OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CHALLENGES IN OPEN AND DISTANCE
LEARNING (ODL) DELIVERY INCLUDING ON-LINE LEARNING:METHODS
AND TOOLS TO DETECT ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND ENFORCING
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Prof. Tolly.S.A. Mbwette, Vice Chancellor, Open University of Tanzania
(OUT), tsambwette@yahoo .com or tolly.mbwette@out.ac.tz.
FEBRUARY, 2015
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY CHALLENGES IN OPEN AND DISTANCE
LEARNING (ODL) DELIVERY INCLUDING ON-LINE LEARNING:METHODS
AND TOOLS TO DETECT ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND ENFORCING
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Prof. Tolly.S.A. Mbwette, Vice Chancellor, Open University of Tanzania
(OUT), tsambwette@yahoo .com or tolly.mbwette@out.ac.tz.
ABSTRACT
The paper starts to introduce the salient adopted definitions of the key
words used in relation to the topic based on the literature review
undertaken.
Rather than narrowly presenting experiences based on
on-line learning, the paper has focused on discussing challenges
associated with the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode of
delivery with specific reference to on-line learning as one of the many
sub-modes of delivery. A distinction between ODL and on-line learning
has also been provided prior to defining the various academic roles of
the institutions, academic staff and the students in relation to their
ethical responsibilities. Subsequently, the paper has depicted various
techniques and tools that can be used by an ODL university to
undertake authentic evaluations of student work including those
delivered on-line.
The paper has also presented various effective
privacy and security measures that can be taken to deter plagiarism
including
when
undertaking
on-line
examinations.
The
paper
concludes by stressing the need to continuously raise the awareness
of
both
the
students
and
the
academic
staff
regarding
what
constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in an ODL course
including those delivered as on-line courses.
Keywords:
Integrity,
honesty,
dishonesty,
academic
integrity,
academic dishonesty, ethics, authenticity, plagiarism, Open and
Distance Learning, On-line learning.
INTRODUCTION
Literature (http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/integrity
vis.
October 2014) defines the word integrity as “Adherence to moral and
ethical principles, soundness of moral character or honesty”. On the
other hand Wikipedia (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/integrity vis.
October 2014) defines integrity as “The quality of being honest and
having strong moral principles or moral uprightness or in relation to
ethics, integrity is regarded by many people as the honesty and
thruthfulness or accuracy of one’s action”.
As such, integrity is
regarded to be the opposite of “hypocrisy” and it is said to be derived
from the latin word “integer” that means “whole or complete”.
Another
firm
definition
of
the
word
integrity
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integrity
from
literature
vis.
October
2014) is “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic
values” or “incorruptibility”.
Honesty is defined as “fairness and
straightforwardness of conduct or sincerity” (http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/honesty vis October 2014) while Wikipedia
considers honesty to refer to “a facet of moral character and connotes
positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness and
straightforwardness”
October 2014).
(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/honesty
vis.
Dishonesty is regarded by Wikipedia as “To act
without honesty, lack of probity, cheating, lying, being deliberately
deceptive
or
simply
lack
of
integrity”
(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dishonesty vis. October 2014).
On
the other hand, dishonesty is defined as “lack of honesty or integrity,
disposition
to
defraud
or
deceive
(http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/dishonesty vis. October 2014).
Academic Integrity can be defined as “The moral code or ethical policy
of academia”. This includes respect of values such as avoidance of
cheating or plagiarism or maintenance of academic standards or code
of conduct (emphasis is mine), honesty and rigour in research and
academic
publishing
(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Integrity
2014).
honesty”
October
vis.
October
Other literature take Academic Integrity as “intellectual
(http://www.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid
2014)
or
“honesty
and
responsibility
in
vis.
scholarship”
(http://www.integrity.ou.edu/students_guide.html vis. October 2014).
One of the most comprehensive definition of the words “Academic
Dishonesty” is provided by Wikipedia where it is broadly defined as
“Any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic
exercise” (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Dishonesty vis.
October 2014). In the above definition, the following categories of
cheating can be covered:

Plagiarism – The adoption or reproduction of original creations of
another author without due acknowledgement.

Fabrication – Falsification of data, information or citations in any
formal academic exercise.

