{"id":44632,"date":"2018-07-26T13:45:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T20:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=44632"},"modified":"2018-07-26T13:45:12","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T20:45:12","slug":"dont-assume-online-students-are-more-likely-to-cheat-the-evidence-is-murky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/dont-assume-online-students-are-more-likely-to-cheat-the-evidence-is-murky\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t assume online students are more likely to cheat. The evidence is murky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nMore university students are choosing to study online rather than face-to-face, prompting concerns about academic integrity.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re tempted to cheat in\u00a0face-to-face courses<\/a>, even during exams, how much easier would it be to pass off work that isn\u2019t your own when you\u2019re online?<\/p>\n

But research by us and others shows how university courses are delivered is less important in predicting which students are more likely to cheat.<\/p>\n

A better predictor is students\u2019 demographic characteristics, particularly their age.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the evidence on cheating?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Evidence for whether online or face-to-face students are more likely to cheat is inconclusive.<\/p>\n

A 2006 paper<\/a>, for example, found more cheating in online classes than courses using traditional lectures.<\/p>\n

Other studies, some looking at\u00a0specific disciplines<\/a>\u00a0and others at\u00a0general student populations<\/a>, found\u00a0less cheating online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In yet\u00a0another study<\/a>, students who took only online classes were less likely to cheat than students who took only face-to-face classes.<\/p>\n

This is consistent with Swinburne\u2019s experience. Based on internal (unpublished) figures from 2016 and 2017, online students were ten times less likely to be involved in academic misconduct, including exam violations, compared to their on-campus counterparts.<\/p>\n

These figures may simply mean the design of online courses makes it more difficult for students to plagiarise. Alternatively, it may just mean we\u2019re better at detecting plagiarism when it happens face-to-face, rather than online.<\/p>\n

If not online students, who then?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

So other factors seem to be more important in academic integrity than how courses are delivered \u2013 in particular, a student\u2019s age.<\/p>\n

We know students aged 25 or over\u00a0are less likely<\/a>\u00a0to engage in academic misconduct, like sharing work. And, as\u00a0online students are generally older than their on-campus peers<\/a>, this could explain how some researchers have found they\u2019re less likely to cheat.<\/p>\n

At Swinburne, there are about five times as many students who are over the age of 25 as under. The average age of online students is 32.<\/p>\n

Of course, it may be that older students are more accomplished at concealing cheating, but this seems unlikely.<\/p>\n

Swinburne\u2019s experience backs\u00a0other research<\/a>\u00a0that shows younger students are more likely to cheat and engage in more \u201ccollaborative cheating\u201d \u2014\u00a0like copying another student\u2019s work and submitting it as their own \u2014 compared with their older peers.<\/p>\n

But we need to be careful not to reinforce stereotypes. As anyone who has sat on disciplinary panels will know, academic cheats come in many shapes, sizes, disciplinary cohorts and ages.<\/p>\n

How do we support a culture of academic integrity?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Universities certainly need to update and adapt their approach to academic integrity to suit online teaching, technological changes and globalisation.<\/p>\n

For instance, this may mean\u00a0changing assessments<\/a>\u00a0to reduce the likelihood of cheating. Students may need to demonstrate solutions to problems in-person or via video. And it means using text-matching software to minimise\u00a0contract cheating<\/a>, where students outsource their assessment to third parties.<\/p>\n

However, the overall approach needs to be the same, regardless of how courses are delivered. We need to support and communicate to students about\u00a0an overarching culture of academic integrity<\/a>. This involves actively engaging with our students, explicitly teaching the norms of academic writing and research.<\/p>\n

This might be achieved through compulsory modules covering academic integrity, providing academic support services, and regularly reinforcing messages about ethics as a key part of academic and professional life.<\/p>\n

All this needs to be backed by appropriate policies and processes, including training and support for academic and professional staff.<\/p>\n

We need to move beyond the idea that online courses are beset by academic integrity problems, or we need special measures to \u201cfix\u201d online learning. Online learning is, itself, not necessarily a contributing factor to an increase in academic misconduct.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Chris Pilgrim is Pro vice-chancellor (Education and Quality) and Christopher Scanlon is Associate Director, Learning Transformations and Enhancement both at Swinburne University of Technology<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More university students are choosing to study online rather than face-to-face, prompting concerns about academic integrity. If you\u2019re tempted to cheat in\u00a0face-to-face courses, even during exams, how much easier would it be to pass off work that isn\u2019t your own when you\u2019re online? But research by us and others shows how university courses are delivered […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":44633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[209404],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-44632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-academic-integrity"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t assume online students are more likely to cheat. 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