Mark,
Oh so true.....this is serious business no matter where it is occurring.....good post!
Shelly Crider
Cheating in no matter what form it is, is wrong and unethical. It is very hard to identify a cheater in an online environment. Though, when I used to support WebCT at a job there was a system that would be downloaded from the school in order for the student to take the test. This would lock down the browser and prevent other instances to run. It was very touchy and hard to troubleshoot if there were issues.
I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt. The only thing I put my foot down is plagurism. This is easier to detect than straight cheating on a test.
While it is true that cheating also occurs in traditional courses, that is no reason to shrug off the seriousness of the offense or to accept it when it happens in online courses.
A lot can be said about plagiarism in online courses, and tools for catching internet copy/paste plagiarism are quite good now; however, purposeful plagiarizing is only one form of online "cheating." Another equally concerning form of cheating might be having someone else do the work. If a student consistently gets a friend or family member to compose his/her written assignments throughout the course, will the instructor ever know? Other instances of cheating can involve passing along exam answers to students who take the exam at a later time. This is even more damaging when exam questions for courses do not change very often.
I am relatively confident that I will notice and respond appropriately to cases of plagiarism. What the online classroom is yet to address as vigorously are the opportunities for the other forms of cheating mentioned here. These are just as possible in the online environment, and they are just as wrong.
Kenjiro,
Cheating is cheating whether you are in the work force on in an academic class.
Shelly Crider
I think that cheating in an online course is a problem. Teaching online courses I have run into so much plagiarism. It is not even subtle, it is completely blatant. One week you have a student that is a mediocre writer, the next week they turn in a genius essay. Coincidence I think not. Cheating should be punished just like in a real classroom setting.
Don,
I hate when I hear about inflated grades....we all like a great grade, but we need to be giving what is deserved.
Shelly Crider
Strongly disagree...I teach both online and onground and cheating, unfortunately, does occur in both. However, it cannot be tolerated under any circumstance! Assuming that cheating is ignored it becomes common place, grades become inflated, and the academic value of the institution comes into question....
Maureen ,
Many students who cheat do not really think it is cheating, but just being helped :) We as instructors really need to push that point. Cheating is cheating.
Shelly Crider
Hi Lynette and Shelly. This is true very often that students need assistance in understanding how to properly cite any sources. I have, however, had the experience of students who choose not to cite their sources because they somehow believe the instructor will think this large section of text that they posted in the discussion thread is their own brilliant work...they do not even bother to paraphrase. I have used these times to point out to the offending students that this is plagiarism/cheating and not acceptable...when it continues unabated, I have had to report it.
Maureen
Hi Shelly and Class. I think cheating should always be a concern of teachers, no matter the environment it takes place in. One of the messages that should always be conveyed by teachers to their students is one of integrity. There has to be a concerted effort on the part of all levels of education to get the point across that cheating is never okay. I have had a number of issues with students, both online and ground, who seem to think that passing is what counts, not how you manage to do it.
Maureen
Sarah,
I love how you discuss integrity! There are so many instances in society that does not think that integrity is important enough to have!!
Shelly Crider
Cally,
Oh so true.....we were are first learning, we all tend to need a little help!!
Shelly Crider
I disagree. Academic integrity should be the same in online or in face to face learning models. We should hold students accountable and provide them with clear expectations that online students cheating is not acceptable in academic setting.
Danita,
I definitely think that students believe this to be true. There is a sense that online courses are places where this sort of behavior is tolerated, at least implicitly. It is up to the institution and the instructors to work together to insist that such behavior be recognized and immediately dealt with. It is important to catch a student who is actively attempting to cheat as soon as possible to attempt to re-educate the person or to remove the potential influence upon other students.
Regards
Sarah Whylly
Stephanie,
I have given my students the opportunity to do assignments over because of plagiarism but only in instances where the infraction involves errors with regard to citations and there are not obvious examples of copying and pasting information. I do this because I feel it is important for students to acknowledge the mistake and attempt to correct it. If it happens again then I feel that they attempting to avoid doing original work on the assignment.
Regards
Sarah Whylly
Shelly,
I disagree with this because of the detrimental effect it has upon their sense of integrity. If we are indeed preparing them to enter the professional world then the classroom is a practice environment for that entry. What we encourage and discourage in the classroom should be related to what will be expected of them in a professional setting. Although students may cheat, instructors should do everything in their power to both discourage and penalize cheating.
We are also not being honest with the professional world if we certify students as qualified in a field who have cheated in order to gain those qualifications. This can be dangerous depending upon the student's profession. Students should understand that cheating at the college level mirrors cheating at a professional level, the consequences of which can be dire indeed, even leading to criminal penalties in some cases.
Ethics training should be mandatory for students in any field and the importance of producing one's own work should be emphasized.
I will have to admit to plagiarizing once in my 8th grade English class, I didn't quite understand the assignment and I ran out of time. My teacher politely pulled me aside and told me I would not receive credit for it. It scared me to death at that age, and I have never done it again. Life lesson learned!
We should be concerned with it in the online environment. I think making sure all the resources are available and assignments written out correctly will stop most of the plagiarizing/cheating. But in this day and age, everyone is trying to go to school whilst having a full time job so there will always be one that runs out of time and has to resort to it... we just have to be supportive and give them another chance to do the right thing (if it is the first time...), I am glad my teacher didn't give up on me!
Amer,
We, as instructors, have to love programs such as Turnitin. Any help with helping the students see their errors is a good thing.
Shelly Crider
Robert,
I like to teach time management along the way. I usually give my students a weekly calendar for the first week. On Monday I add read material, Tuesday-review material and look at assignments, Wednesday-work on assignments, Thursday-submit discussion and one assignment, Friday- have FUN night no school stuff. Saturday- review assignments and make sure all are done......this is just an example to show students that it is important to schedule "fun" time and "me" time.
Shelly Crider
Elias,
Enlightening students from the very beginning of each course about how to cite and the consequences of not citing.
Shelly Crider
