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Cheating in an Online College Class
Beating Cheaters: Cheating In An Online Class
Most of us have heard that it's easier to cheat in an online class than in a traditional, on-campus class. The main reason for this argument is the assumption that on-campus classes force students into a seat in front of an instructor. Instructors get to know their students, including their academic strengths and weaknesses, and are capable of monitoring their behavior while taking tests and exams.
But this theory also makes several other assumptions: That the instructor is an expert in current methods of cheating, and therefore knows exactly what to look for; that the instructor cares deeply about preventing cheating in their class and will go out of their way to discover it, and; that the instructor is aggressive enough to take action when cheating is discovered. And most importantly, this theory assumes that all assignments required for a student's final grade are given and completed within the physical classroom, and during specified class sessions - otherwise, there is absolutely no guarantee of whom completes an assignment, anyway.
Claims Regarding Online Cheating
Online classes allow anonymous students at remote locations to complete assignments and exams far from their instructor's watchful eye. Some therefore assume that online students can easily type questions into a search engine and quickly gather answers to any discussion board or exam questions. Others claim that by simply being anonymous, students can hire others to log into their classes and complete their coursework without an instructor ever realizing.
Neither of these cases could be further from the truth. Even from its inception, online learning took steps toward safeguarding against obvious potential for cheating. But with increasing technological capabilities, online instructors and course designers are continually implementing new methods to deter and prevent cheating in their online classes. In order to dispel these myths, we should examine each of these claims and recognize the increasing difficulty of successfully completely an online class without personally completing and submitting the required graded assignments.
Advances in Online Educational Technology
We've all recognized the marked improvements in recent technological abilities. But not everyone realizes that many such abilities have been integrated into online learning to prevent cheating.
Most of the earliest online classes interacted solely through email and discussion board postings. But contemporary online classes often utilize webchat software and webcams to create a more genuine classroom experience. Aside from helping instructors more effectively communicate complex ideas, this also enables students to gain a sense of community. Live webchats and webcam feeds also allow instructors to ensure that students attend a live classroom discussion at a prescribed time. With this medium, students can see their instructor and classmates and more fully engage in class discussions, while instructors can see their students, thus removing the veil of anonymity and allowing instructors to gain an understanding of an individual student's communicative style.
Requiring students to answer questions regarding course contents and materials, live and without warning, helps prove that the student has personally participated within the class and its assignments. Additionally, such live discussions reveal the individual student's academic strengths and weaknesses, which can then be compared against future assignment submissions to ensure continunity.
Many such programs and features have been developed specifically for online education, and are included as components of the more common Learning Management Systems (LMS).
Online Search Engines
In recent years, most people have discovered the ease, convenience, and usefulness of turning to an internet search engine for quick answers to virtually any question. The same can be said for students, who have embraced the internet for academic research needs. But most of us also know that internet search results are not always accurate. Try any common search and you can quickly retrieve thousands, if not millions, of different results.
Online students who sincerely care about their success recognize this potential, and typically avoid using such methods to assist them while completing an online quiz, test, or exam.
Therefore, the question is not just whether a search engine makes it easier for an online student to cheat, but also if cell phones and other mobile devices allow on-campus, in-classroom students to more easily cheat, as well.
Non-Traditional Students
Online students are commonly non-traditional students. This means that they are outside of the average age range, or completing classes through an alternative means, such as the online educational environment. Non-traditional students repeatedly show higher success rates, because these are students more likely to have other personal and professional responsibilities and priorities. These individuals are less likely to spend their time and money without fully examining the repercussions of their actions. Rather, they have taken an active step, outside of their already full schedules, to pursue an education, for various reasons. And for these same reasons, these students are proven less likely to cheat their way through a class or online degree program.
Cheating In The Classroom
We have discussed and explored several key arguments for those who believe it is easier to cheat in an online class than in an on-campus class. And we have discovered that the reasons given serve no real basis in answering this question, but that improvements in technology and alterations in online teaching methods have truly rejected these methods as a viable means to cheat in an online class. So now would be a great time to examine the most logical answer to these more important questions:
- - Can a student determined to cheat easily find a way to do so in the classroom?
- - Does a student in the classroom have any less technology to help them cheat than an online student?
- - Do on-campus classrooms continually develop and deploy new technologies to both engage students and prevent cheating?
The answers to each of these questions are quite obvious, once stated and read in this way. If a student is determined to cheat, then they will cheat - whether in a classroom or in an online class. Instructors do hold some skills and abilities to deter, prevent, and even catch cheaters. This holds true both for on-campus and online students. But a student who cheats will do so in either environment. As the fastest growing segment of the college population in the United States, online education and online college class designers are continually working to develop and integrate new technologies to engage students and prevent cheating. And online instructors are continually learning new methods of dissuading and discovering cheaters. Honest students learn, in either environment, and potential employers know this.
Verifiably Honest
In fact, the Higher Education Opportunity Act has recently required accrediting agencies to monitor the steps that their member institutions take to verify that the enrolled student is the same one who completes the coursework. This includes the work assigned and completed in online classes and online degree programs, so the standard has been set and both online and on-campus classes are required to meet the same criteria for academic honesty.
Understandable but Unfounded
Though understandably cautious due to the importance of education, the argument that cheating is more likely and more common in an online class is simply an unfounded myth. Quite the contrary, recent studies have even shown that online students are typically less likely to cheat than their in-classroom counterparts. Rather, the majority of those critical of online education, online classes, and online students, are traditional college and university administrators and professors. Often, these individuals have worked professionally within the education industry since before online education was a possibility, and are quite wary of new techniques and technologies, and cast dispersions without hard facts.
To view the fascinating results from a recent study of on-campus and online college students about their academic practices and honesty, please read Cheating in the Digital Age: Do Students Cheat More in Online Courses? from the Spring 2010 issue of the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration.
