Dealing with Cheating and Plagiarism
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
3 likes•1,048 views
- Reasons why students cheat, such as lack of understanding of policies, poor time management, and feeling pressure from high-stakes assessments - Strategies to prevent cheating, including clearly communicating academic integrity policies, teaching proper citation, and helping students develop good time management skills - Technologies that can help detect plagiarism and cheating like SafeAssign and proctoring tools like Respondus and Remote Proctor NOW.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to Dealing with Cheating and Plagiarism
Similar to Dealing with Cheating and Plagiarism (20)
More from Staci Trekles
More from Staci Trekles (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Dealing with Cheating and Plagiarism
- 1. Office of Learning &Technology Purdue University North Central
- 2. Discuss issues regarding academic dishonesty in higher educational institutions and why students cheat Implement various pedagogical strategies to teach students the importance of academic integrity Use technology tools such as SafeAssign and Respondus LockDown Browser to help mitigate and prevent cheating and plagiarism Identify new tools that may be available for preventing cheating such as Remote Proctor NOW
- 3. Concerns about cheating and plagiarism can be a big obstacle, and may limit our choices for assessment Studies show that students may cheat less online than FTF (see http://www.westga.edu/~d istance/ojdla/spring131/wa tson131.html) Luckily, there are ways to use technology to help ensure that students are doing authentic work
- 4. There are lots of reasons why a student might choose to cheat Most commonly: They lack proper knowledge The don’t understand university policies They don’t understand the seriousness The class is too high-stakes Poor time management skills
- 5. For the “amateurs” (more commonly the case): Copy and paste Homework and Answer-sharing sites (not always a bad thing, but can lead to cheating) Taking pictures with smart phones For the “pros” (far less common): Term paper mills Identity-swapping Lessons posted onYouTube (it’s true!) See http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/solveproblem/strat- cheating/
- 6. Extreme measures to cheat are relatively rare – for most students, the issue is poor time management Educating students on what constitutes cheating and how to manage their time has been shown to help reduce and eliminate cheating Sometimes students receive the wrong messages from high school teachers and must “unlearn” these habits
- 7. Include the Academic Integrity Policy in your syllabus Take time to explain the policy in class Ask students to complete a class contract at the beginning of the semester If they think it’s important to you, they’re more likely to listen Purdue Code of Conduct: http://www.purdue.edu/pu rdue/about/integrity_state ment.html Academic Affairs policy on Academic Integrity: https://www.pnc.edu/acad emic_affairs/wp- content/uploads/sites/20/2 013/05/Academic- Integrity.pdf
- 8. Provide lessons on ethics with short videos and other attention-getting strategies Allow for a two- conversation so students can explore what “academic integrity” really means Don’t forget about our available online courses – use these resources to help!
- 9. Many students do not know how to properly paraphrase and cite sources Fact: many high school teachers allow students to copy and paste from Internet sources for projects, papers Tips: Emphasize proper citation style in your discipline Clearly describe your expectations for paraphrasing and citations Explain to students the differences between common knowledge and referenced sources
- 10. Most students don’t set out to cheat, but when time becomes the enemy they often feel too much pressure Help students set up calendars and set aside time for study Help students learn to prioritize Keep in mind that they have other classes to study for, too!
- 11. SafeAssign (BlackBoard assessment to check student work for plagiarism) Included in all assignments in BlackBoard Respondus LockDown Browser (for test- taking) Available through the MyPNC portal ProctorU and Remote Proctor NOW (to proctor exams) Available at an extra cost – PurdueWL is looking into RPN for systemwide use
- 12. OLT resource on cheating: http://www.pnc.edu/distance/cheating/ Dean of Students incident reporting: http://www.pnc.edu/sa/report-an-incident/ LockDown Browser information: http://www.pnc.edu/distance/lockdown-browser- instructions/ SafeAssign information: http://www.pnc.edu/distance/safeassign/ ProctorU information: http://www.pnc.edu/distance/proctoru/ Remote Proctor NOW information: http://www.softwaresecure.com
- 13. Reach us: TECH 206 and 298 219-785-5734 pncolt@pnc.edu Twitter and Facebook: @PNCOLT http://www.pnc.edu/distance for all workshop notes, links, and training needs
Editor's Notes
- Welcome to Dealing with Cheating and Plagiarism, a workshop concentrating on issues of academic integrity and what you can do to prevent them in your classroom.
