Cheating in a dental practical exam

Abstract

There is increasing attention given to academic integrity across university education and dental schools are not immune to this problem (Andrews et al. J Dent Educ 71; 1027-1039, 2007 Ford & Hughes Eur J Dent Educ 16(1):e180-e186, 2012). While there has been an increasing concern about academic dishonesty in written exams and assignments, there appears to be a false sense of security in the integrity of practical assessments, involving dental procedures on simulated patients. This paper will present a situational analysis of two unusual cases of academic dishonesty in preclinical dental practical assessments. The first case involved a student bringing a previously prepared plastic tooth into the examination room and substituting it for the assessment tooth. The second case involved a student removing key teeth during the exam to enable them to have better access and advantage over others to complete the assessment task. These two cases resulted in a complete review of practical assessment procedures and the application of new processes to maintain academic integrity.

Structures, processes and outcomes of objective structured clinical examinations in dental education during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A scoping review

“…Outside of the review, the importance of this is emphasised by cases where cheating has led to a student's repetition of an academic year. The importance of academic integrity is ultimately due to its potential to echo into patient care 48 . The online OSCEs have recognised and actioned this in many forms including the completion of an academic integrity statement 32 ; a recorded “check‐in” process of the surrounding environment ensuring no elicit materials were accessible to the students; and use of software such as “Respondus” to prevent access of any other materials on the device being used for the examination 42 …”

Academic Discipline Integration by Contract Cheating Services and Essay Mills

“…Contract cheating style support is not just limited to written assessments. Currie et al (2017) observed cheating taking place in practical dentistry examinations, where ready-prepared teeth were available for purchase which students could substitute in place of the ones they were meant to be working on during practical assessments.…”

Academic integrity and the implementation of the honour code in the clinical training of undergraduate dental students

“…Choi (2019) likewise reported cheating behaviour by students at 92.2% at the Korean dental school. While not limited to written examinations or assignments, cheating also has been cited in dental practical exams despite misconceptions of security and academic integrity for the latter (Currie et al 2017).…”

“…Relationship and perspective coding among student data were used to elucidate the themes through an inductive process (Bradley et al 2007). The actual process of coding involved open, axial and selective coding (Corbin and Strauss 2015). Open coding was applied to breakdown the raw data into broad emotive or attitudinal categories of positive, indifferent and oppositional attitude.…”