Academic Integrity of Graduate Online Students in a Curriculum and Instruction Program

Abstract

With the continued growth of online courses, the academic integrity of students has received much attention. While cheating is certainly not a new phenomenon, the role of technology in the learning environment has mitigated the effectiveness of traditional preventative measures to maintain academic integrity. This research seeks to examine perceptions of cheating among online graduate students enrolled in a Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) program. We found that in general, students believe that cheating is more prevalent and more likely to occur in an online learning platform. Moreover, despite students" awareness of university policies and consequences, this has not deterred some from cheating. However, it appears that faculty engagement in setting parameters for what constitutes cheating is important.

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“…This awareness will affect society in general and manifest later when these students are employed. “The key is to develop students who do not want to cheat” (Larkin et al 2017 , p.6). Not only that, but we might need to re-define Academic Integrity for the digital age and amend policy accordingly (Reedy et al 2021 ).…”

“…Moreover, Larkin et al ( 2017 ) conducted a study on 30 US university graduate students to investigate whether it was easier to cheat online, how they perceived plagiarism, and what were their impressions of university policy regarding academic integrity. They found out that most students believed that cheating takes place during testing, that it is easier to cheat online, and that they had a clear idea of what constitutes plagiarism, although some believed that copying from the internet was acceptable.…”

“…They found out that most students believed that cheating takes place during testing, that it is easier to cheat online, and that they had a clear idea of what constitutes plagiarism, although some believed that copying from the internet was acceptable. It also showed that some students do not feel “cut and paste” is a problem, and, thus, “it is imperative that instructors explicitly address what constitutes unacceptable plagiarism-related behaviors” (Larkin et al 2017 , p.6). King, Guyette, and Piotrowski ( 2009 , p.2) state that “[p]erhaps the online environment or milieu contributes to the temptation to use dishonesty (in its many forms) due largely to the lack of oversight on the part of instructors.” Hence, implementing an honor code, for example, should be part of the teacher’s responsibility.…”

“…Students have been at it for a long time” (Chace 2012 , p.23). According to Olt ( 2002 ), methods for cheating “can be divided into two: those that require an accomplice and those that do not.” Larkin et al ( 2017 ), p.2) state that “[cheating] includes collaborating on homework, using ‘cheat sheets’ during an exam, and plagiarizing assignments. In more extreme forms, academic dishonesty involves students purchasing term papers from paper mills.” Cizek ( 1999 ) mentions several ways of cheating, including looking at another student’s exam paper, exposing a test paper for others to cheat from, passing an eraser with answers written on it between students, developing codes, such as tapping the floor to indicate a specific answer, using small papers to cheat, writing test information on the desk, and using banned resources in take-home exams—to name a few.…”