- Our objectives for this workshop will help you: Discuss issues regarding academic dishonesty in higher educational institutions and why students cheat Implement various pedagogical strategies to teach students the importance of academic integrity Use technology tools such as SafeAssign and Respondus LockDown Browser to help mitigate and prevent cheating and plagiarism Identify new tools that may be available for preventing cheating such as Remote Proctor NOW
- Academic integrity is a big issue for many faculty, and it can even prevent some from taking their courses into a hybrid or online format because of fears that technology may give students too many opportunities to cheat on papers and tests. In reality, the research says that students do not really cheat any more in their online classes than they do their face-to-face courses – in fact, some research even suggests that online students cheat LESS than students in live classes (http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring131/watson131.html). Nonetheless, it is never a bad idea to help all students understand that you take academic integrity seriously, and that you wish for them to exhibit a high standard of ethics. Tools such as SafeAssign, Respondus LockDown Browser, and ProctorU and Respondus Monitor can help reduce cheating by acting as deterrents as well as “checkers” for cheating. SafeAssign checks student writing against databases of other academic papers, web pages, and other sources. LockDown Browser is a tool best suited for live and hybrid classes, which prevents students going from other places within their systems while online taking a BlackBoard test. ProctorU and Respondus Monitor use the students’ webcam and microphone to watch the student while taking a test and serve as a remote proctor. These may be most useful for high-stakes tests, like final exams, that are to be delivered online.
- There are many reasons why a student might choose to cheat on an exam, project, or paper. Some of the most common reasons cited in studies of student academic behavior include: They lack proper knowledge The don’t understand university policies They don’t understand the seriousness The class is too high-stakes Poor time management skills Of these, poor time management and a lack of time for proper study are cited as the top reasons why students cheat. Rarely do students go into a class with the intention of cheating, in fact; it happens over time as they realize that they have not been able to put the proper time in to do well in the course. The likelihood of cheating goes up when a class or specific test is very high-stakes and may “make or break” a student’s performance or ability to continue in a program. On the other hand, there is a fair number of students who are completely honest when they state that they did not know they were cheating, or that they did not know it was not allowed. It may seem like common sense to you and me, but to students who have gone through a high school career where group study and open book tests were frequently the norm, they may not truly understand your policies regarding academic integrity, or how seriously you and the university takes it.
- There are of course many ways that students can and have thought of to cheat on exams and projects, including the most common way of copying and pasting from Internet resources, but there are other methods as well. Term paper mills exist where students can purchase a paper, although most of these are already catalogued by technologies like SafeAssign. Homework and answer-sharing sites such as Quizlet and Sparknotes are also available, which are often not in themselves meant to be cheating resources, but students may be tempted to use them in this way. The more extreme examples of cheating include identity-swapping, where students take exams or complete assignments on behalf of another student. Some may also take pictures with their phones of exam questions and send them to other students – solutions like ProctorU and Remote Proctor Now can take care of this behavior when students are online, but even in class, the enterprising student can use these tricks. Those who are really interested in cheating (the “professionals” as we might call them) will even review lessons posted on YouTube about how to cheat on exams and papers. They are certainly out there to be viewed.
- In case you are wondering about the incidence of cheating and how prevalent it is, some studies have shown that anywhere from 50% - 70% of students have admitted to cheating at least once in their academic careers. However, of that number, most did not go to greater lengths than some copying and pasting or maybe looking at a friend’s paper. Only 3% have purchased papers from degree mills, and only about 7% have gotten someone else to take their test or write their papers for them. See http://www.plagiarism.org/resources/facts-and-stats/ for more statistics and links to studies. The biggest thing we can do for students is to educate them about what cheating actually is and how to manage their time so that they do get so stressed out that they feel cheating is the only way to succeed. Many students really do get bad habits from their high school days and take these with them to college, either knowingly or unknowingly. It is important for you to establish the rules for your classroom and make your expectations for what is considered ethical behavior known to all.
