A systematic review of academic dishonesty in online learning environments

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has played an increasingly crucial role in the educational system. Academic dishonesty (AD) in online learning is a challenging problem that represents a complex psychological and social phenomenon for learners. However, there is a lack of comprehensive and systematic reviews of AD in online learning environments.Objectives: This study presents a systematic study of AD in online learning environments to delineate its trends and uncover potential areas for further research.Methods: We conducted this review based on various sources of evidence-based research and followed the guidelines of the PRISMA statement and procedure for selection. After the exclusion criteria were employed, 59 eligible articles were selected and then analysed in a descriptive overview. Two frameworks were identified in the structured content analysis to analyse these articles. One was the framework of Gilbert's Behaviour Engineering Model (BEM), and the other was the types of interventions for online AD, where 36 articles were analysed. Results and Conclusions:The descriptive results showed that most studies used quantitative methods and focused on students. The analysis results of influencing factors under the BEM framework showed that the category of environment support and tools accounts for the largest proportion.

Academic Dishonesty and the Diamond Fraud: Attitudes of UAE Undergraduate Business Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Higher education institutions have policies and procedures to deal with incidences of cheating yet this does not deter students from it (Chiang et al, 2022). On the contrary, there continues to be an increase in the trend of academic dishonesty.…”

“…Although this is minimized in examination sessions because the students are physically proctored, this explanation is more applicable to situations where students are accessing online resources (Dendir & Maxwell, 2020). Therefore, faculty members need to implement a range of strategies to reduce cheating opportunities in online sessions (Chiang et al, 2022). Some examples of activities to reduce cheating in online sessions include: providing helpful resources on digital platforms, giving students more freedom to pace their learning and conducting focused discussions weekly to monitor their progress.…”

“…Academic dishonesty amongst the student body at the tertiary level of education is a constant problem for administrators globally (Chiang, et al, 2022;Noorbehbahani et al, 2022). This issue is more prevalent among students studying business (Hendy & Montargot, 2019;Khalid, et al, 2020).…”

“…Unfortunately, the persistence of academically fraudulent behaviour such as cheating potentially diminishes the value of learning. Further, there is an emerging body of evidence indicating that academic dishonesty is increasing because of an increase in tuition, advancement in technology, and increase in online education (Chiang et al, 2022;Khalid et al, 2020;Williams & Oyesoji, 2019). http://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter…”

The effects of personality traits and attitudes towards the rule on academic dishonesty among university students

“…In addition, cheating intentions among students in traditional and online education settings are very little 32 . To reconcile the inconsistent findings, researchers started considering potential moderating and mediating factors such as the types of academic dishonesty, the level of technology complexity, and statistics anxiety 33 – 35 .…”