Academic Integrity in Online Courses

Slide 1: Academic Integrity in Online Courses Judy Baker, Ph.D. Dean Foothill Global Access Foothill College

Slide 2: Cheating in Online Classes  Plagiarism Detection  Proctored Testing  Alternatives 

Slide 3: Agree or Disagree? Cheating is more likely  in online courses. List at least two  reasons.

Slide 4: Group Debate

Slide 5: Assumptions Cheating is the student’s fault  Online courses compared  to F2F courses Easier to cheat  Cheating more likely  Proctored testing decreases  cheating

Slide 6: Student Assessment In the good old days…

Slide 7: Student Assessment In the information age…

Slide 8: Hi-Tech Cheating in Classroom

Slide 9: What’s Changed? Changed Not Changed   Ease of cheating Definitions   Ease of monitoring Honor code policies   cheating and procedures Ease of preventing Student assessment   cheating quality, validity, reliability

Slide 10: Academic Integrity? Hypocrisy of focusing on student cheating behaviors when…  Student Code of Honor  policies are antiquated and inconsistently enforced Student assessment is  fundamentally flawed Behavior called “cheating” in school  considered desirable in working world: “NETWORKING”

Slide 11: Research on Academic Honesty Merged data from a student randomized response survey on  cheating behavior with class-specific information provided by faculty (2002) Sample of students in a  large public university Evidence that academic  dishonesty in a single online class is no more pervasive than in traditional classrooms

Slide 12: Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or Online Class? Traditional Online

Slide 13: Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or Online Class? Physical separation Creation of psycho-social  “distance” resulting in less influence by social norms Excuses and alibis Intentionally sending a corrupted file or an attachment  that cannot be opened Faking technical difficulties during online tests 

Slide 14: Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or Online Class? Hacking Looking at source code or a Java script might show  the answers to online quizzes Changing the clock on  your computer to send email late but to have an earlier date and time

Slide 15: Advantages of Online for Monitoring Academic Integrity Electronic record of all  correspondence maintained for online courses Entire courses are archived  for future reference and for quality control purposes Instructor has a readily accessible  record of everything done by each student from the first day of class to the last Easy to compare a student’s writing style on different  class assignments

Slide 16: Plagiarism Detection Software

Slide 17: Agree or Disagree? Test proctoring is  necessary to ensure academic integrity and quality in distance learning courses. List at least two reasons 

Slide 18: Pros of Proctored Testing Opportunity for F2F  with distance students Identity security  Availability of student  assistance during testing May address accreditation concerns  Conformity with on-campus model of testing  Control over student’s unauthorized use of resources in completing  an assessment

Slide 19: Cons of Proctored Testing Costs and staffing  Logistics  Inconvenience  Long feedback loop  Negates anytime/anyplace of distance learning 

Slide 20: Need for Proctored Testing Differs by Course? Courses that prepare students for state boards or other  certification exams Prerequisite courses  Pass-fall courses  Less stringent, more affordable testing  processes may be developed for courses with low risk for cheating Remote students vs. local students 

Slide 21: Course Management System Quiz & Proctoring Use password protection for test proctoring  arrangements May be possible to limit access to a test to a specific  computer at a specific internet address, where a proctor can be present

Slide 22: Alternatives to Proctored Testing High tech ID methods  Online assessment  Pedagogical solutions 

Slide 23: High-Tech ID Methods Retinal scans  Ear shape  Facial identification  through thermographs Voice, palm, or fingerprints  Hand geometry  Ongoing handwriting analysis throughout the exam  Require students to use a camera on their computer desktop for  discussions and exams High-tech security = high cost  May not be warranted in many cases 

Slide 24: Advantage of Online Testing Low cost  Convenient  Rapid feedback to student  Allows exams  To be password protected  To have a different test form  every time a different student logs in To give immediate feedback to the student  To be given to the instructor immediately  Reduces the need for transporting exams from one location to  another

Slide 25: Online Assessment Integrity Strategies Utilize Blackboard and WebCT  testing security features Set availability dates and times for all  assessments Set time limits and the  number of permissible accesses Track the time, duration, and number  of attempts that a student accesses an assessment Create large question pools for  randomized assessments Add a password to proctored exams,  and an IP restriction if feasible

Slide 26: Course Management System Quiz Settings Randomly generate test questions from Quiz Question Pool or  Database Set Quizzes to have only one question per screen to make printing  of quizzes more difficult Set Quizzes to not allow return to previous questions  Limit accessibility to tests to specific time periods  Use timed online testing 

