Supporting Academic Integrity in Online Environments

EDUCAUSE LEARNING INITIATIVE | JULY 2016

The resources below explore issues of academic integrity in the context of online learning and remote proctoring for exams. Following a very long tradition of in-person learning and proctored testing, the tools and opportunities of online education have raised new and sometimes troubling questions about the role of honesty in digital instruction. At the same time, a range of applications promises to provide digital testing environments that can ensure the identity of test takers and identify cheating.

Remote Exam Proctoring (2013)

This three-part series provides a broad overview of the history of exams and honor codes, the introduction of online testing and remote proctoring, and the landscape of tools and vendors. It includes a discussion of institutional drivers and the role of accreditors.

Do Online Students Cheat More on Tests? (2015)

This article describes a study of research into the likelihood of cheating in various circumstances. The findings indicate that although testing in all types of models is exposed to cheating, such misconduct is no more likely in unmonitored exams.

Skills and Strategies: Understanding Plagiarism in a Digital Age (2015)

This blog post investigates the increasingly complexity around plagiarism in the digital world. Given the unprecedented and growing access to content and the ease with which it can be (mis)appropriated, intentionally or not, educators and students work to talk openly about plagiarism and avoid it.

Cheating Lessons: Parts 1, 2, and 3 (2013)

This three-part column delves into academic cheating, building the argument that the design of learning environments and systems is a key factor in whether students engage in cheating. A consideration of learning design can significantly reduce the inducements to cheat.

Addressing Academic Dishonesty in the Age of Ubiquitous Technology (2012)

This article explores the ways that technology can be used to minimize cheating that is often based on technology. It addresses steps including applications, design, training, and culture.

The Developing Market for Online Proctoring (2015)

Building off of a 2013 report on remote proctoring, this article provides an overview of the marketplace for vendors of online proctoring services. The analysis organizes the products into categories concerning whether human proctors are involved in the monitoring and whether that monitoring is live or recorded.

Cheating Lessons (2013)

In this article, the author of Cheating Lessons: Learning From Academic Dishonesty responds to questions about issues including the motivations to cheat, the relationship to metacognition, and the effect of course structure on cheating.

educause.edu/ELI | ELI 7 Things You Should Read About ... ™

© 2016 EDUCAUSE. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License.