- Your syllabus is a great place to start with establishing policies in your classroom. Include the official Academic Integrity policies in your syllabus and take time to explain these in class. You might even ask students to complete a class contract at the beginning of the semester, which might even be a quiz of some kind about what’s on the syllabus and what your policies are. If they agree to a contract and understand the importance of academic integrity that you place in class, they will be more likely to pay attention to it. If you appear to place little emphasis on such policies (even if you really do value them, but just don’t express it!), then students may not be as likely to take them seriously.
- You may even go so far as to offer a lesson in ethics and academic integrity in your class. Actually displaying videos and talking about ethics in class brings the subject to light and allows for a conversation about what academic integrity means and hopefully allows you to put to rest any misconceptions your students may have. We have many resources available in our PNC Plagiarism and Cheating Modules in BlackBoard that you may take advantage of – you can even require students to participate in the module and track their progress. Just go to the My BlackBoard tab to review the course for Faculty, and instruct students to do the same for the course for Students.
- The fact is, many students do not know how to properly cite and paraphrase their sources. This is often because they may not get the instruction in high school, and may come to college with misconceptions. There are still some students who come to us thinking that it is acceptable to copy and paste from source articles, and there are others who are taught that all sources from .EDU and .ORG websites are credible and legitimate (even though this is most definitely not the case – information published by individuals on these sites is just as likely, if not more so, to be fraught with errors and biases as information on Wikipedia). To help your students, we have many resources available in the Cheating and Plagiarism online BlackBoard module. You can also emphasize and teach the proper citation style for your discipline whenever it is appropriate within your class, and you can also provide students with guidelines on expectations for paraphrasing and citation. You may also wish to explain to students the differences between common knowledge and knowledge that requires a citation, as students often have misconceptions and confusion about this issue, citing where it is inappropriate, or not citing where they should.
- Time management, as noted previously, is a big problem for many students. Some have not yet learned how to set aside time for study, and others do not have a good idea of how long it should take them to study for the many classes they may be taking. Students often wait until the last minute or find themselves behind because they did not devote their time in the right way. Teaching students how to prioritize and compartmentalize their time will help them with all aspects of their schoolwork, although keep in mind that they do have other classes than yours. It is often difficult for us to consider how long students may need to spend with courses that are not in your discipline, but do your best to guide them to dedicate at least 3-5 hours per course per week outside of class. Urging them to use calendars and planners may be helpful, and a template is available on the student cheating and plagiarism BlackBoard course.
- To prevent cheating and plagiarism, there are several tools available to us, including SafeAssign, LockDown Browser, ProctorU, and soon to come, Remote Proctor NOW. These tools help prevent cheating and plagiarism through electronic means. SafeAssign is integrated into every BlackBoard assignment and allows students to send work to a database that looks for matching sentences and phrases from websites and other similar papers. It returns an originality score to the instructor and if you like, you can let students see their originality report as well. No report is perfect, as there are always some words, citations, and phrases that are picked up, but any score over about 10% would indicate that some plagiarism is taking place, or that students are using too many quotes and not enough paraphrasing. LockDown Browser prevents students from opening other programs or windows on their computer while taking a test. ProctorU and Remote Proctor NOW do this also, although they also implement a video and audio monitoring service to watch the student while taking his or her test. ProctorU incurs a fee of $17-$25 per test, but the proctoring is done live by a real person. Remote Proctor NOW records all interactions and has staff look at the videos after the student takes the test and reports any suspicious activity back to the instructor after the fact. Both systems work well for high-stakes testing that needs to be done at a distance.
- These resources can teach you more about these academic integrity tools. In addition, in spring 2015 your are now enrolled in a course in BlackBoard that will help you get more familiar with these tools and other strategies. Students are enrolled in their own version of this course, which will be optional for them to go through, but will always be available to them for reference.
- Remember, we have many resources available to you to help you through your course design process. Whether you are just getting started with BlackBoard or whether you are a long-time user, there are resources, tips, and personal help available whenever you need it. We’re just a call or an email away, or stop by and see us in TECH 206.