E-Learning in Postsecondary Education

Over the past decade postsecondary education has been moving increasingly from the class room to online. During the fall 2010 term 31 percent of U.S. college students took at least one online course. The primary reasons for the growth of e-learning in the nation\u27s colleges and universities include the desire of those institutions to generate new revenue streams, improve access, and offer students greater scheduling flexibility. Yet the growth of e-learning has been accompanied by a continuing debate about its effectiveness and by the recognition that a number of barriers impede its widespread adoption in higher education

What motivates academic dishonesty in students? A reinforcement sensitivity theory explanation

BACKGROUND: Academic dishonesty (AD) is an increasing challenge for universities worldwide. The rise of the Internet has further increased opportunities for students to cheat. AIMS: In this study, we investigate the role of personality traits defined within Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) as potential determinants of AD. RST defines behaviour as resulting from approach (Reward Interest/reactivity, goal-drive, and Impulsivity) and avoidance (behavioural inhibition and Fight-Flight-Freeze) motivations. We further consider the role of deep, surface, or achieving study motivations in mediating/moderating the relationship between personality and AD. SAMPLE: A sample of UK undergraduates (N = 240). METHOD: All participants completed the RST Personality Questionnaire, a short-form version of the study process questionnaire and a measure of engagement in AD, its perceived prevalence, and seriousness. RESULTS: Results showed that RST traits account for additional variance in AD. Mediation analysis suggested that GDP predicted dishonesty indirectly via a surface study approach while the indirect effect via deep study processes suggested dishonesty was not likely. Likelihood of engagement in AD was positively associated with personality traits reflecting Impulsivity and Fight-Flight-Freeze behaviours. Surface study motivation moderated the Impulsivity effect and achieving motivation the FFFS effect such that cheating was even more likely when high levels of these processes were used. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that motivational personality traits defined within RST can explain variance in the likelihood of engaging in dishonest academic behaviours

Academic Dishonesty and Testing: How Student Beliefs and Test Settings Impact Decisions to Cheat

Research shows that academic dishonesty in post-secondary education runs particularly high among students in the specific disciplines of engineering, business, and nursing. The authors were interested in how student attitudes towards specific environments for testing might contribute to the prevalence or likelihood of cheating on tests and exams. It was hypothesized that while there would be no difference in their beliefs or attitudes regarding the acceptability of cheating behaviors in unproctored versus proctored settings, students would be more likely to engage in cheating behavior in an unproctored setting. Technology continues to transform the world around us at a rapid pace, allowing faculty to incorporate more technology into the classroom and to educate more students remotely via hybrid and online classes. While these opportunities have their benefits, they also present new challenges. The opportunity for cheating on tests increases, especially when exams are delivered in unproctored environments. An instrument was created to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of first- and second-year undergraduate engineering students while taking tests in both proctored and unproctored environments. In all, 734 students were surveyed from four different institutions of higher education. Students provided both qualitative and quantitative responses to questions related to their beliefs and attitudes toward cheating in today’s socially shareable society. Results indicated that both students’ attitudes and behaviors vary as a result of tests being delivered in a proctored versus unproctored environment

Student Cheating And Alternative Web-Based Assessment

As distance education continues to expand within the United States so does the amount of faculty concern in regard to student cheating. The purpose of this paper was to explore the concept of eCheating in web-based course environments and review the need for and the types of alternative assessments found in these environments. This paper will also include potential proactive measures that professors may employ to be better prepared for instances of eCheating. Furthermore, assessment measures and distance learning theories will be analyzed to determine successful electronic assessments and instructional design components required for effective web-based courses

Academic Honesty, Professional Integrity, and Undergraduate Engineering Students: Exploring the Connections

One benefit of inculcating professionalism into engineering degree program curricula is a measure of the extent to which future practitioners adopt an engineering code of ethics (Abaté, 2011; Davis, 2006). Studies have indicated more dishonesty among engineering students than other groups of undergraduate learners, but the effects of technology on dishonesty in the classroom was not addressed (Bowers, 1964; McCabe et al., 2012). An explanatory, sequential mixed methods study was designed to explain to what degree course pedagogical practices and attitudes of civil, architectural and environmental engineering students of various academic levels (freshman/sophomore and senior) relate to academic dishonesty. The design allowed for the collection of quantitative survey data from engineering students and the instructors who teach those students through self-reports of attempted dishonest behavior, perceived descriptive norms and descriptions/definitions of the behaviors by both students and their instructors and reporting the consistencies and inconsistencies between the two groups. Additionally, instructors were surveyed for the courses in the program sequence of courses which connected the two courses under study to determine student attitudes, intentions and actions as well as instructor perceptions of the same behavioral characteristics based upon Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior. Overall freshman/sophomore engineering students (n=31) described the 12 academically dishonest behaviors as less dishonest than graduating seniors (n=52). There were five statistically significant differences in attempted dishonest behaviors between the two student groups. Perceptions were also significantly different. Senior students perceived dishonest behaviors similarly to instructors (n=6), for 11 of 12 dishonest behaviors while freshman perceived higher rates of dishonesty than the actual self-reports

Predictors of academic honesty and success in domestic and international occupational therapy students

