Transcript
What
is academic cheating? Students perceive cheating as actions against university
policy, benefiting from someone else’s work, not using your own brain to
receive an unearned grade.
Is
cheating a problem in distance education? Studies showed that more than 70% of
students have admitted to cheating during online exams, projects, and other
activities. Almost 95% of students
cheating in online environment are not being caught.
How
do online students cheat? They wait to get answers from others, try to retake
an exam based on false claims about the LMS crashing, get help from websites,
and take an exam jointly with their classmates It is also possible that another
person takes the exam or entire course.
Why
do online students cheat? Students reported that they cheat because they want
to pass the class, get a perfect score, most of their friends are cheating
without being caught, and it is easy to cheat online using the Internet. Other reasons include isolation in online
environment: the instructor is invisible and possibly does not care.
Is
it possible to reduce or prevent cheating in online environment? Studies showed
that university policies on academic misconduct in which consequences for being
caught are clearly identified reduce cheating. However, many students do not
read or ignore them.
Some
software programs lock-down the screen when timed exam begins-students cannot
navigate anywhere else on the computer. However, students can set up two
computers-one for the assessment and one to browse the Web to find answers.
Similarity
detection software such as Turnitin identifies plagiarism, but do they reduce
cheating? In a study on students and instructors’ perception of Turnitin, 56%
of students and 72% of instructors thought that the awareness about the tool
can reduce cheating.
Webcams
can be used to monitor each student taking the exam. However, the assistance which are not in view
of the camera could be offered.
Biometric
devices such as finger prints identifiers and iris detectors can be used to
verify students’ identities, but this products are expensive.
Are
there any computational analysis to detect cheating in online exams? Several
studies discussed a formula which can identified the ratio of common errors on
multiple choice exams to questions answered incorrectly. This ratio can help to
detect cheating.
Randomization
of multiple choice questions is another technique used by educators to prevent
cheating. However, it was shown that reordering questions may negatively affect
students’ performance.
Can
cheating be prevented through type of assessment? Some studies showed that
students cheat less during proctored exams, while findings of others did not
support this claim.
ProctorU
is a company which might be helpful if distance education students cannot come
on campus to take proctored exams. This company proctors exams remotely,
checking students identity and watching them using webcam. However, this serves
is expensive.
Can
course design reduce cheating? In some studies students responded that
meaningful and challenging assignments focused on creative and critical
thinking precludes cheating. Students also admitted that they cheat less if
they respect their instructors.
All described mechanisms have limitations.
Students do not read or ignore policies on academic misconduct. Screen
Lock-down software is not efficient if students use two computers. Webcams do
not capture helpers who are not in view of the camera. Proctored exams
sometimes are not possible or cannot be mandatory. Biometric devices are
expensive. Randomization of multiple choice exams may negatively affect
students’ performance.
Policy
makers, administrators, educators, high-tech companies, and students identify
several ways of cheating prevention, but which one is the most efficient,
where, and when?
Our keynote speaker Dr. McCabe, a retired
professor of Rutgers Business School, is going to answer these questions. Over
the past twenty five years, Dr. McCabe, who is often referred as the “founding
father” of research on academic misconduct or as “Dr. Ethics,” has done extensive research on college
cheating, surveying over 165 000 students at more than 160 colleges and universities
in the US and Canada.
He also is a founder of the International Center
on Academic Integrity.
Please welcome Dr. Donald McCabe as he shares his
knowledge about academic misconduct and helps you to find the optimal solution
for cheating prevention suitable for each of your programs.
References
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to predict online cheating – Much ado about nothing. Active Learning in Higher
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Understanding academic integrity in the online learning
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ASBBS Annual Conference, 20(1), 738-746.
Doerner, W.,
Calhoun, P. (2009). The impact of the order of test questions in introductory
economics. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1321906
Graham-Matheson, L., Starr, S. (2013). Is
it cheating or learning the craft of writing? Using Turnitin to help
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Hensley, L. (2013). To cheat or
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McCabe, D., Butterfield, L., Trevino, L.
(2012). Cheating in College: Why Students
do it and What Educators can do about it. The
John Hopkins University Press.
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139-146.
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ProctorU. (2013). Online proctoring at ProctorU: Watch how it works.
Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eZYqP02nd4
