Cheating is the same, the ethics of the action are still the same online or on ground. Cheating online is a product of the access at times students have to others work, I believe online instructors must very careful with watching cheating. We happen to use test proctoring centers both on ground and online to supervise the students during tests.
Cheating, plagiarism, or any other perceived academic integrity issue is a concern regardless of the environment – online or in a physical campus environment. Instructors must uphold and reinforce institutional policies relative to academic integrity so any potential policy violations in an online environment must be assessed and addressed as they would be in a “traditional†setting. It is an instructor’s responsibility to facilitate the learning process, a process that may sometimes include using a situation of compromised integrity to further educate a student about policies and appropriate practices. Ignoring an academic integrity issue can result in meaningless feedback on an assignment since it’s not based on the actual work of a student, a false sense of accomplishment for a student, unfairness in the awarding of grades and ultimately degrees, and the risk of negatively contributing to an institution’s reputation which has broader implications.
Is it possible that students believe there are more opportunities to cheat, without detection or with less significant repercussions, in an online environment?
Cheating is always a concern and unless physical proctoring takes place, and even then, their is no certainty that cheating has not taken place. At the end of the day an educational has a moral standard to uphold and cheating is something that must be taken seriously in every aspect of academic sphere.
Cheating can occur in online or face to face. I think it may be more difficult to catch in the online environment as a student could take the exam for another student. The use of proctors and some software does help in this area. I also think the use of antiplagiarism software such as turnitin has also helped.
Hi Lyn—Cheaters find all kinds of ways to justify their actions.
Restating your question… “are we LESS likely to cheat if we perceive value…?â€. I’d like to a study results.
It’s been my experience that people cheat partly because they feel pressure to accomplish a task but have competing goals (which creates time constraints).
Tony
Cheating is the same! However having said that with adult learners and the"on-line" format you get out of the course what you put into it. Therefore - the real looser is, as always, the cheater. Policing "on-line" cheating would seem to me, at least, difficult. I know we can limit testing times, and build in other safeguards. Once again, the true test is when the learner (student) must apply the skills learned - or not.
So yes I think its critical this is reinforced in many different areas of the classroom. If we achieve visibility on this we end up seeing less of these violations from the class as a whole.
I teach at an accredited university. We take academic honesty very seriously whether it occurs in a traditional classroom or an online classroom. Students earn grades in both types of classrooms. Cheating devalues our program and institution.
I’m having hard time thinking of a situation where an educator would NOT be concerned about cheating.
William ,
Learning environment, work environment, social environment........
Shelly Crider
Cheating is cheating no matter what the learning environment. Whether students cheat in a traditional classroom setting is not relevant to whether students cheat when their online. Every effort should be made to eliminate cheating. Cheating comes in many forms, to include obtaining answers for exams and plagiarism, to name but two methods of academic dishonesty.
Dr. Thomas,
Possibly from the same website or same author!!
Shelly Crider
Will,
I like it! There is something to be said about creativity, however, we need to guide down the right track as well.
Shelly Crider
Josh,
I cannot think of a reason cheating is a good thing!
Shelly Crider
Cheating in any form should not be accepted. The instructor should always encourage the students to be honest appreciating their plus points and accepting their deficiencies. This is what learning is all about.
Just because a students hands you an assignment in class doesn't mean they wrote it. Same as online, just because they submitted it does mean they wrote it! Possiblity of both papers being cheated.
I'm with you. I know there are some programs that can let the instructor know when a learner is cheating.
Andrew,
Oh so true! Not all students know they are plagiarizing simply due to the fact they have misunderstood the citation guidelines.
Shelly Crider
Lillian,
If a student wishes to cheat, they will find a way no matter where they are at.
Shelly Crider
Here's my take on this. If a student is smart enough to get away with it, then let them have it because those abilities they possess to work the system will serve them well in the "real world". Do not misinterpret my meaning though. I do my absolute best to ensure that this does not happen in my courses, but if they can get it past me then they deserve it. How's that? :-)
I hope that everyone responding to this disagrees with the statement! There are definitely reasons why students cheat, but I can't think of any that are acceptable. And like a lot of the other participants have said, it doesn't matter if the course is on-line or on-ground. It is
I might even say that we should be more vigilant about cheating online because it seems like it would be easier to do. I worked for an institution that required the students, even in online classes, to take their exams in testing centers to make sure there was no cheating going on. When I protested this while teaching an online class, I was told that there was just no way to tell if the students would actually be the ones sitting down to take exams if the exam was administered online. Someone could pay someone else to take an online exam for them. While this is absurd to me, I didn't protest further because I could see their point.
Anyhow, I definitely think we should be just as concerned with cheating in any environment, and as others have said, do our best to shut it down because allowing it just absolutely sends the wrong message.
