4 Ways to Address Academic Dishonesty in Online Learning

For many instructors, online learning comes with the uncomfortable sensation of a lack of control. How do you know students are learning? What are the best ways you can keep them engaged? And how do you prevent academic dishonesty in your online classroom?

Not only does academic dishonesty damages the quality of student learning, but it also damages the reputation of an institution and can, in the long term, devalue the learning that happens in your classroom.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of online learning, more exams, projects, and quizzes are being completed online than ever before. And more online assignments mean different opportunities for academic dishonesty.

Why Do Students Cheat?

What causes students to cheat? Researchers have found that there are lots of factors, including:

• Lack of time
• Social pressure
• The desire for higher grades
• Stress and anxiety about testing
• The implication that everyone else is doing it

Isolation and stress, especially during a global pandemic, don’t always help students make the right decision. A lack of in-person accountability also gives the impression that it’s easier to cheat, especially in the face of all those factors. 

Ways to Prevent Academic Dishonesty

While you can’t prevent it entirely, there are four ways to keep your students on the straight and narrow while they learn online:

• Instructional
• Personal 
• Pedagogical
• Technological

Let’s dive into each.

1. Tell Students What’s Expected of Them

Many students don’t plagiarize on purpose — it might just be that they’ve never been taught how to properly find, use, and cite an academic source.

Model proper citation practices in your class materials and handouts. If students have questions, direct them to writing centre resources, library resources, or a good online citation generator.

On the first day of class or in your syllabus, cover the school’s policy on academic dishonesty and make it clear what the consequences are for breaking the rules.

Emphasize that you’re available to answer any questions after class or during online office hours. Consider making a quick quiz to make sure they understand the expectations or have them send in a signed form stating they’ll comply with your standards for academic honesty.  

2. Build Relationships with your Students

Students may be less likely to cheat if they have a personal relationship with you. But it’s not always easy to make connections with students when you’re teaching online. Try:

• Learning all their names and using them when possible
• Share a little bit about yourself and your academic career
• Holding online office hours and encouraging them to come for a project, participation points, or just for fun

It’s not foolproof and it’s not always easy but caring about your students can help you be more flexible and avoid high-stress, high-stakes situations where students feel they have no other choice but to cheat.  

3. Structure your Assignments Differently

If you use the same multiple-choice exam for every final year after year, it’s easy for students to find a copy online and skip their study sessions. Taking small pedagogically focused steps can help you prevent cheating without adding a lot of extra work.

Make several different versions of the same exam and rotate through them every semester. Use different types of questions, including:

• Long essays
• True or false
• Multiple choice
• Short, open-ended questions

Design questions to focus on the higher-order skills laid out in Bloom’s Taxonomy — synthesis, analysis, and evaluation — over simple fact recall.

Assign feasible time limits to the online exam to accommodate students in multiple time zones. Once students are done, don’t automatically deliver results. Wait until the whole class has completed the online exam. 

Keep in mind that students are much less likely to cheat on things that aren’t high-stakes final exams worth 60% of their final grade. Use group work, or scaffold assignments so students can hand in smaller parts of it at individual times. Quizzes, portfolios, and group presentations are also good options.   

4. Use Technology

At the end of the day, you might still have to have students write an online exam. If you want an extra sense of security, there are number of different types of educational technology that can help prevent academic dishonesty, including:

• Challenge questions that verify the identity of the test-taker
• Text originality checkers, which check for plagiarism and incorrect citations
• Lockdown browsers that prevent students from accessing different web pages during the exam
• Live proctoring, where students take the test on a video camera and proctors watch for possible infractions
• Video summation software that uses artificial intelligence to flag suspicious behaviours and forwards it to a proctor
• Biometric software that measures physical characteristics like height, weight, and gender, as well as keyboard strokes or handwriting

None of this technology is perfect. Students and staff have raised valid concerns about intellectual property rights, identity and privacy protection, and lack of equality for students that don’t have access to things like a computer with a webcam. But these solutions combined with the other three above can provide a robust defense against academic dishonesty.

Encouraging Students to Bring their Best Selves to the Classroom

There’s nothing worse than an instructor that automatically assumes all their students are going to be cheating on their next big test. Students get defensive, relationships break down, and academic dishonesty flourishes. 

Start by building mutual respect and understanding with your students. When you approach the issue of academic dishonesty with sensitivity and compassion, students are much more likely to listen, do the right thing, and thrive throughout the rest of their academic careers.