13.1 Types of Cheating in the Online/Hybrid Classroom
New and innovative ways of accessing the internet pose a threat to academic integrity both in the classroom and at home. Considering the technology students have access to today, it is not difficult for students to cheat their way through a course.
Survey Says...
The question of whether platforms like Blackboard have brought more or less cheating to the realm of higher learning is a point of contention, and efforts to discover their true effect through student surveys and various studies have delivered mixed results.
Most survey studies find that the number of students willing to admit they've cheated in a class is about the same or less for online courses than face-to-face courses. Such findings defy conventional logic and several attempts at explaining the trend have been made. One contributing factor may be a lack of interaction between the students. Results from one survey published in 2009 shows that a sizable discrepancy exists in that students taking online courses are less susceptible to aiding and abetting (described as, "… providing assistance to others, such as allowing a fellow-student to copy a paper or test answers.") cheating. Students taking courses online without the company of their friends may feel disconnected from their fellow classmates, and may not be as likely to provide answers to a classmate with aspirations of cheating. Others have suggested that the nature of online courses reduce the necessity of some types of cheating.
Survey results from 1993 reveal that students are likely to cheat when they are under too much pressure and partake in Panic Cheating. Panic cheating is not premeditated, but is rather the result of a student panicking during an exam, and seeing cheating as a solution to a situation he or she cannot otherwise resolve. Online courses, therefore, may reduce or eliminate panic cheating by providing the student with an environment to prepare for an assignment that they are comfortable in, as well as a schedule which allows the student to prepare for and/or participate in an assignment when he or she feels they are most ready. Instructors can use this to their advantage by embracing a "quality over quantity" approach to assigning coursework.
A student is less likely, and less able to, cheat on an assignment that prompts him or her to demonstrate a skill they have learned over an assignment where the student is simply told to answer questions about what they've learned. In place of traditional exams that pose dozens of multiple choice questions to students about the course, consider using creative alternatives to assess your students in a way that discourages cheating. Video projects or PowerPoints require a student to actively use what they've learned in the course to construct a project that reflects their comprehension of the subject matter. Although these results may inspire optimism in those of us who administer online courses, the feeling is not yet shared by the students enrolling in the courses. When polled in 2009, 73.8% of students responded saying they believe it is easier to cheat in online courses than in face-to-face courses. Previous surveys have shown similar results, and may indicate that the attitude surrounding cheating in online and hybrid courses may be growing more pessimistic as the adoption of online courses in higher education becomes increasingly prevalent.
This is in spite of survey results wherein 4% of students admit to cheating in college classes, and of that 4%, twice as many report having been caught cheating in an online course than in a face-to-face course. The common perception of cheating in online courses appears to exist without a foundation supported by the literature compiled about the subject, but likely still contributes to the amount of cheating taking place. Studies have long held that cheating is commonplace among students who believe cheating to be commonplace among students. Misconceptions about how much cheating actually takes place in online courses only serves to fuel the circular logic of these students. Increased communication with students about academic integrity and its application to online coursework may aid in dispelling students’ Laissez-faire perception of cheating online. That having been said, it remains our responsibility to remove students from temptation, so next we’ll take a look at tips to prevent cheating. |
Cheating has a Price
One of the greatest marvels of today’s technology is how it connects people anywhere, anytime, for any reason. Unfortunately for us in the teaching business, that means it connects students to people who offer to write the essays and complete the coursework that we have assigned to the student in exchange for money.
A Rutgers communications graduate named Dave Tomar, wrote to The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2010 claiming to make $66,000 a year writing essays for students and completing their assignments on eLearning platforms like Blackboard. Tomar explained that his business survives as a byproduct of a failing education system, a system that he believes places unnecessary emphasis on assessing students instead of teaching them. While Tomar’s opinion is certainly rendered biased due to him standing to gain financially from the allegedly failing education system, he is nevertheless part of a thriving industry that allows students to utilize the internet to subvert the concept of academic integrity.
An instructor's greatest tool for combating these ghostwriting services is his or her's own diligence. If a student’s essays are radically outperforming his or her other assignments and exceeding your own expectations beyond reason, further investigation may be warranted. If a student's essay suddenly becomes radically improved, outperforming his or her's previous or other assignments, further investigation may be warranted. For dealing with less sophisticated for-pay services and cases of everyday plagiarism, instructors can rely on sites like TurnItIn.com to scan students’ essays and identify plagiarized text.
An instructor's greatest tool for combating these ghostwriting services is his or her's own diligence. If a student’s essays are radically outperforming his or her other assignments and exceeding your own expectations beyond reason, further investigation may be warranted. If a student's essay suddenly becomes radically improved, outperforming his or her's previous or other assignments, further investigation may be warranted. For dealing with less sophisticated for-pay services and cases of everyday plagiarism, instructors can rely on sites like TurnItIn.com to scan students’ essays and identify plagiarized text.
Real-time collaboration between students over the internet has become one of the most popular methods of cheating on assignments, quizzes, and exams. Google Docs allows students to log in to a shared document interface and collaborate to share answers. Even with the most stringent measures against cheating taken into account, with enough students contributing to the shared answer bank, a nearly complete registry of an assignment’s questions and answers can be assembled. Students will then be able to use this information to achieve a perfect score if they have found such documents from a previous semester, or if they are given the chance to take the assignment or quiz multiple times. This is why it is recommended that your assignments vary each semester.
One instance where such a method was used to achieve an 'A' average for multiple students even when the amount of times their tests could be taken was limited to two. The first student would take the test and receive a low grade due to having no answer bank. The student would record his answers to the Google Doc to begin compiling an answer bank. The second student would take the test and achieve a slightly higher grade due to having the first student’s answers on hand, while contributing his own answers to the shared answer bank. By the time all four of the cheating students had taken the test twice, they all had a passing grade and some would have an 'A' for the assignment. The students would alternate which one of them took the test first, ensuring all four of them would average out to at least an 'A' for the course. Despite the extraordinary effort expended by cheaters to avoid taking a class honestly, instructors are not powerless to stop them.
Next Steps
When you are ready to move on, proceed to 13.2 Deterring Cheating in the Online/Hybrid Classroom.