Positive Interventions in the Age of Contract Cheating - Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN) Speaker Series

•

0 likes•163 views

Contract cheating remains a threat to education and academic integrity, but there are positive steps we can take to address this. These slides, presented as a webinar workshop for the Manitoba Academic Integrity Network, explore contract cheating, how the market has developed, assessment design opportunities, and ways to work with students as partners and collaborators to address contract cheating.

Education

Positive Interventions in the Age of
Contract Cheating
Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN) Speaker Series
20 October 2022
Dr Thomas Lancaster, Imperial College London, UK

Dr Thomas
Lancaster
Teacher of Computer Science
Academic Integrity Enthusiast
http://www.thomaslancaster.co.uk
@DrLancaster
Artistic impression by a computer
Technology Advocate
Discover of Contract Cheating
(with Robert Clarke)

Celebrating Action
The latest International Day of Action Against Contract
Cheating took place on October 19, 2022
University of Toronto
Tecnologico de Monterrey
Majan University College

Areas To Consider
What does contract cheating look like (with examples)?
How can we work with students as academic integrity partners?
Does contract cheating matter to students?
Should we rethink assessment?

Contract Cheating
A student pays (or uses) a
third party to complete
academic work they should
be doing for themselves

How do students end up using
commercial contract cheating
services?

They see physical marketing
(examples from 2008)

Buyers Advertise Their Needs…
$330 CDN
$22 per 1,000 words

Contract cheating
providers will even
sell you the
book…

Example Courtesy of BBC South East Today

https://bit.ly/cheatingchecklist
There Are Indicators…

YES!
It is unfair on the student
It is unfair on other students
It is dangerous for society

There is no single solution
…and many more
such ways
Make contract
cheating less
worthwhile
Detect contract
cheating
Promote the benefits
of integrity
Engage students Discuss the issue
with students
Hold events
Use laws and
regulations

Consider Assessment Design
Assessment
to promote
learning
Assessment
to ensure
integrity
No single assessment is impossible to cheat on
Balanced, varied and engaging assessment holds the key

Some Practical Ideas
Oral presentations and vivas
Practical authentic assessments
Group and peer assessments
Narrated video assessments
Personalised and contextually specific assessments
Placements
Unseen exams (where appropriate and as part of a
balanced assessment diet)
Exams linked to coursework

Can we set assessments that
explore contract cheating?

Forthcoming book chapter
“Addressing contract
cheating through staff-
student partnerships”

Contract Cheating Related Technical Research

First Year Ethics Assignments Related To
Contract Cheating

Interdisciplinary Student Research Projects
https://youtu.be/KWKyDJywH5s

Web application collecting agency posts and allowing users to
explore possible contract cheating requests developed by
students at the University of Aberdeen

Students
collaborate
and speak
https://academicintegrity.org/programs/webinars/307-student-views-on-contract-cheating

https://youtu.be/91VoX0m1EBs
Students produce documentaries

We can address contract
cheating through positive
interventions

We need to ensure that students feel supported

The educational community must
know how to address the risks
posed by contract cheating

We must operate in
partnership with
students

Ultimately, acting with academic
integrity must feel valued and
rewarded
#excelwithintegrity
#myownwork

Connect with me for training, speaking and
booking enquiries
Email: thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk
Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
Twitter: @DrLancaster

Similar to Positive Interventions in the Age of Contract Cheating - Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN) Speaker Series

The fourth International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating takes place on 16 October 2019. These slides were presented as part of a webinar to kick off the week looking at how the contract cheating industry has developed into an international problem and the methods available to deter and detect contract cheating at all levels, from individual to institutional. Addressing contract cheating requires a whole group effort from staff and students alike.

Reducing Contract Cheating - Challenges And Solutions

Thomas Lancaster

This talk, presented at the Higher Education Academy Contract Cheating workshop at Birmingham City University on 13 March 2014, provides training on what contract cheating is and examples of how this differs from plagiarism. Different methods used by students to have outsourced work produced for them are provided. A brief overview into the research looking at the extent and costs of contract cheating is provided.

The Current Landscape Of Contract Cheating - Higher Education Academy Worksho...

Thomas Lancaster

Social Media Enabled Contract Cheating - Canadian Symposium On Academic Integ...

Thomas Lancaster

How do we move forward as an academic community and address the issues where students are commissioning and submitting academic work that they haven't created for themselves. This presentation explores the issues surrounding contract cheating and benefits from insights provided by the essay industry itself. Particular consideration is given to understanding how students become involved with contract cheating and how preventative measures, such as assessment redesign, can be helpful in fostering a community of academic integrity.

Contract Cheating and Commissioning - Staff Development Workshop at Universit...

Thomas Lancaster

Most research on contract cheating recommends a single set of solutions for all academic disciplines, but different academic subjects attract different student cohorts. They teach and assess differently. These slides. presented at Plagiarism Across Europe And Beyond 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania, explore contract cheating at a discipline level. The current demand for contract cheating at discipline level is considered, as is the success of current marketing and customer reach techniques used by contract cheating services and essay mills across different disciplines. The results are based on data collected from Google UK, which shows that there are further opportunities for essay mills to expand their reach. The presentation argues that more work about contract cheating at a discipline level is necessary.

An Examination Of How Successful Essay Mills And Contract Cheating Services H...

