Archive for September, 2014

Online courses attracting cheaters?

According to the authors of the recently published statistical study “No More Excuses-Personality Traits and Academic Dishonesty in Online Courses” (Journal of Statistical Science and Application, V2 (2014) 111-118) cheaters now run rampant across most college campuses.  With the number of undergrads taking classes online—4.3 million and growing fast, opportunities for academic dishonesty are expanding.  Surprisingly, this experiment showed less cheating in the virtual than in the traditional classroom settings; indicative, perhaps, of those going online being more motivated to learn, rather than just achieving credits.  This is good to see.  Also, I was happy to learn that this and other similar studies found Americans being less accepting of cheaters and applying higher standards for honesty than most other nationalities.  Along those lines, US News and World Reports in this June posting advises students to “Think Twice Before Cheating in Online Courses,” particularly when being proctored by webcam.  The lady pictured with a cheat-sheet written on her arm might never get the chance to roll up a sleeve.  That’s just too bad.

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