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Students View Web-Aided Cheating as “No Big Deal”

Students will go to great lengths to achieve superior test scores, even going so far as to blatantly cheat. While sensationalized stories like the cheating ring on Long Island—in which students paid impostors to take the SAT or ACT for them—have made for good headlines, teachers are left to combat what research says is a growing trend in American classrooms.

In the 2011 Monitor on Psychology article "Beat the Cheat," author Amy Novotney discussed research findings related to student cheating behavior, and those findings shed light on both tactics and motives. (See the infographic below for a summary.)
 

Cheating in the digital age
Infographic courtesy of: Schools.com


Experts agree that easy access to the Internet and its seemingly endless supply of academic documents is a major factor in the rise of student cheating. One in three students surveyed admitted to using the Internet to plagiarize an assignment, with only 29 percent of the respondents saying they think copying from the Internet is “serious cheating.” In previous years, 35 percent viewed electronic plagiarism as “serious.”

While technology continues to play an increasing role in student cheating, the classic methods remain popular. Ninety-eight percent of respondents said they had let other students copy their work, and 57 percent didn’t think that sharing test answers—or getting answers from someone who had already taken the test—constitutes cheating. Students appear to have a “laissez faire” attitude towards the idea of cheating in general, with 53 percent saying it is “no big deal.”

Given the apparent lack of concern students have about cheating, there are no surprises in terms of the number of young people who are actively cheating. Three-quarters of students admit to cheating on tests, homework and assignments. Additionally, half of survey respondents admitted to having cheated on a test during the past year, with 34 percent of those having done it more than twice. The heightened pressure of succeeding in college appears to have a direct correlation to cheating, as 82 percent of college alumni reported cheating as undergraduates.

"Beat the Cheat" goes beyond high school and college to examine the behavioral patterns of student cheaters later in life. Research findings show that student cheaters are twice as likely to deceive their boss, 1.5 times more likely to cheat on a spouse, and three times more likely to lie to a customer.

So how do educators address the problem? Based on research results, the following prevention strategies emerge:

  • Cheating once reduces the perceived “wrongness” of the behavior and makes it more likely the person will cheat again. It’s therefore important to prevent cheating behavior early in students’ academic careers.
  • Cheating is contagious. If students perceive their peers are doing it, it creates a “social norm” of acceptance. Having students building peer disapproval of cheating is one way to curb the problem. School-wide activities and messages promoting academic integrity can help as well.
  • Schools should provide a written copy of an academic integrity “honor code” to students and ask them not just to read it, but also to sign it.
  • Educators can provide education on academic integrity, explicitly state the rules for academic integrity in the classroom and report all cheating when they see it.
  • Assignments perceived by students as arbitrary and irrelevant are more likely to inspire cheating. Teachers can therefore reduce students’ impulse to cheat by explaining the purpose and relevance of every academic lesson and course assignment.

Resources for cheating prevention—including a guide to assessing student feelings and behaviors related to academic integrity, as well as sample school codes and policies—are available at the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI).
 

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Article by Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor
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