“Vaccinating” against academic dishonesty

Flu season is right around the corner and many are contemplating flu vaccines. However, as I’m dealing with yet another situation of academic dishonesty (which unfortunately seems to happen about once a semester… so hopefully this is it for a while!), I’m reminded of a great article from our Educator’s Voice newsletter on “Vaccinating against the plagiarism plague” by Charlotte Redden. I like the idea of a vaccination as something we do to in an attempt to prevent an uncomfortable situation we’d rather avoid. So rather than being reactive to situations of academic dishonesty, why not be proactive and try to create a preventative regimen to prevent it in the first place? The main preventative strategies proposed by Redden include educating students about your expectations, warning them that you do monitor for academic dishonesty and also to create less plagiarism-prone assignments in the first place by giving specific directions and scaffolding stages of the assignment.

Whether or not cheating is more common in online courses is a matter of debate (and see some comments here about a recent study suggesting that students are less likely to cheat online than in a traditional classroom). However, whether we teach online or in a traditional classroom, we should all consider our “vaccination” and take a look at our teaching materials. Are there any of Redden’s suggestions that we can implement?

– Gail E. Krovitz, Ph.D. –
Senior Academic Trainer & Consultant

Redden, CA. May 11, 2005. Vaccinating against the plagiarism plague: design and techniques. Educator’s voice Volume 6, Issue 5. Accessed online at: http://www.ecollege.com/Newsletter/EducatorsVoice/EducatorsVoice-Vol6Iss5.learn