Thomas Lancaster

The whole educational community should ensure that academic integrity values are at the heart of the discussion. This community includes students. This keynote presentation, delivered for the RMIT Learning and Teaching Festival 2022, asked "what's possible", considering future challenges of academic integrity, how staff can ensure that students are supported throughout their learning journey and examples of the valuable work that students can lead on to support the wider sector. These slides are slightly edited from the original presentation to remove some RMIT specific strategic examples but the general concepts and ideas should be valuable everywhere.

Putting Students First in the Academic Integrity Discussion - Keynote Present...

Thomas Lancaster

Contract cheating has been an issue concerning academics for over 10 years now, ever since the initial work by Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke, published in June 2016. This talk provides a view across the past decade of contract cheating, looking particularly at the wider changes in behaviour and marketing that have made contract cheating services and essay mills more accessible to students. Examples are pulled from across different academic disciplines and offer a challenge to educational providers about how to ensure that the next decade of tackling contract cheating is more successful than the last.

A Decade Of Contract Cheating - Examining The Changes That Have Been Made To ...

Thomas Lancaster

Combatting Contract Cheating: Training Staff in Your Institution - Quality As...

Thomas Lancaster

This contract cheating workshop was held as part of a teaching and learning confernence at Sheffield Hallam University and includes several discussion style activities. The areas explored include the type of assessments that students are outsourcing, the pricing of the assessments, the wider issues surrounding contract cheating and the move to work together with students to promote a positive view of academic integrity.

Contract Cheating - A Workshop On The Bespoke Assessment Industry - Faculty o...

Thomas Lancaster

Why are there so many contract cheating services and essay mills prying on students? It's because they offer people wanting to make money online a successful business model. In fact, there are all kinds of ways these businesses operate, many of which rely on taking advantage of vulnerable students and deceiving them. These slides, presented as part of an online training workshop for Ireland's National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, discuss research into the contract cheating industry and practical implications for how this could be addressed by students and staff.

The Business of Contract Cheating - National Forum for the Enhancement of Tea...

Thomas Lancaster

What do we do in the situation where a student has engaged with contract cheating providers and wishes to come clean? These slides were used as part of a workshop at the European Network for Academic Integrity Conference 2022 and present the ideas of Thomas Lancaster, Michael Draper, Sandra Dann, Robin Crockett and Irene Glendinning (but do not capture the very interesting conversations at the conference itself).

Coming Clean – Addressing the Issues Where a Student Self Declares Contract C...

Thomas Lancaster

The contract cheating industry has adapted quickly to Covid-19, positioning itself as being available to help students to "stay safe" and providing support in light of the pandemic. These slides are from a webinar presented at an Epigeum event, discussing five key ideas that universities and their staff should be considering in light of the changes to teaching and assessment that have occurred following the outbreak of Covid-19.

Contract Cheating in the Context of Covid-19: Five Key Ideas to Consider

Thomas Lancaster

This teaching and learning talk on contract cheating, presented at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, explored the world where students are paying other people to have their work completed for them. The talk considers the methods that students can use to outsource work and employ a ghostwriter. Indicative examples, showing the changing landscape of student cheating, are provided. The talk concludes with recommendations, including the suggestion that students should be encouraged and inspired to engage with producing their own original work.

Contract Cheating – Exploring The Online Market For Original Student Work - U...

Thomas Lancaster

How can we work with students to address contract cheating? This presentation was delivered by Dr Thomas Lancaster and Dr Irene Glendinning as part of the preparation for the 4th International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating, which takes place around the world on 16 October 2019. The slides discuss why contract cheating is a challenge for education and provides ideas for activities for institutions taking part on the day.

Reducing Contract Cheating - International Opportunities For Action

Thomas Lancaster

Reducing Contract Cheating – More International Opportunities For Action

Thomas Lancaster

The literature and resources related to contract cheating have developed substantially since the first publication and presentation on this type of academic misconduct in 2006. This set of slides reviews the material from the original presentation, including the statistics collected showing the prevalence of contract cheating. Although the sites and services used have developed, many of the same principles continue to hold. The presentation recommends that increased attention is paid to contract cheating and that students need to be encouraged to support the movement towards academic integrity.

Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism - Identifying The Usage Of Contract C...

Thomas Lancaster

Contract cheating a view from three Calgary post secondary institutions

University of Calgary

The Generative Artificial Intelligence Revolution and the Future of Academic ...

Thomas Lancaster

How can institutions and individuals get involved in the International Day of Action against Contract Cheating? This webinar, presented for the International Center for Academic Integrity, discusses the background to the day and why promoting academic integrity is important. The slides give details of activities that have worked well in previous years and consider how an online version of the International Day of Action might work in light of Covid-19.

Taking Action Against Contract Cheating - Webinar for International Center fo...

Thomas Lancaster

Contract cheating represents a threat to academic integrity for universities in Australia. This workshop was presented as part of a staff development session at Curtin University in October 2016 and explores the wider challenges posed by contract cheating, as well as looking at what universities can do to address the problem. The slides include several examples of how Australian students are contract cheating, including looking at work within disciplines as diverse as business, health, medicine, nursing, law and computing, as well as requests for groupwork and assignment revisions. The slides conclude by recommending that universities put together a combined programme of both contract cheating detection and contract cheating prevention.

Contract Cheating - Striving For Integrity - Workshop Presented at Curtin Uni...

Thomas Lancaster

Similar to Positive Interventions in the Age of Contract Cheating - Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN) Speaker Series (20)