identy issue.
Maureen,
Good point! We work with co-workers that do not always follow all of the rules!
Shelly Crider
Students may cheat, but that does not mean the programs are not beneficial to the larger population. Think, elimination of programs do not prevent cheating.
Some provisions can be put in place to curtail(not reward) cheating.
I disagree; we should always be concerned about students cheating. Whether it’s in a traditional or online environment, cheating is cheating and in the end the student is only cheating themselves. In in online environment, I believe that it can be a little easier to cheat if current types of parameters are not setup. With a lot of the technology today, the more you use it the better equipped people are using it. In traditional classes students are given a test with limited resources and place in a confined space; that limits there sources and availability to outsource for answers, but some still try it anyway. An online environment gives some the possible to link to stored answers and or shared or open pages/windows. If a student is resourceful and is aware of certain non-restrictions it is very possible to cheat with ease.
Jeff,
Not just assessments, assignments can also be someone else's work.
Shelly Crider
In my opinion cheating is cheating no matter what the setting. The biggest downfall I see is having someone else do the work. If the tests and assesments are done online, cheating can and does occure.
I am always "concerned" about a student cheating. Only because I care about their educational outcome, value for their time and money and their success. In the end, if receiving a passing grade is more important to the student than actual learning, there is little more we as educators can do after normal safeguards, observation techniques and just plain "tellin'em like it is".
Yasmine,
That is awesome Yasmine. I have had students feel they do not really know how to cite properly.
Shelly Crider
Hi Shelly!
Thanks so much for your inquiry.
With the institute the students are properly informed and trained on how to avoid plagiarism when they initially begin the program.
Also in accordance with the institute’s policy, I send the students weekly e-mails “and†announcements regarding plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Yasmine,
Do you think students are trained on how not to plagiarize?
Shelly Crider
In my opinion, online instructors should be even more concerned with cheating and plagiarism in an online environment. I have taught in both the face-to-face and online environment. After teaching in an online environment I was astonished at the magnitude of plagiarized assignments and essays that I would receive. This is not to say that I did not encounter students cheating when teaching in a face-to-face environment. However the higher level of cheating encounters that I experienced was during my tenure as an online instructor.
From my experience majority of the cheating would occur in students submitting plagiarized essays. The students would copy the information verbatim from a website and paste it into a document. Afterwards, they’d submit this document as an essay “without†listing any citations of where the information was retrieved from. In short, they would submit the essay as if it were written in their own words. All too often when I would address the students in this matter I typically received a response of, “I didn’t know that was plagiarism!†It was hard to believe that response being that I e-mailed my students weekly reminders of the school’s policy on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
Barry,
what if the cheater has someone doing their work...how do you detect such cheating in this situation?
Shelly Crider
So essentially, why not nullify cheating? A course could be designed so there is no reward for cheating in the first place.
A cheater is easily detectable if asked the right questions.
Cheating is cheating but there are Web site coding methods that will prevent (or at the least alert the instructor of) manipulation, copying and most other nefarious activities a clever cheater could employ.
Although there is no way to know if a learner is using some sort of "crutch"--reference books or outside experts on the subject--asking (testing) questions that require written, unique answers that would require a solid knowledge and a complete understanding of the course (or a specific lesson) will ferret out most scofflaws.
I agree with this statement. If someone constantly cheets, eventually the true validity of their work will be discovered. Eventaully when the student is put in a situation were he/she cannot cheat, an instructor will note the difference immediatly.
Christopher,
Isn't it sad that it is the norm??
Shelly Crider
I do not agree with cheating but it appears it has become a norm in today’s environment. I think the most important issue is – does the student learn the information. It is up to each person’s integrity to learn the information without cheating but the bottom line is do they learn the subject and can they apply it.
Krystal,
Detailed discussions are a great way to help with cheating.