Slide 27: Pedagogical Solutions

Slide 28: Pedagogical Solutions Assign work and tests that  are due frequently throughout the semester Assign work that builds  sequentially on prior submitted work, such as revisions of drafts Call students at random during the semester to  administer an unannounced oral exam Make all tests/quizzes open-book style 

Slide 29: Pedagogical Solutions Debrief/interview a student concerning their test/quiz   Ask specific questions about their answers Use alternative modes of student assessment such as  portfolios, rubrics, self-assessment, peer assessment, and contracts Use multiple methods of measuring performance,  mastery, and skill

Slide 30: Pedagogical Solutions Require assignment and test responses to relate the subject  matter to students' lived experiences or test questions tied to current news events Deliver test/quizzes  \"orally\" through live chat Meet with students  individually online and test/quiz them on course content Require students to  participate in discussion groups Keep the log and  review writing styles of students

Slide 31: Construction of Effective Tests Validity  Items are clear  Content matches learning goals  Items has appropriate weight of final score  Level of thinking matches  the learning goals Range of items wide enough to  accurately represent the goal for learning

Slide 32: Construction of Effective Tests Reliability  Clear instructions  Time limits are  realistic Vocabulary  Layout of the test appropriate  Make-up exams of same type as original exam 

Slide 33: Alternatives to Tests Use multiple methods of  measuring performance, mastery, and skill Group projects   Creating a web site  Developing a database  Solve a problem and explain the process  Case studies  Research projects  Simulations, games and puzzles  Portfolios: samples of a variety of materials  Tests taken by teams instead of individuals  Peer collaboration; peer assessment  Have the students provide a presentation as either a web site or powerpoint presentation and post them to the web

Slide 35: Alternative Means of Evaluating Student Performance Art of Negotiable Contracting for Assessment  Alternative Assessment & Electronic Portfolios  Consortium for Equity in Standards and Testing  Critical Issues in Assessment  Example of Scoring for a Concept-Resource Map  Assessment and Evaluation for online courses  Quizzes, Tests, and Exams  Classroom Assessment Techniques 

Slide 36: Cheaters Serve as Catalysts Cheating challenges educators to design distance course content and assessment more carefully.

Slide 37: Sources

Slide 38: Sources Carnevale, D. (1999, November 12). How to Proctor From a Distance. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A47.  http://www.fact.usu.edu/tutorials/PDF%20Tutorials/Cheating/CheatingDistanceEducation.pdf  Curtis, D.D. & Lawson, M.J. (2001). Exploring collaborative online learning. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks,  5(1). From http://www.aln.org/alnweb/journal/Vol5_issue1/Curtis/curtis.htm Heberling, M. (2002). Maintaining Academic Integrity in Online Education. Online Journal of Distance Learning  Administration, Vol. V, No. I, Spring 2002 From http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/spring51/spring51.html Identity Security and Testing Issues in Distance Education From http://www.pbs.org/als/agenda/articles/testing.html  Illinois Online Network \"Strategies to Minimize Cheating Online\" From  http://illinois.online.uillinois.edu/IONresources/assessment/cheating.html Olt, M. (2002). Ethics and Distance Education: Strategies for Minimizing Academic Dishonesty in Online Assessment Online  Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol. V, No. III, Fall 2002 From http://oregonstate.edu/dept/econ/pdf/cheat.online.pap6.pdf Rowe, N. (2004). Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism. .On-Line Journal of Distance Learning  Administration, Summer 2004. From http://www.cs.nps.navy.mil/people/faculty/rowe/dlcheat.htm Tulloch, J. & Thompson, S. Accreditation and Student Assessment in Distance Education. From  http://www.astd.org/NR/exeres/1F6D7C77-285A-42B8-9C6E-F0A7EA93FB82.htm Van Belle, G. How Cheating Helps Drive Better Instruction. From  http://www.plagiarized.com/vanb.html Wellman, G. & Marcinkiewicz, H. (12/2004) Online Learning and Time-on-Task: Impact of Proctored vs. Un-Proctored  Testing. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. Vol. 8, No. 4. From http://www.sloan- c.org/publications/jaln/v8n4/index.asp Zero Cost E-Learning. From http://www.astd.org/NR/exeres/1F6D7C77-285A-42B8-9C6E-F0A7EA93FB82.htm 