Use an Honor Code

Honor codes are statements of conduct that specify unacceptable behaviors within a particular group. Academic honor codes usually are administered by the dean of students and contained in student handbooks. Professional honor codes are often delineated by professional organizations and certification bodies. According to Babylon, an online dictionary, "the use of an honor code depends on the notion that people...can be trusted to act honorably" while "those who are in violation of the honor code can be subject to various sanctions."

Most learners do not cheat and they are not unethical in their work. For any learner except someone who cheats "just because," often the inclusion of a clearly stated honor code that requires the learner to "put it on the line" is sufficient motivation to prevent unethical conduct.

Stanford has a nice article, Honor Codes Across the Country, that includes a few links to different schools' honor codes. The American Nurses Association has its Code of Ethics for Nurses. 

Activity

If you don't already know where it is and what it says, locate your institution's or professional organization's honor code. Check with the school for which you teach to see if it requires/recommends a link to the student's honor code be added to your online course.

An Idea for Your Course

In addition to including a link to the honor code within your course, you might want to include an attestation that the learner agrees to when submitting written papers, exams, or other "high stakes" assessments. This may be as simple as including a final item on each exam that reads: "I have neither given nor received aid on this exam." Yes/ No

Or, it could be a component included with a paper submission that reads: "I attest that I have not plagiarized content in this paper, that all works referenced have been included in the page of references, and this is a product of my own writing."

High stakes assessments may require more stringent checks; let's explore proctored tests next.