Deception – To provide false information in a formal academic
exercise

Cheating – An attempt to give or obtain illegal assistance in a
formal academic exercise and especiallyin exams or tests
(emphasis is mine)

Bribery –Giving unfair grades or answers in return for a favour

Profesorial misconduct – This refers to academically fraudulent
acts of any type.
Other types of cheating may entail impersonation or sabotage of any
form.
Ethics
is
referred
to
as
“A
moral
philosophy
that
involves
systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and
wrong
conduct
related
to
moral
diversity”
(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ethics vis. October 2014).
Ethical
Responsibilities refers to “The duty to follow a morally correct path”
(http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-ethical
responsibility-
56224.html vis. October 2014). The free dictionary defines moral as
“the act of exhibition of goodness or correctness of character and
behavior”
(http://www.the
freedictionary.com/morals
vis.
October
2014). Authenticity is a word that is concerned with “the truthfulness
of
origin,
attributes,
sincerity
and
devotion”
(http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticity vis. October 2014).
In this paper, Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is defined as a mode
of educational delivery that uses a variety of technologies and limited
face to face interactions to facilitate learning by a distant learner i.e.
one who is not geographically located at the same place as the
teacher.
Use of e-learning is common, however other materials are
delivered through learning platforms using multi-media techniques of
delivery as well as audio systems, video conferencing, video clips,
CDs, DVDs and Television networks.
Information
and
Communication
There are a number of
Technology
(ICT)
supported
techniques of engaging a distance learner and one of them is the use
of the approach of providing the learners with various learning
materials on-line using a computer or any networked mobile device
while they also would deliver their assignments, research papers or
term papers on-line as well as doing their tests or exams on-line
without physically meeting their teachers.
TECHNIQUES
AND
TOOLS
THAT
CAN
BE
USED
TO
ENSURE
EXISTENCE OF AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENTS IN THE ODL DELIVERY
MODE INCLUDING ON-LINE EVALUATION OF STUDENTS WORK
For any evaluation system to be effective in an ODL delivery mode, it
is necessary to ensure that comprehensive institutional policy and
operational procedures have to be put in place to guarantee existence
of a quality assurance framework covering the conduct of both the
academic, technical and administrative staff as well as the students in
addition to the general public.
All measures have to be taken to
promote authenticity of the evaluations in order to prevent, preclude
and deal sternly with any one caught assisting students to be involved
in any form of academic dishonesty as described in the foregoing subchapter.
In any case, multi-pronged technical measures have to be
put in place in order to continuously periodically confirm that the
person doing the exam is indeed the one who is the registered student
and not an impersonator. Use of individual biometric data should be
exploited as well as installation of CCTV cameras in all locations
where examinations, tests or on-line evaluations are undertaken.
Local invigilators of such evaluations have to be fully briefed the
punitive measures that can be taken against them and or the students
in case they are proven to be aiding candidates to cheat in any form.
In this case, all staff members who are also ODL students have the
responsibility to declare their studentship at the beginning of all
academic years to minimize the possibility of insider dealings. If this
is not done, such staff members may be unduly involved in preparation
of evaluation instruments. Furthermore, all staff members have a duty
to declare interest in case they are closely involved in the setting of a
test, an exam or an evaluation system that is dependent on
confidentiality and their close relatives are students in their own
academic department. All student evaluations undertaken must be set
so that each candidate has an assignment that cannot be easily
copied by another student through use of automated systems that can
produce different sets of evaluations as guided by the learning
objectives and the learning outcomes.
The ODL university is also duty bound to maintain as many video
recordings of all the evaluations for future use and to ensure the
institutional quality control policy and procedures recognize such
videos as a plausible instrument for offering proof of any academic
misdeeds. In order to ensure objectivity, periodic review of all
measures and tools used to control the evaluation process must be
externally reviewed in order to assess their validity as well as the
comprehensiveness.
Evaluations of on-line students should involve
specific sessions that must entail the students presenting their work
in a face to face session set at random and the existing policy and
procedures have to give the institution the right to sample such
students at will. When an evaluation is of face to face nature during
examinations or tests, the institution must take all measures to
discourage students from visiting toilets too frequently as well as for
extended durations to prevent or minimize use of annotated notes that
seems to be still prevalent. Use of CCTV cameras in toilets may be
also considered as a deterrent as long as it is sufficiently covered by
legal
protection
freedom.
against
charges
of
interference
with
personal
Increasingly, before the examinationsessions, candidates
have to be individually searched or frisked in order to ensure they do
not bring into the examinations unwanted materials.
Where an
institution experiences potential exam leakages involving students
carrying pre-done examinations, this type of action may indeed be fully
justified.
Students should never be allowed to enter in an exam or
tests with any type of mobile devices and the institutional regulations
have to explicitly mention the associated punitive measures against
them in case they are caught with them in the exam room.
HOW CAN ODL INSTITUTIONS EFFECTIVELY DETER PLAGIARISM IN
EXAMINATIONS INCLUDING THE ON-LINE MODE OF DELIVERY?
In the entry sub-chapter, the adopted meaning of the word plagiarism
