One of the fears for those who would argue against distance learning is students’ ability to cheat. The Internet offers access to massive amounts of information from reliable and non-reliable sources and it is believed that students can “copy and paste” their way through distance learning courses. While the Internet does have the potential to be an exceptional educational tool, it can also be the virus that devastates academic integrity. There are, thankfully, several ways to deter cheating and plagiarism in online courses. Course designers and instructors have opportunities to use strategies like using plagiarism detection software, developing learning experiences that increase authentic student participation and practicing facilitation skills that deter unethical academic practices. (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006) Turnitin.com, for example, is the most popular online plagiarism detection device and it alone can deter students from attempting to cheat; lessons and activities that incorporate personal connections to the course material reduces the potential for students to take material directly from the Internet; and transforming the classroom paradigm into a social learning environment, as Palloff & Pratt (2011) discuss, uses collaboration even during tests, thus narrowing the perspective of cheating.
Designing an assessment that allows and encourages students to cooperate and collaborate with one another prevents academic dishonesty and fosters a social learning community. Students can feel safe and confident knowing they have refined answers to share and that they may tap into, without consequence, seek other perspectives. The rub is that the assessment must be a challenging and personal undertaking to complete. Accessing information from multiple sources is an important skill for any career and having students demonstrate that skill on assessments strengthens their chances for future success and reinforces tendencies to share and cooperate. However, one must careful to add the personal component so students are forced to deal with the material directly for their own purpose. Asking students to come to a consensus about the best criteria for evaluating Shakespeare’s histories, comedies, and tragedies, for example, may solicit communication with peers, but it does not guarantee individual posts will be applied differently. Assigning students one of Shakespeare’s plays, on the other hand, not only encourages and supports collaboration to develop a criteria, it also forces students to apply the information for an individual purpose. This assignment example would help reduce cheating immensely due to the originality of the group’s criteria development.
The facilitation strategies online instructors can employ that reduces student abilities to grab information directly from the Internet include setting up an account on Turnitin.com and making sure students are trained on how it works and what it does. According to a Jocoy & DiBiase (2006) study, students who were required by their instructor to submit their work to a plagiarism detection device were less likely to cheat than students who were not required to use such web-based tools. It is free and it now offers a grammar-checking tool that helps students polish before they publish.
The strongest method to deter cheating, in my opinion, is to establish a strong sense of community so that members understand the importance of academic integrity and owning information for themselves. Although developing this kind of community is no easy task, it is nonetheless, the goal for successful distance learning. Weaving a combination of design and facilitating strategies, online course designers and instructors can guide students that will help establish a strong social learning community.
References
Boettcher, J. V., & Conrad, R. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15.
Palloff, A. & Pratt, C. (2011) “Plagiarism and Cheating.” Video Program. Laureate.
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