Is It Cheating?

Educators talk a lot about cheating. Whether you're new to online teaching or teaching a course for the tenth time, one of the questions that often arises is whether the individual who is submitting assignments or tests is the student who enrolled in the course. Most learners don't cheat, but the abundance of opportunities to do so and the number of abuses reported in the mainstream media make it seem that it is an overwhelming problem both online and face-to-face courses. You should remember that for every safeguard you implement someone, somewhere, has found, or is looking to find, a way to circumvent it.

In 2004, Rowe reported that students do cheat and that cheating in online courses extends beyond assessments to other assignment types. He provides several examples of why cheating may occur in online courses more often than in face-to-face courses. Since then, many others have looked into online cheating.  The Inside Higher Ed newsletter details some ways in which students can cheat on online exams.  On the other side, Watson and Sottile (2010) reported that cheating occurs more often in face-to-face courses than it does in online courses. This Faculty Focus article summarizing a 2014 study found similar results.  So what are you supposed to believe?

I have supported faculty in higher education, mostly those who teach online courses, for over 20 years and this is what I’ve learned: some students cheat. No matter what the instructor does, some learners are desperate enough for a passing score or are unethical enough to cheat. My advice is for instructors to minimize cheating by crafting assignments and assessments that are rigorous and implement normal and reasonable safeguards. Devon Haynie, the education reporter at U.S. News & World Report, covers online education. She recently started her first semester-long online course and blogs about it. Her June 17, 2014, post discusses several techniques and tools that instructors can use to deter cheating in online courses.

On the next page; I have some activities for you to work through.