Purpose Academic integrity is the application of honest, ethical and responsible behaviours to all facets of students’ scholarly endeavours and is the moral code of academia. The international literature reports the prevalence of academic dishonesty in higher education across many disciplines (including the health sciences), and there is evidence linking academic dishonesty in health professional students with future unprofessional behaviour in the workplace. International students are reported to be a particularly vulnerable group. This paper aims to investigate the factors that may be predictive of academic honesty and performance in domestic and international occupational therapy students. Design/methodology/approach In total, 701 participants (603 domestic students; 98 international students) were recruited from five Australian universities, and data were collected via a two-part self-report questionnaire. ANOVA and multi-linear regression analyses with bootstrapping were completed. Findings Tendency towards cheating and self-perception tendency towards dishonesty in research, gender, age and hours spent in indirect study were found to be statistically significant predictors of academic integrity and performance. Research limitations/implications Limitations of this study were the use of convenience sampling and self-report scales which can be prone to social desirability bias. Further studies are recommended to explore other potential predictors of academic honesty and performance in occupational therapy students. Originality/value A range of predictors of academic honesty and success were found that will assist educators to target vulnerable domestic and international occupational therapy students as well as address deficiencies in academic integrity through proactive strategies

COVID-19 Academic Integrity Violations and Trends: A Rapid Review

The rapid shift from classroom course delivery to online education modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on academia. Student loss of face-to-face interaction, the lost social benefits of the educational milieu, and restricted instructor ability to control both the learning environment and assessment process have been significant. The purpose of this paper is to discover if due to the unplanned shift to online course delivery, educators and researchers experienced impacts to academic integrity during the peak of the online shift. A systemic review utilizing the PRISMA methodology of peer reviewed literature published during the period of March 2020 till September 2021 demonstrated that violation types continued to fall within the existing academic integrity constructs of inappropriate information sharing, cheating on exams and assignments, incidents of plagiarism, and falsifying or fabricating information. The results showed that pre-COVID concerns with academic integrity were amplified with previous concerns moving to the forefront. In addition, the rapid shift opened doors for greater opportunity for violations and increased instructor concern especially within the hard sciences and courses with lab-based components. Reinforcing the importance of providing formal academic integrity student and faculty training can be a beneficial intervention to ensure students understand the ethical implications of student behavior and performance during the assessment process. Given the emerging trend pre-COVID that skyrocketed during the pandemic, ensuring academic integrity should remain a key priority for learning institutions

A Causal-Comparative Study of Student and Faculty Perceptions of Academic Misconduct in Advanced Practice Nursing Education

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to identify whether there is a difference between student and faculty perceptions of academic misconduct in APRN education. The findings of this study may aid in the strategic management of academic policies and enforcements. The study took place at a single private university in Texas which houses six graduate-level APRN programs. The sample size consisted of 92 students and 42 faculty. The Exams and Assignments Scale (EAS) was used as an instrument for both groups and anonymous data was collected using an online survey platform. Statistical analysis took place using an independent samples t test. The results show that there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of academic misconduct between student and faculty. Specifically, students regard instances of academic misconduct as more severe than faculty. The conclusions were that students and faculty were dissimilar in their perception and severity of instances of academic misconduct. Based on these findings, it is recommended that faculty and administrators who are involved in APRN education develop and follow strong curriculum, guidelines, and policies that help to bridge the gap of perception of academic misconduct. Suggestions for future research include performing similar studies with larger sample sizes in a variety of settings and institutions

Academic Dishonesty in College Students: Do Religiosity and Self-Control Matter?

Academic dishonesty among students in numerous nations is on the rise, and if allowed unchecked, it may be hazardous to a person's personality development and even entry into the workforce. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of religiousity and self-control on academic dishonesty in Accounting Education students at the State University of Malang. The purposive sampling strategy yielded a total of 96 samples. The data was gathered using an online questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression in a data processing tool (SPSS). According to the findings of the study, religiousity and self-control had a detrimental impact on student academic dishonesty. This suggests that the higher a student's level of religiousity and self-control, the less academic dishonesty he or she commits, and vice versa

Erosion of academic integrity in higher education system: symbolization of dishonesty

Academic dishonesty has long been discussed in numerous researches and it has also become a common phenomenon worldwide. Most of these studies have examined the many forms of dishonesty and cheating behavior occurring in the academic field. These delinquent practices are very damaging as they, not only affect the educational system, but will also result in future problems during the students’ employment phase. This paper has investigated academic dishonesty through another angle by applying the concept of fraud triangle theory. The purpose of this study is to provide a general overview of academic dishonesty which symbolizes the pollution of academic integrity. This concept paper highlights the analysis of cheating in the Malaysian education context as well as in other countries globally. In addition, discussions on various definitions in relation to pollution of academic integrity have also been taken into consideration. The elements of fraud triangle theory have also been included through examining the causes or factors that lead to students’ cheating or academic dishonesty both in perception and real action. Further, the paper has also examined the various methods used in academic dishonesty and their implications to the educational system. Lastly, the preventive actions have also been discussed in the attempts to reduce the likelihood of cheating incidents