Why do students cheat? How do they cheat? How has cheating changed since distance education came into being? Academic integrity is of particular interest to online education faculty, staff members, administrators, and students alike. Here we will explore the history of, and trends in, cheating and plagiarism in higher education and focus on how it relates to distance education.
Objective: Discuss faculty beliefs regarding cheating and online education
About half the faculty surveyed believe: ◦ Students cheat at least occasionally ◦ Undergraduates cheat more often than grad students ◦ Opportunities to cheat, to catch cheaters, and to prevent cheating are similar online or face-to- face Faculty were more likely to have concerns about online (McNabb & Olmstead, 2009)
Objective: Identify a three-pronged approach to addressing academic integrity: policing (catching and punishing cheaters), prevention (designing courses and assignments that discourage cheating), and virtue (creating learning communities in which students do not want to cheat)
Use technology Establish clear expectations Recognize cues in written work ◦ Odd passages ◦ Particularly good/bad writing (compared to the overall paper) ◦ Outdated information Report all suspected instances
Publish and provide clear access to guidelines Rotate/rewrite assignments Randomize exams Use a variety of assessments Proctor when necessary
Promote original thought and work Encourage appropriate collaboration Model academic integrity in own work Build a culture of integrity
What are your concerns about academic integrity? Do you think academic integrity should be handled differently online? If so, how?
Objective: Evaluate technology, tools and techniques designed to detect and deter cheating and plagiarism
Use plagiarism checkers (TurnItIn™, SafeAssign™, SNITCH) Leverage LMS features (options for exams, drop boxes, online proctoring, etc.) Encourage students to self-check Reframe the purpose and value of citation as a "tool for fellow researchers" (VCU, 2012, para. 6)
Objective: Investigate best practices for creating communities of integrity on campuses and within departments
Share and discuss policies and practices Get students' input and commitment Foster collaboration and peer recognition Explain acceptable collaboration Encourage critical thinking
How can you promote a “culture of integrity” online? What can you do to engage learners in this process?
Objective: Develop classroom techniques to discourage academic dishonesty
Provide clear expectations for original work Establish clear evaluation criteria and rubrics Integrate academic integrity into the classroom discourse Provide examples of correct citation Require the use of current events or local topics for assignments (Carnegie Mellon, n.d.)
American University in Cairo. (n.d.). Promoting academic integrity at AUC. Retrieved from Baruch College. (2011). Academic integrity website. Retrieved from Carnegie Mellon. (n.d.). Plagiarism and the web. Retrieved from East Carolina University. (2010). Fostering academic integrity in distance education. Retrieved from Fellguth, J. (2007). Cyber cheating. Retrieved from McNabb, L., & Olmstead, A. (2009). Communities of integrity in online courses: Faculty member beliefs and strategies. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 5(2), Retrieved from Niezgoda, s., & Way, T. (2006). SNITCH: A software tool for detecting cut and paste plagiarism. SIGCSE Technical Symposium, March 1-5, 2006, Houston, TX. Retrieved from University of Phoenix. (2009, August 4). Maintaining academic integrity online at University of Phoenix. Retrieved from president/articles/maintaining-academic-integrity-online.htmlhttp:// president/articles/maintaining-academic-integrity-online.html Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). (2012). SafeAssign: Policing v prevention. Retrieved from prevention/ prevention/ Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). (2009). Best practice strategies to promote academic integrity in online education. Retrieved from