How can faculty prevent academic dishonesty in the online environment? Faculty need to make students aware of the policies at university, college, department, and class levels, and discuss the consequences of academic dishonesty. Although many institutions offer information about academic dishonesty in orientation, research shows that this does not translate to an understanding of academic dishonesty at the classroom level (Sendag, Duran, & Frasier, 2012). In other words, do not assume that students understand what constitutes academic dishonesty, how to ensure they do not inadvertently commit it, or the consequences. Include this information at the beginning of class, ensure that students understand the information, and reinforce the information throughout the class. For example, include a plagiarism video in the Start Here module as questions about the plagiarism and cheating on the introductory quiz, and refer students back to the information in subsequent assignments.

Inoculation

Research shows that inoculating your students against academic dishonesty is highly effective (Fundamental Values, 2013). Promote a culture of academic honesty by asking students to share, perhaps in an early online discussion, which values surrounding academic honesty, such as trust, respect, fairness, responsibility, and courage, are most likely to stop them from cheating in your class. Remind students, often, of how much you value academic honesty. Or, have students affirm, on each quiz or for each assignment, that they have completed all work on their own and have followed a basic and minimum standard of conduct in all academic matters. Students in USG eCampus courses are often asked to affirm an honor statement at the beginning of each class. Check out these Fourteen Simple Strategies to Reduce Cheating on Online Examinations.

Although cheating is fairly well understood, many students struggle to understand plagiarism. While students may understand the need for a References list, understanding when to use quotation marks and how to be specific, particularly with internet citations, is less common. Explaining these methods to students, providing examples and resources, and helping students when they have problems ensure that unintentional academic dishonesty does not occur.

Tools can help instructors detect academic dishonesty. Assume students will use outside resources and collaborate on assignments. If this should not happen, make use of proctored exams either at a specified location or through online monitoring. Online proctors verify student identity, check the area in which students are taking the exam to ensure they do not have access to materials, and watch students as they take exams. The instructor receives reports of any suspicious activity with video to allow determination and evidence of suspected cheating.

Plagiarism

To detect plagiarism, instructors can enable Turnitin for assignments. However, there are several weaknesses. Turnitin is not available for discussions. Consequently, faculty must read discussion posts carefully if there is any possibility that students could copy and paste information from other sources. Furthermore, Turnitin does not detect all possible plagiarism. For example, it will not detect if someone bought a pre-written paper. In this case, Turnitin may show similarities with papers from other institutions, but the faculty must research to identify that the paper was purchased. Also, Turnitin may not identify copies from old news articles, scholarly papers, or some websites. Unfortunately, faculty intuition and involvement are often the best academic dishonesty detectors.

If a student submits work that is not consistent with their education level (for example, it is in an academic journal format), includes words or concepts that are beyond the scope of the class and other core classes, or sounds vaguely familiar, take the time to determine if it is a case of academic dishonesty. Although this will detract from other faculty activities, the intervention with the student will help them in the end. It will also ensure that your classes have a reputation for and culture of academic honesty. If you need to research a student’s work for plagiarism, several tools are freely available. The first step would be to search key suspicious phrases using a basic search engine. If a more detailed search is necessary, there are several plagiarism detectors freely available.

Finally, take measures to remove the temptation for students to violate academic honesty. Since research shows that lack of preparedness and time management are reasons cited for academic dishonesty (Sendag, Duran, and Frasier, 2012), structure the course in a way that helps prepare them for assignments. For example, include reminders of upcoming assignments, provide practice quizzes or self-assessments, or allow students to submit drafts or outlines in advance of a paper. Although you cannot control a student’s time management, you can help them be aware of looming deadlines. Other reasons students gave for academic dishonesty was that the assignment was not interesting or relevant for their future (Sendag, Duran, & Frasier, 2012). While assignments can be explained in a classroom, in the online environment this step is often overlooked. Include an explanation of the assignment’s importance to help students realize that they are not just doing busy-work.

If you encounter academic dishonesty, one of the first steps to take is to understand why it happened. Was it intentional to ensure a better grade or because the student did not have the time to complete the assignment themselves? Did they not understand the material but not know what to do to get help? Are they insecure about their ability to write at a college level? Or, did they sincerely believe that they were doing the right thing? No matter the answer, understanding and addressing the root cause will help the student avoid future occurrences of academic dishonesty. This will also allow you to get the student the help that they need to have a successful academic career. You will also need to take action. Based on the appropriate policies, this could result in giving the student a zero (0) for the assignment or reporting them for disciplinary action. In some cases, policies are such that the faculty member has no choice. Sometimes, however, the faculty member will have the flexibility to act in a way that will help the student.

One important thing to remember is that students talk amongst themselves. Therefore, you will need to ensure that your actions create a culture in your online classroom that does not tolerate academic dishonesty. Students may come from various understandings and academic cultures, but it is up to each one of us to ensure that they leave our program academically honest.