has been given as defined by Wikipedia (2014).
Any effective fight
against plagiarism necessarily must cover the student, academic staff,
the institutional, national and global policies on plagiarism.
In this
case, all ODL universities have a duty to state categorically in their
regulations or rules that an award given to someone who is found
during an examination (both face to face and on-line exams) or
subsequently, to have substantially plagiarized their submissions will
be withdrawn as provided for in the OUT Prospectus (OUT, 2013/14).
Different institutions have set the maximum allowable borrowing that
is openly acknowledged as set OUT in the OUT Postgraduate
regulations (OUT, ibid). However, the author feels that it is high time
for the universities to agree on a common maximum percentage
borrowing so that anyone caught exceeding it can be penalized
accordingly. In most developing countries, the price of one institution
using the commercially available anti-plagiarism check software is
still relatively prohibitive and hence most prefer to buy such a
software at national level.
In any case, all ODL universities are
encouraged to ensure soft copies of their dissertations and theses are
deposited in a common national library data base that has to be also
accessible globally in order to stop plagiarism. In order to ensure that
students are well informed on the need for them to avoid plagiarism,
they should have free access to the anti-plagiarism check software
adopted at national level and they should be required to sign a
statement that they have subjected their work to the adopted antiplagiarism check software. The oral of face to face presentation has
to include the test of ownership of the dissertation or thesis involved.
THE ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS, STAFF AND
STUDENTS
IN
DETECTION
OF
ACADEMIC
DISHONESTY
AND
ENFORCEMENT OF ACADEMIC HONESTY
From the foregoing discussions, it is quite clear that in order to have
an assurance that academic dishonesty is detected early, ethical
behaviour must be practiced by all the staff and students of any ODL
university. The institutional core values and norms have to be such
thatthe institution does not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty
as described in the entry sub-chapter. It will therefore be necessary
to ensure the induction programmes of all new staff members have to
educate them the necessity to avoid involvement in any form of
academic dishonesty. The university staff rules have to explicitly
mention the possible disciplinary actions including summary dismissal.
For the students, during the orientation programmes, they have to be
informed about the standing of the university with regards to enforcing
academic honesty and their attention should be drawn to the relevant
student rules or regulations as well as the requisite punitive measures
that can be taken.
An ODL university must ensure a mechanism to prevent academic
dishonesty that will be easily accessible to both staff and students
exists. For example, the Open University of Tanzania has since 2006
set up an Institutional Integrity Committee that is legally constituted
as a compulsory feature of all public entities in Tanzania that is reappointed once every three years.
This committee reports to the
President’s office once every six months through the Vice Chancellor’s
office. The committee has been very useful in early detection of cases
of potential unethical behaviours amongst staff and students and it
has over the time gained the trust of both the staff and students.
In
any case, an ODL institution also needs to have frequent education
programmes and experienced speakers on academic honesty.
The
respective website should include a web page from the Integrity
Committee and bochures on integrity and ethical behaviour must be
widely circulated.
HOW
CAN
AWARENESS
ON
APPROPRIATE
OR
INAPPROPIATE
BEHAVIOURS BE ENHANCED?
In conclusion, it can be summarized that the university community in
an ODL university must be well informed on the need to maintain moral
and ethical behaviours in the academic circles at all times. Such an
appropriate
behaviour
should
be
encouraged
in
all
University
documents and where appropriate, it should be praised in different
ways by the management. Annual awards for staff and students who
excel should be considered. Examples here include prizes to students
who genuinely excel in academic performance and/or leadership with
a high degree of integrity.
For staff members, prizes for the best
teachers, best researchers, best consultants or best workers for
different
categories
of
appropriate behaviour.
staff
can
encourage
staff
to
practice
Caution must be exercised to ensure the
instruments used to determine the best workers have to be very
objective
so
that
they
genuinely
encourage
staff
to
practice
appropriate behaviours.The University Client Service Charteris a
document that oughts to reflect very well the expected behaviour of a
good university staff member at all times as exemplified by the OUT
Client Service Charter (OUT, 2010) or the OUT Human Resources
Policy (OUT, 2007).
REFERENCES
http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/integrity
vis.
October
2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/integrity vis. October 2014
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integrity vis. October 2014
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honesty vis October 2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/honesty vis. October 2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dishonesty vis. October 2014
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dishonesty
vis.
October
2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Integrity vis. October 2014
http://www.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid
http://www.integrity.ou.edu/students_guide.html vis. October 2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Dishonesty
vis.
October
2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ethics vis. October 2014
http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-ethical
responsibility-
56224.html vis. October 2014
http://www.the freedictionary.com/morals vis. October 2014
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticity vis. October 2014
OUT, 2010, TheOUT Client Service Charter.
OUT, 2007, The Human Resources Management Policy (As amended in
2012).
OUT, 2014. OUT Prospectus 2013/14.