I disagree.
Students can and will cheat regardless of the environment (not all students, but some may). In fact, it is easier to cheat in an online environment because they have access to more resources and potentially no proctor. To prevent cheating online, you can send them to a proctor center or use a service like ProctorU or if you want, you can use Respondus Lockdown Browser that will lock down the browser from the rest of the Internet but the test. There are options to help reduce cheating in the online environment.
Instructors always need to be aware of students who are cheating. I think it is easier for students to cheat when taking online classes, however, it a student wants to cheat, he/she will find a way to cheat whether in the actual classroom or online. The discussion board postings will give insight whether or not the student is keeping up with understanding of the material and if the student has an understanding of the material and is prepared for the test, they may be less likely to cheat.
Michelle,
There are programs that will help with preventing cheating, and I think there will be more and more.
Shelly Crider
Marie,
Cheating is certainly cheating. It leads to not being honest in the work place as well.
Shelly Crider
Jacqueline,
Then the student will find a nice, convincing way to explain they didn't know they were cheating!!
Shelly Crider
Cheating is certainly something instructors should look out for. Of course, it should always begin with the school and course policies in the syllabus. The reminders of the penalties and use of good information literacy practices should be ubiquitous. The design of the assignments is an important consideration as well. Are there resources available for proctoring students in a distance learning environment? Are services like Turnitin to be used?
Shelly,
I disagree. It is just as important in the online setting as it is in the traditional classroom. Students have to learn the importance of applying their skills and knowledge to the subject. It is all considered academic dishonesty, and there are consequences to this.
Michael ,
Turnitin is a great resource for online or traditional classroom. There are some proctoring program, but I have not used them. Waiting to see what others say on this.
Shelly Crider
LaToya,
We really do need to instill honesty in the classroom, this will help them in their career as well.
Shelly Crider
I think that when cheating occurs in an online course or traditional classroom setting it should be addressed and student should be encouraged to seek academic help so they don't jeopardize their program of study if they are caught cheating.
Bill,
There definitely should be direction on what went wrong with the assignment, whether it was intentional or not.
Shelly Crider
It doesn't matter if the course is online or delivered on the ground, cheating should be taken into serious consideration. Just because we are providing instruction online, it doesn't mean cheating should be treated any less important. What it means that instructors have to vigilant in the type of assignments that they give to deter students from considering cheating.
We should always be concerned with cheating, whether it be in a traditional classroom environment, or in an online environment. Cheating can occur in both environments and students should be made aware, early in their studies, about the consequences of academic dishonesty.
In my College, like many others, we require students to take a Freshmen Seminar course to learn Information Literacy concepts and other concepts like citation methods, and how to avoid plagiarism and academic dishonesty by defining it and discussing how to do effective research.
Students need to be aware of the serious repercussions of being dishonest, up to and including dismissal from the College.
Fortunately, there are also several online tools that may be used to detect academic dishonesty, including sites that allow both instructors and students to upload documents to determine a level of duplication which can help determine the next course of action instructors and students take.
Of course cheating should be monitored. However, as an instructor who has been teaching Online for over 3 years--it is very difficult to evaluate assessment dishonesty. Assignments are a little easier to evaluate for integrity issues because of potential similarities through plagiarism check programs and unusual similarities to other student papers. You must make it apparent in the beginning of the course--Online learning is an honor system and for the most part students must do their best do be their own moral and ethical monitor.
I disagree cheating is a great concern online, as well as in a traditional setting. Cheating online can be easier, because students can just Google the answer. Cheating at any level results in the person not knowing or learning the subject matter. If you don't concern yourself with an online student cheating you are telling them that it is okay to steal the work of others. No matter what setting the student is in cheating is unacceptable.
Quebec,
I would like to think that we as instructors do take cheating seriously. You are right that we need to think about what time of assignments to hand out.
Shelly Crider
Keith,
I am glad to hear of your seminar course. There are many times when students do not even realize they have cheated.
Shelly Crider
Roland,
I certainly agree with you on we must impress on the students are thoughts/plan on cheating from day one!
Shelly Crider
Sherry,
We certainly do not want to condone cheating. Good job!
Shelly Crider
Cheating is cheating whether it is online or in a brick and mortar classroom. Online courses have taken steps to alleviate cheating by creating testing rooms where students must be verified and visually monitored as they take tests.
