I agree it is all about learning the material.
Cheating in school when they are in a field that requires a certification or licensing after graduation will not help them at all. I tell the my students that it is all about learning the material because what we are really preparing them for is the licensing test and how to be good competent professionals. If they cannot pass the licensing exam then the time and money they have spent in school is wasted.
The question reads "We should not be concerned about students cheating in an online environment; they may cheat in traditional classes as well"
I absolutely disagree with the statement.
Cheating in any fashion is still cheating! If a student is found to be cheating in a class it tells us a lot about their integrity. Yes, academic integrity, but it is not a giant leap to say that it is reflective of the students overall moral makeup.
I teach in health professions and academic honesty is taken very seriously. I know of an institution that just expelled 6 students that were only 3 months away from graduating because they found a copy of a test in their email. Many argued that these students were good students, and it was only one test, and it was their first offense, and they cannot help it if someone sent them a copy of the test...
Do we really want someone involved in our healthcare if they were found cheating in school? What does that mean for their work/professional integrity. "Oh I didn't get that medication given to the patient, I will sign it out anyway, missing only one medication will not hurt them....
The arguement that they cannot help that someone sent them the test does not hold up eithor. Do you want a healthcare practioner taking care of you who knows that a coworker is not doing their job (not giving medication, does not do treatments correctly or at all, documents blood pressures, and pulses that were never taken), or worse yet is taking medication that the patients are suppose to receive? Should the healthcare professional not go to the manager? Should the students who received the test not have gone to the instructors and informed them of the email?
I disagree, we should always be aware of and concerned that there are students not putting forth effort and achieving the same reward as students that do put the effort in. Same credits for lack of efort.
Dishonest behavior must be a concern no matter where it occurs. We have seen over and over again the devastating results of dishonest behavior – Enron, WorldCom, the Mortgage Industry, and on, and on, and on. Students who have not learned dishonest behavior eventually finds them and hurts themselves as well as others, whether they are on-line or on-ground, must be made aware of the severity of their dishonest behavior. I teach online graduate courses at a university, and it pains me deeply to catch an adult student guilty of plagiarism; yet, I have seen it happen, and it cannot be tolerated.
You are so correct. They can't cheat off someone else when it is time to deliver a baby, bake the donuts, etc. They have to know the techniques for themselves.
Students will find a way to cheat, either in a face-to-face class or in an online class. I think the focus in an online course has to be on activities that enhance learning and the integration of that learning into the students mind-set. There are ways to minimize cheating in the online setting but I don't think you will ever completely eliminate it.
I disagree. We need to be very concern about online cheating. From my experience of more than 10 years teaching online, student tend to try to cheat more in an online setting.
In all my online classes there is a section about cheating and academic integrity. After student read this section there is a chat to answer questions and concerns. It is very important that what constitute cheating is explained to the student, especially to those on their first years. Letting your students know your expectations and the University policies on this issues will help during the class.
I think we should be concerned with cheating regardless of the environment (online or on site). I admit it is harder to control in an online environment, but it still need to be addressed.
Good point. There are some things we have to watch for...cheating is one of these items.
regardless to the environment, this is an issue that we should not ignore. Cheating takes away from goals and objections for the student and the course.
If a student is using Microsoft Word or Excel, you can check the properties.
The issue of cheating is an interesting one for online learning. As indicated by many in this thread, cheating can occur in any type of education medium. In traditional classrooms, there are certain safeguards in place to ensure cheating is minimized and resulting consequences for academic integrity violations. The same must be done for online, but different methods may have to be used. At the end of the day, the student is the one who suffers if he or she cheats regardless if it is online or onground. What one of the online schools I teach for require is that students submit a document with each assignment for grading that essentially says the work submitted is the student's work. Students being reminded on a regular basis seems to help. Any other strategies people can think of?
Yes, letting your students know your expectations right up front will help with the cheating issue.
I would have to agree with you that it is the same in the online enviorment as well as the classroom enviorment. I would ensure that the learner is aware that cheating on an assessment will only will cause them difficulties as it takes more time.
That depends on what you consider cheating. I have a serious problem with students that would use online tech to plagarize, however, using tech to find answers to questions is a valuable skill to hone.
random questions is good if you are giving a multiple choice test.
I agree. After 2 terms, I have been impressed with the integrity of my students. I do not anticipate any more problems with an online course. I will have to find out about giving a secure exam. Perhaps these will have to continue to be given at the school, but at the convenience of the students--I believe most, if not all, will be taking other live classes.
I believe every facilitator should be concerned about cheating, whether in an online environment or an in-class environment. I think as facilitators we also need to be concerned with the integrity of our students, especially since we should lead by example. By NOT concerning ourselves with cheaters we condone the action. Yes, we know students cheating are cheating themselves but they are also cheating other students. A very good example of how students cheating is unfair to other students, let say we have 2 students competing for a job, the cheater gets hired, can't do the job and is fired. Unfortunately the non-cheater lost out of a job opportunity they may have been perfect for.
This is where a good discussion is helpful. You can get acquainted on how the student writes.
Cheating can still occur in an online class. Many times the students become friends as they take online classes term after term.
As a result there are times when a student may contact their friend for advice on how to answer homework problems, questions, etc.
This can be monitored to a certain extent by comparing the wording a student uses in their assignments to see if there is an exact match to another student's work.
