Academic Integrity
The difficulty I have with online learning has to do with academic integrity. I know a large number of people who have taken online courses and have cheated either with exams or papers.
I am very interested in learning and working with online learning, but I am just uncertain about this aspect of it.
Khaled,
Oh so true....plagiarism is simply everywhere...even in the workforce!
Shelly Crider
Turnitin is currently used in many institutions whether it is online or on ground teaching. I do not see the problem of plagiarism is particular for online teaching. It is the same problem for on ground teaching. To solve the problem of exams and quizzes, some online program does not have any quizzes or exams but only projects. I know of some universities ask for a final on ground exam in addition to all the online work. If the student cannot came to campus, they can take the exam in a test center.
Catherine,
It makes me angry as well. There are so many good.....great....courses out there and to have someone else take the course for a student just drives me crazy. Some colleges will have you call the students, which actually makes sense to see if the student does know what is going on.
Shelly Crider
95% of the universities I teach for require students to submit papers through Turn-it-in, a text matching software. The software required that the instructor open and evaluate the reports because not all text matches are inappropriate, but it provides an excellent tool for preventing plagiarism. I have run homework and essay test answers through this also, with excellent results.
I agree there are still issues with test taking. And when I go to Craig's List and look for tutors, pages of companies willing to take your online course for you come up. It makes me angry. I also figure that most students can't afford to purchase their degree in that way. And most friends aren't willing to take any accounting final for free, or for any amount of money :)
Rina,
Excellent resource! We can all use resources.
Shelly Crider
I have used ProctorU for proctoring online exams. They are very good.
Courtney,
Yes, and it makes the students think about the material they are learning.
Shelly Crider
I had (and still have) the same concern regarding online courses. Timed quizzes, synchronous discussions, papers/essays summarizing content, projects, ethical questions with no definite right or wrong answer are all methods to assess the students that eliminates (or at least greatly reduces) the likelihood of cheating.
Jason ,
Oh so true, where there is a will there is a way...to succeed or cheat.
Shelly Crider
I agree that online courses compound the issue of academic integrity. Online forums (especially synchronous) are a great way to evaluate student learning in an online environment. Timed tests help, too. But, sadly, if a student is going to cheat, they will cheat in a classroom setting or an online setting. Expressing the importance of mastering the material for the good of future employment is paramount at the beginning of the course.
Hannah,
Quizzes used for review or self-help is a great idea!
Shelly Crider
I always use turn it in.
There is no way to proctor an exam, so who knows if a student is being prompted by another during the quiz. For this reason, I don't make quizzes worth a lot. I use them for review of the material only.
Mark,
There are many programs out there designed to help with this. You are probably aware of TurnItIn......this is a great program!
Shelly Crider
