Proposed Research Topic:
As more K-12 students take online courses, cheating has become a major
issue. As educators, how do we prevent
students in online schools from cheating?
Preventing Online K-12
Students From Cheating
The research topic I have chosen is
how to prevent students taking online courses from cheating. When I began
teaching for an online school in 2009 I became exposed to some of the ways in
which students were able to cheat. Some
of the examples of cheating I discovered were the use of copy and paste to
plagiarize papers, cell/smart phones to text answers, read notes, and to take
photos of tests. In addition, students were able to buy term papers, essays,
and literary reviews using what are called “cheat sites” (O'Shaughnessy, 2011). Two other heavily used resources by students are
Google and Yahoo. With only a few clicks
students are able to find answers to web-based tests and quizzes. The impact of my discovery made me realize I could
not ignore the problem. It was my job to
engage and inspire students so that they would want to learn the material. Cheating
not only hurt the students academically, emotionally, and intellectually; it
was also a poor refection of my ability and commitment as a teacher. Two goals of a good teacher, I believe are to
instill knowledge and prepare students for life. With these thoughts in mind, I
decided to look for a way to stop my students from cheating.
My findings led me to the
realization that cheating in schools is an age-old problem and it has a
negative influence on our society. Sadly, cheating is on the rise and many
online students have learned to successfully cheat their ways through
courses. In an article written by Luzer
(2012), he suggests that it is easier to cheat in online courses than it is in
regular ones. Today’s use of technology
to cheat is called eCheating or electronic cheating and students are finding
new high tech ways to cheat (Toppo, 2011).
Online cheating is an important issue because, just as in traditional
schools, cheating in an online school is wrong and it affects all people in our
society (Morales, 2000). Also, when we
allow students to cheat we are sending a message that grades are more important
than the learning. Littlefield (2012), in
his article about online cheating reports that in college classes’ cheating is
an epidemic. A discouraging finding by the
OEDb, an online education database reports that cheating college students
probably started in high school. Streich
in his piece for suite101.com (2009) believes that students begin cheating in
the elementary grades and continue through college and beyond.
Currently,
many possible approaches to the problem are being discussed and debated daily. Christe
wrote in an article forEducause Quartely (2003), that we should design online
courses to discourage and stop students from cheating. In Silberman & Presby’s (2011) informative
slideshare they raise the same issue as Christe and state our attitudes towards
cheating have changed and that people no longer see it as wrong. What about the
old question of academic integrity? Silberman & Presby (2011) believe that some of the ways to
prevent online cheating are through strict monitoring; course management; teacher
training; giving teacher more resources; good communication between student and
teacher; holding the students accountable; and varying the assessments and
course material. It is my intention to discover
if the current ideas and philosophies being addressed on the subject of online
cheating will help educators to prevent it.
References
Astin, A., Banta, T., Cross, K., Ewell,
P., Hutchings, P., Marchese, T., . . . Wright, B. 21 Ways to Handle
Technology Enhanced Cheating. Retrieved from http://warrington.ufl.edu/itsp/docs/instructor/OnlineAssessment.pdf
Copeland,
K. (2011, February 15). Online Classes Altered to Prevent Cheating. NT
Daily.Com. Retrieved from http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=51645
Eight Astonishing Stats on
Academic Cheating. (2012). OEDb-Online Education Database. Retrieved from http://oedb.org/library/features/8-astonishing-stats-on-academic-cheating
Littlefield,
J. (2012, July 3). Cheating in Online College Classes: A Virtual Epidemic. About.com.
Retrieved from http://distancelearn.about.com/od/distancelearning101/a/Cheating-In-Online-College-Classes-A-Virtual-Epidemic.htm
Luzer,
D. (2012, June 5). Online Courses Make Cheating Easier. Washington
Monthly. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/online_courses_make_cheating_e.php
Morales,
T. (2000, April 1). Student Cheating Affects Us All. Los Angeles Times.
Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/01/local/me-14910
O'Shaughnessy,
L. (2011). 8 Top Websites that Students Use to Cheat. CBS News.Com.
Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37245349/8-top-websites-that-students-use-to-cheat/
Silberman,
E., & Presby, L. (2011, June 13). How to Reduce Cheating in Online
Courses. slideshare. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Esilbe1/how-to-prevent-cheating-in-an-online-course
Sengupta,
K., & Zheng, K. (2011, October). Online Student Collaboration: Cheating
of Just Helping? The Spectator.
Retrieved from http://stuyspectator.com/2011/10/08/online-student-collaboration-cheating-or-just-helping/
Skillings,
J. (2009, March 19). Teacher Turns to Tech to Stop Cheating. CNET/News.
Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10197969-93.html
Streich,
M. (2009, March 10). Cheating Begins Early In American Schools. suite101.com.
Retrieved from http://suite101.com/article/cheating-begins-early-in-american-schools-a101673
Toppo,
G. (2011, December 12). eCheating: Students Find High-Tech Ways to Deceive
Teachers. USA Today. Retrieved from http://gsehd.gwu.edu/documents/users/juliestella/cheating.pdf
Wignall,
E. (2011, September 12). How to Stop Cheating in Online Courses. On
Teaching Online. Retrieved from http://www.onteachingonline.com/2011/09/how-to-stop-cheating-in-online-courses/
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