Promoting Academic Integrity in
the Online Classroom
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
Diane Goldsmith, Executive Director
dgoldsmith@ctdlc.org
(860) 832-3893
Connecticut Distance
Learning Consortium
WWW.CTDLC.ORG
Public Agency Created in 1998
Thanks
Study Group on Academic
Integrity and Student
Verification in Online Learning
Lori McNabb from
the University of
Texas Telecampus.
http://www.wcet.info/2.0/index.php?q=node/1212
Distrust
Distrust of the Online Environment
• Saturday Night Live
• Academic Research:
Online Learning as a Strategic Asset
Volume II: The Paradox of Faculty Voices
Babson Survey Research Group August 2009
Distrust
P. 29
Faculty Beliefs
How frequently
do you believe
students in the
UT System
engage in
academic
dishonesty?
McNabb & Olmstead, 2009
Faculty Beliefs
Opportunities
Students Have to
Engage in
Academic
Dishonesty in
Online and OnCampus Courses?
McNabb & Olmstead, 2009
Faculty Beliefs
Likelihood Students
will Engage in
Academic
Dishonesty in Online
and On-Campus
Courses
McNabb & Olmstead, 2009
Authentication
• Higher Education Opportunity Act
An institution that offers distance
education…is required to have processes
through which the institution establishes that
the student who registers in a distance
education…course or program is the same
student who participates in and completes the
program and receives the academic credit.
Authentication
Is She?
Or Isn’t She?
Authentication
Is She?
Or Isn’t She?
Authentication
Is She?
Or Isn’t She?
HEOA
• Secure logins and pass codes
- or -
• Proctored testing
- or -
• Authentication technologies
- and –
• Protects Privacy
Applies: online/correspondence courses
Secure Logins & Pass
codes
•
•
•
•
Smart passwords
Policies for campus staff
Annual reminders
https login to CMS/LMS
Proctored Testing
• Notify students of expense
Authentication Technologies
Software Secure Securexam
Remote Proctor
Kryterion Webassessor
Acxiom Identify-X Verify
Authenticate correct name
Bio-Sig ID
Authentication
Technologies
• Issues
– Student privacy
– Impact on types of assessments
– Data management and security
– Implementation for just online
– Expense
Academic Dishonesty
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cheating
Plagiarism
Self-plagiarism
Unpermitted collaboration
Inappropriate help
Misrepresentation
Community of
Integrity
•
•
•
•
•
Honesty
Trust
Fairness
Respect
Responsibility
Center for Academic Integrity, 1999
Creating a Community
of Integrity
• Virtue (promotion) approach
• Prevention approach
– Pedagogy
– Training and Materials
• Policing approach
Hinman, 2002; Olt 2002
Virtue Approach
UT Permian Basin
UT Permian Basin
Dalhousie University
University of Central Florida
Ryerson University
Utah Valley University
Virtue Approach
• Institution Wide
• Part of Student Orientations and First Year
Seminars
• Reflected by faculty, library, IT staff, student
support staff.
• Part of the academic and student culture
Prevention Approach
Pedagogical Approaches
Pedagogical Approaches
• Syllabus: Sets Tone for the Class
– Aligned with Campus Policies
– Explains the Academic Culture of your
discipline
– Puts cheating/plagiarism in context of that
Culture
– Reinforces password/security policies
– States clear penalties for cheating/plagiarism
Pedagogical Approaches
• Syllabus: Sets Tone for the Class
– Sets an example:
• models good scholarship
• uses appropriate citations
– Makes Course Objectives Clear
– Explains Assessments and Alignment with
Objectives
– Quiz students on your syllabus
Pedagogical Approaches
• Assignments/Activities
– Use authentic learning tasks that relate to students’
personal goals
– Design assignment to learn genuine research skills
in collaboration with your library
– Design an assignment that focuses on the ethical
dimensions of your discipline
– Design collaborations that foster group
cohesiveness
– Discussion Forum for peer support and help
Pedagogical Approaches
• Good Pedagogy = “unintended consequences
• Value of Collaborations
– Research by Phil Ice at APUS – for profit online
institution with 50,000 learners
– Retention study: explained 21.2% of variance
– 18%: “Online or web-based communication is an
excellent medium for social interaction.”
– 2.2%: “I was able to form a close sense of some
[class] participants.”
Phil Ice Presentation on Retention at WCET conference 10/2009
Pedagogical Approaches
• Discussion Forums
– Guidelines and examples of work in the Forum
– Establish a clear instructor presence in the Forum
– Use the forum to expand assignments and
assessments
• What did she learn?
• Most important concepts?
• Would change if did over?
– How assessed? Graded?
Pedagogical Approaches
Share Student Work
http://historyengine.richmond.edu/
Pedagogical Approaches
• Assessments
– Varied (Bloom’s Taxonomy)
– Authentic
– Disaggregated and over time
• Topic, Literature Search, Hypothesis, Methods,
– Show how you got to the conclusion/answer
– Expand learning with Forum, Portfolios – What
you did? What you learned? What next?
– Scoring rubrics – clear to students
Pedagogical Approaches
• Quizzes and Tests (short,, T/F, multiple choice)
– Do they need to be graded?
– Higher order thinking (can you Google the
answer?) – (browser lock down software)
– Randomize– questions/answers
– Test bank, change regularly
– Timed windows
– Show questions 1 at a time
– Proctored if high stakes (inform early, cost issues)
Pedagogical Approaches
• Assume “Open Book” Assignments:
– Essays that require interpretation, analysis,
reflection, connection. (Google the topic – what do
you find?)
– New types of essays or essay topics each semester
– Authentic research in the field
– Documentation of the “Process” not just the end
project – blogs, wikis, journals
Pedagogical Approach
Mathematics
GROUP PROJECT
• Tackle a real life problem using the material
covered in our class.
• Present the projects professionally (as if hired
to do the project)
• Be creative.
Gleason, Jim (2009). Teaching Mathematics Online: A Virtual Classroom. Journal of Online Mathematics
and Its Applications
http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/4/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1057&bodyId=1241
RESULTS
• designed bus routes for a rural school district that
reduced the travel time for all students from up to four
hours per day to less than two hours per day
• designed delivery routes for a rural milk company,
and found the ideal location for a production plant.
• design for a supermarket that maximized profit by
placing key items in the best locations.
Gleason, Jim (2009). Teaching Mathematics Online: A Virtual Classroom. Journal of Online Mathematics
and Its Applications
http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/4/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1057&bodyId=1241
Pedagogical Approaches
• Get and maintain a reputation that in your
courses cheating is difficult and painful
• Adopt CATs (Angelo and Cross) for online
• Students respect:
– Fairness and clarity;
– work that is designed to improve their
learning;
– challenging work;
– within a reasonable course load.
Prevention Approach
Training and Materials
Capella University
Plagiarism.org (Turnitin)
Assignment Calculator
http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/
Assignment Calculator
UMUC
UMUC
Questionmark Secure
UTTC No Copy No Paste
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lmsnocopypaste
Policing Approach
SafeAssign & TurnItIn
UTSWMC eTBLAST
Stanford MOSS
Check Your Class
Cheatability Rubric:
http://www.uvsc.edu/disted/cheat/rubric.html
Check Your Class
Promoting Academic Integrity in
the Online Classroom
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
Diane Goldsmith, Executive Director
dgoldsmith@ctdlc.org
(860) 832-3893