Is Cheating the Same?
We should not be concerned about students cheating in an online environment; they may cheat in traditional classes as well. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.
david,
Indeed. It is our job as an instructor to push for individualized creativity.
Shelly Crider
I think we should always be concerned with cheating whether it is in the online environment or on ground (traditional classes). There needs to be a certain level of integrity that is standardized in higher education. I think it is much easier to get away with plagiarism and "cheating" in an online environment and it is up to the instructor to be the gatekeeper and role model on this. The more rigorous the interaction on the part of the instructor - setting the stage - being the model - and the more assessment and feedback provided by the instructor to the student - the less likely there is to be "run away" cheating going on. What do others think?
Grace,
I agree with you! The more the instructor become the "gatekeeper" the more responsive the students will become.
Shelly Crider
We should not only be concerned in both venues, we should take proactive steps to discourage it.
I think that cheating will always be a concern regardless of the learning environment. Unfortunately, students just become more and more creative, finding new ways to cheat as technology changes. So, this is how I deal with this unfortunate fact- I make sure that the college's policy on cheating is clearly stated in my syllabus, and I strictly enforce the policy. On my end, I try to make it as difficult for the students to cheat as possible. I assign work that allows the students to be creative in ways that peak their interest in the assignments. I also provide options. For example, I provide term-paper guidelines, and then allow the students to choose their own topics. I also ask a lot of open-ended questions in discussions, and require them to back up their opinions with material learned in class. I am not naive about cheating, but I feel comfortable in saying that I don't have a problem with it. It is very unusual for me to run across cheating in my classes. I should add a side-note here: I had much bigger problem with cheating when I was teaching high school. Now, I teach college courses only.
Rina,
Where there is a will there is a way and I believe cheating's middle name is will!
Shelly Crider
I think that it is very important to discourage cheating in the online environment, as well as in the onground environment. As to being concerned about possible cheating, I do not see any difference between the two delivery systems. The instructor is the person in the best position to detect, monitor, asnd discourage cheating in any course.
It is imperative that instuructors remain diligent in enforcing rules regarding any form of cheating. This is the only way to ensure that students receive degrees that will be fully valued and recognized.
I suppose it does ultimately come down to integrity but I think because they are online there are probably proximity problems to the other students and, unlike passing notes in class, if a student sends answers to other students there is a digital record that is really difficult to track down through the maze of telecommunications and erase so the proof would be digital and that spells trouble for the cheaters.
We should be concerned about students cheating in an online environment. I believe there is a greater opportunity for students to be dishonest and plagiarize in an online environment. There are so many resources on the Internet that students can use. They need to be educated on how to cite sources and reference their material.
Students can have someone else take the quizzes or tests for them. This would be difficult in an on ground setting.
Students can have someone write their reports for them, the same as on ground students.
I feel it doesn't matter which enviroment you are in they will (Cheat). Many of the state assessment have all the formulas there for the students to you. In the world of technogoly we are allowing them to find the answer in many different ways.
The bottom line is the student learning or walking away from the class with knowledge. All students don't learn the same way.
Yes we need to be concerned. Dah! Cheating is cheating! Fortunately most of us have a tool such as Turnitin that will help us determine if a student is cheating such as copying from another student or cutting & pasting verbatum which is also cheating. You can actually tell online easier than in a F2F classroom. Students in a classroom have more device than online like hiden notes, cell phones, computers, signals from other classmates, roming eyes, and cheat sheets. Online you can tell from reading a student's paper if they really read the assignments & if their answers are theirs. If their writting is too well written it probably isn't orginal. Mispelled words will probably be there also indicating it is their own work.
We should always be concerned about students cheating in either online or traditional courses. Cheating always takes away from learning and can really create a negative environment in the courseroom. Cheating should always be monitored and addressed. It should never be tolerated or accepted.
John,
That is the bottom line! Are the students really achieving their degree through valid work of their own?
Shelly Crider
david,
Oh technology...you simply have to love today's society when you can locate an answer via your phone!
Shelly Crider
Deborah,
Yes, there are many resources. It is good for instructors to post them in the classroom for an easy find.
Shelly Crider
Ronald,
Agreed! If a student wants to cheat, the student will cheat!! We as intructors need to be sure to provide information to students on what is expected.
Shelly Crider
William,
We as instructors have tools, but students need tools as well to make sure they are not accidentally cheating. Some students are not familiar with citing work. We need to make sure they know how.
Shelly Crider
mary,
You are right. We should be concerned with cheating online and traditional classroom.
Shelly Crider
I would say that we should be concerned about cheating in an online environment. Since it is easier to cheat with an online course, it should be kept in mind when designing activities.
Perhaps we can take the cheating behavior and turn it on its head for some activities. If the activity is prone to cheating, then perhaps use that behavior as part of the activity. For example, if a student posts in an asynchronous chat by copying/pasting from a website, rather than reading and distilling the content and then posting a response, then the instructor should follow up in that chat with the particular student by posting additional questions to elicit the kind of learning we want to see.
