I have found that communicating and enforcing course expectations right away can help to prevent some future cheating. Leading students to multiple learning opportunities and relevant tools can also curb cheating.
It is important to teach students the differences between paraphrasing, synthesizing, and quoting, as well. It is true that there is a big difference between ignorance and pre-meditated cheating.
I think some students are also intimidated by the research process. Instructors can sometimes prevent cheating by demonstrating simple research techniques, sources, and tools. Once students feel comfortable with navigating their systems and locating resources, they may be less inclined to "cut corners."
Cheating is a factor of what students are asked to do. Yes, cheating is an issue in online environments and the best first step is to design assignments that limit the possibilities for cheating. Open-ended responses in essay form have the best potential for this, but intended or unitended "borrowing" of the words and ideas of others will still occur. Whether or not this is "plagiarism" depends on how we treat this as a learning opportunity, with consequences only for repeat offenders.
Lyn ,
"Cheat websites".....what a terrible thing to use.
Shelly Crider
Lyn ,
Cheating is a vicious animal. Hurts everyone involved.
Shelly Crider
Lyn ,
I think cheating occurs when life gets crazy for a student. When a student becomes overwhelmed, cheating could take place.
Shelly Crider
Eman,
Oh so true...the bottom line is knowledge gained.
Shelly Crider
Nancy ,
It take tiime to do the research to see if cheating has occurred as well.
Shelly Crider
Roberta,
We as instructors will need to be crafty with our assessments.
Shelly Crider
Yes, the internet has a thriving and I assume lucrative selection of essay websites to which people can get answers for the course assignments.
Cheat websites, we call them. Using that sort of "service" is the epitome of cheating.
How do the people that work for these sites even begin to rationalize what they are doing? Sigh. Lyn
Absolutely! Cheating also cheats the ones that do it. I would have to assume they are in classes to learn and get a degree that is meaningful to their lives. I have never understood why students would diminish the value of what they achieve by cheating. Lyn
Oh wow! We should always be concerned about cheating, or plagiarism.
I have taught both on ground and online for years, and my response to cheating or copying and pasting has been consistent... a zero grade.
How can I do my job to assess student learning if the student is not doing his or her own original work?
Do you think students are more likely to cheat in courses that they perceive as less valuable to them personally or to their career goals? Lyn
As so many others have said here, I disagree with the statement. Cheating in any academic environment is unacceptable behavior and is counter-productive. Students are in a class to learn so they can go on and use that knowledge in the real world. Cheating does not prepare them for that and, as you mentioned in one of your reply posts Shelly, leads one to believe that that student will carry that kind of behavior into their working environment.
Hello Shelly,
I completely disagree because the instructor should be concerned about students cheating whether in traditional classes or in an online class. The students will not gain the knowledge and achieve the learning objective of the course if they are cheating. Integrating Turnitin in the platform that is used to deliver online courses is highly recommended.
Best regards,
Eman
Disagree. We should be concerned about students cheating in online classes. Even more so, than we are concerned about cheating in traditional classes. After all, in traditional classes we can see the student, and require the student to prove her/his identity. Such identity proof is not so easy in an online environment.
I think it is actually easier to cheat in an online forum because the student can "google" and find answers already drafted!
Nicole,
Unacceptable in any classroom as well as the workplace itself.
Shelly Crider
William,
I love the term proactive! Each class we teach, we learn from. Once you find a student plagiarizing, you will become more proactive.
Shelly Crider
John,
I so agree with you.....cheating in school leads to an unhonest employee.
Shelly Crider
We should be concerned with cheating in any course. Many of the same resources are available to both the ground student and the online student. When work is supplied, we have to research for its originality and compare to online answers "out there" on the internet. It definitely means more work for the instructor, but we need to send the message ot the student that their work is to be there own.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Thrall Moller
