An Observational Analysis Of The Range And Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online Courses Found On Agency Websites - CISIS 2014

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An Observational Analysis Of The Range And
Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online
Courses Found On Agency Websites
Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke
Birmingham City University
CISIS 2014
#contractcheating

Background

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

Contract Cheating
Contract cheating occurs when a students pays
(or otherwise uses) a third party to provide an
original solution for assessed work for them

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

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

The Transtutors Agency Site

Transtutors
“Internet’s Leading Academic Q&A
Bank”
Multiple “services” offered to “help”
students
Online tutoring
Homework help
Question and answers
Assignment help

http://transtutors.pissedconsumer.com/got-my-homework-done-with-in-6-hr-20131122459189.html
Might Be Worthwhile?

“300 Courses From 100 Colleges
Currently In Question Bank”
Transtutors sells pre-
written solutions
organised by college and
course

Bespoke Solutions May Be
Commissioned
Athabasca University
Canada
FNCE 370v8
Accounting
Request From
Student
Solution
Produced

An Unusual Feature For A
Contract Cheating Site
Most agency sites only share the
produced work with student who
originally paid for it

Wide Range Of Subjects Covered
Indira Gandhi
National OU
India
LSE-03
BSc GENETICS

Range Of Academic Levels

Assignments From Partner
Institutions
University of
Derby
Module

“Open University” Search
Multiple hits on
Google
Shared modules
codes can make
attribution harder

Online University Work
Found On Transtutors

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

Source Institution Country of
Origin Of 174 Assignments

Analysis By Subject Area Of 174
Assignments Found On Transtutors

The Number Of Different Institutions
Per Country Found From Sample Of
174 Assignments

Observations And
Recommendations

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

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

“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

Further Resources

For More Information
Thomas Lancaster:
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
thomas.lancaster@bcu.ac.uk
Robert Clarke:
robert.clarke@bcu.ac.uk
Slides Available At:
http://slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster

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.

An Observational Analysis Of The Range And Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online Courses Found On Agency Websites - CISIS 2014

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An Observational Analysis Of The Range And Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online Courses Found On Agency Websites - CISIS 2014