Elearning Resources & News

Posted 6:57 PM by Steve
From Steve's Head

Cyber-Busted?

Whenever I talk with people interested in starting to teach online, inevitably the topic turns to cheating. How do we know that the student is actually the one writing the tests? How can we be sure that the student is not using other resources to help find the right answers to the test questions? After hearing such questions over and over, I'm definitely wondering whether we are expending valuable energy worrying about the wrong things.

Please don't get me wrong. I work in a department that incorporates laptop computers into most of our programs. I am under no misguided impressions - a significant number of students will try to complete their work using as little energy as possible; many will resort to cheating of some sort to achieve this goal. We see it term after term. One of our instructors is so capable of rooting out plagiarism, we've taken to calling her "Inspector Clouseau" (and very respectfully, at that!). I've supervised tests where students tried to communicate answers to questions using instant messaging programs. We've tried to eliminate these types of loopholes through a test pilot of an impressive software package called Software Secure, which prevents the use of any outside resources when writing a test.

So what happens when the teacher is no longer physically present in the virtual classroom...does this not suddenly make it open season for cheating? Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions when it comes to online course security. Should we be worried about whether the student is the one taking the test? Forgive my impertinence, but how many of your regular classroom-based students have you retinal-scanned recently? How do you know that the people sitting in front of you in class are who they claim to be? Do we check student IDs on a regular basis? If not, why are you worrying about the this issue in online courses. In fact, if your tests are designed to allow a total stranger to take them and pass them, shouldn't you rethink how you are testing what you are teaching? There is a lot to be said for incorporating process-based assessment (where students are required to do something other than recall what was taught) in order to demonstrate mastery of the course content...but more about that in a future column...

If you are interested in how to effectively deal with issues of plagiarism and cheating, there are TONS of resources on the Internet. A couple of real treasure troves include an issue of wwwtools as well as Plagiarism which was a website featured in Stephen Downes' OLDaily e-newsletter. A lot of the really good resources will focus not only on how to identify plagiarism but also on how to help your students develop a greater understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and why it is wrong.

When Students Cheat, Don't Blame the Internet

Quote: "Cheating, I believe, often springs from the depersonalization of modern life. The more anonymous we feel, the easier it is for us to be generally meaner: to cut off another car in traffic, pretend we don't see the homeless guy asking for money, snap at telemarketers. Anonymity also allows us to imagine that no one is watching."

Comment: This article states that de-personalizing education helps to encourage cheating rather than just having easier access to technology. There are also some examples of how this professor deals with discouraging plagiarism in her courses. I included this article because I hoped to get people to consider the concept that when we blame technology, we are really fighting the symptoms as opposed to the actual disease. In a society that condones (and often glamorizes) success at any price, should our focus really be on the tools people use to cheat or rather on why people felt it is okay to cheat in the first place?

Dealing With Plagiarists

Quote: "Last fall, though, I helped to sponsor a teaching colloquium for faculty members in which we discussed strategies for both preventing and responding to plagiarism. We advertised the colloquium as offering the opportunity to think about one of those moments in teaching when you feel totally alone: because each case, like each student, is so different. No rules -- and no advice from colleagues -- can determine the appropriate punishment for you to administer."

Comment: An article that not only documents a professor's attempts to discourage plagiarism in his courses, but also his individual journey to find a way to deal with plagiarists. What I find interesting is how this individual tries to come up with a solution that he feels is balanced and fair.

Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers

Quote: "The availability of textual material in electronic format has made plagiarism easier than ever. Copying and pasting of paragraphs or even entire essays now can be performed with just a few mouse clicks. The strategies discussed here can be used to combat what some believe is an increasing amount of plagiarism on research papers. By employing these strategies, you can help encourage students to value the assignment and to do their own work."

Comment: This is a fairly extensive article that explores a number of non-traditional areas, including exploring strategies of awareness (why students cheat, educating your students about plagiarism, explaining the benefits of citing sources), strategies of prevention (require specific components in the paper, specific steps for the paper, and oral reports), as well as strategies of detection. Lots of good ideas here.

A Faculty Guide to Cyber-Plagiarism

Quote: "Although plagiarism has been around as long as students have, the Internet has dramatically increased the ease of and opportunities for plagiarism. "Cyber-plagiarism" is the term used to describe the process by which students either copy ideas found on the Web without giving proper attribution, or the process by which students download research papers from the Web, in whole or in part, and submit the paper as original work. The phenomenon of cyber-plagiarism is affecting Universities around the globe...The purpose of this web site is to examine the issues of plagiarism and cyber-plagiarism and what faculty can do to prevent, detect, and report plagiarism."

Comment: Here's an example (a Canadian one, no less...) of resources set up to help faculty deal with cyber-plagiarism. It covers a wide spectrum of topics and includes lots of resources (handouts for students, etc.) that faculty can use in their attempts to discourage and prevent cheating.