Techniques to Prevent Cheating

boys_cheating.jpgOur awareness of the potential for students to cheat is heightened in online education, even though opportunities to cheat are available in face-to-face courses too. Many instructors worry that students will cheat during online quizzes or exams. They worry that online formats will make plagiarism easier. But, according to Michael and Williams (2013), studies investigating if cheating is more prevalent in online or face-to-face courses are mixed.

 

A number of strategies and tools have sprung up to address faculty fears; instructors may assign timed quizzes assuming that students won't have time to look up answers or they require their students to submit work through plagiarism detectors like TurnItIn. But policing students with technology often is not an effective approach and these technologies aren't foolproof.

The best defenses against cheating are well-designed assignments and rubrics.

Cheating doesn't work with authentic assessments, and authentic writing assignments are harder to plagiarize than they are to write.

In addition to well-designed assignments, consider the following deterrents:

  • Review Seattle University's Academic Integrity policy in your introduction and throughout the term.
  • Give your students guidance regarding how much collaboration is acceptable.
  • Ask students to develop a class honor code as a group.
  • Scaffold assignments. Require students to turn in portions of assignments throughout the term starting with ideation and moving toward the final product.
  • Require small group work and peer-reviewed assignments.
  • Require students to use video of themselves answering questions or doing presentations.
  • If tests are necessary, use open book tests. Don't use the same test twice.
  • When your class begins, don't hesitate to ask follow-up questions in discussions such as, "What led you to that conclusion?" or "Can you expand on that point?".


Seattle University has adopted an Academic Integrity policy, Links to an external site. which provides direction for what to do if you suspect a student has cheated. Also, this Academic Integrity Download tutorial

can be uploaded into your Canvas course as a "Quiz" by following these instructions Links to an external site.. For further suggestions, consult Best Practice Strategies to Promote Academic Integrity in Online Education and the Faculty Focus special report Promoting Academic Integrity in Online Education Links to an external site..

 

Promoting academic integrity in online education. (2010, May). Faculty Focus. Retrieved from https://www.daytonastate.edu/onlinestudies/files/Academic%20Integrity%20in%20Online%20Education.pdf Links to an external site.

Michael, T. & Williams, M. (2013). Student equity:  Discouraging cheating in online courses. Administrative Issues Journal:  Education, Practice and Research, 3(2). Retrieved from http://www.swosu.edu/academics/aij/2013/v3i2/michael-williams.pdf (Links to an external site.)