Contract cheating has the potential to be a particular problem for online courses. This presentation, from the CISIS 2014 research conference held at Birmingham City University, looks at how students on online courses can pay others to complete assessed work for them. It is based on an analysis of the use of the Transtutors agency site, where students can ask homework and assessment questions and have solutions written for them for a fee. The presentation concludes by making recommendations about what academics can do about cheating and plagiarism and how this form of academic misconduct can be detected.
3. @DrLancaster slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster 3ThomasLancaster.co.uk
Experiences Of Plagiarism
And Contract Cheating
Dr. Thomas Lancaster
Senior Lecturer in Computing
PhD “Effective And Efficient Plagiarism
Detection”
Programme Leader BSc Computer Science
Lead of Innovations in Computing Education
Group at Birmingham City University
Robert Clarke
Educational Consultant
Current Visiting Lecturer/Former Principal
Lecturer at Birmingham City University
30 Years Experience Teaching
19,000 Attempts at Contract Cheating Found
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Contract Cheating Does
Happen
Anonymous survey in May 2014 of 180 students at East Carolina
University.
15 out of 180 (8.33%) had paid someone else to do their work for them
18 out of 180 (10%) had been paid by other students to do work for them
“I don't study. All these kids in the library, it's easy. If
they want a quick extra buck or two, I’m like hey
man, write this paper for me.”
“The Secret World Of Cheaters” WNCT 9
http://www.wnct.com/story/25468950/secret-world-of-cheaters
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Contract Cheating And
Online Courses
Contract cheating is an issue for all courses, but when
students are taught face-to-face, mechanisms to
prevent them contract cheating exist
The growth of studying through online courses poses
new challenges for academics
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Data Collection
A sample of 174 assignments from Transtutors
was collected and analysed
All assignments were manually checked and were from
identifiable courses that were known to be taught
online
Assignments from courses taught online by 17
different institutions were found
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Contract Cheating Does
Represent A Problem For Online
Courses
The analysis of the sample data collected, combined
with the experiences of detectives looking for
contract cheating, suggests that contract cheating is
devaluing awards from online institutions
The growth of the uptake of MOOCs awarding
academic credit adds a further complication which
needs to be addressed
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Detection Opportunities
Need to develop automated methods to gather information
from agency websites and attribute source institutions and
students
Can use watermarking to aid in traceability of assignments
found online by contract cheating detectives
Stylometric techniques, developed to identify work not
written by the student to which it has been attributed,
show initial promise
The availability of the work produced for purchase by
multiple parties provides additional research and detection
opportunities
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“Times Higher Education” Lead Story
(10 October 2013)
“The damage contract cheating can inflict
on society is clear. Graduates emerge
from university with huge (and in some
disciplines, potentially dangerous) gaps
in their learning and knowledge.”
Academics should aim to ensure that
students understand the value of completing
their own work
Continued work to develop appropriate
assessment mechanisms for online and face-
to-face courses to ensure that students do
have the skills required by industry are
necessary
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/essay-
mills-university-course-work-to-order/3/2007934.article
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References For Our
Contract Cheating Work
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), An Initial Analysis Of The Contextual Information Available Within Auction Posts On Contract
Cheating Agency Websites, 28th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications,
University of Victoria, May 2014.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), Using Turnitin As A Tool For Attribution In Cases Of Contract Cheating; 3rd Annual Higher Education
Academy Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, April 2014.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2013). Commercial Aspects Of Contract Cheating; 8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in
Computer Science Education, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, July 2013.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2012). Dealing With Contract Cheating: A Question Of Attribution; 1st Annual Higher Education Academy
Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Imperial College, London, April 2012.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2010). Staff-Led Individualised Assessment – A Case Study; 11th Annual Higher Education Academy
Conference in Information and Computer Sciences, Durham University, August 2010.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2008). How to Succeed at Cheating Without Really Trying: Five Top Tips for Successful Cheating; 9th
Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and Computer Sciences, Liverpool Hope University, August 2008.
Clarke, R., and Lancaster, T. (2007). Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating; The Second
International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Applications, Birmingham City University, July 2007.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2007). Assessing Contract Cheating Through Auction Sites – A Computing Perspective; 8th Annual Higher
Education Academy Conference in Information and Computer Sciences, University of Southampton, August 2007.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2007) The Phenomena of Contract Cheating, in Student Plagiarism in an Online World: Problems and
solutions, Roberts, T. S. (editor), Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA: Idea Group Inc.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2006). Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism? Identifying The Usage Of Contract Cheating Sites; 2nd
Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference 2006 - Newcastle, UK, June 2006.