Notes

Outline

Raising the Bar: Virtual Integrity in Online Instruction Presented by Dr. Judy Baker Dean Online Instruction, Library and Technology San Diego Miramar College

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Student Assessment

What’s Changed? Changed Ease of cheating Ease of monitoring cheating Ease of preventing cheating Not Changed Definitions Honor code policies and procedures Student assessment quality, validity, reliability

Academic Integrity? Hypocrisy of focusing on student cheating behaviors when… Student Code of Honor policies are antiquated and inconsistently enforced Student assessment is fundamentally flawed

Raising the Bar

How to Promote Academic Integrity Have clear academic integrity statements, policies, and procedures that are consistently implemented Inform and educate the entire community regarding the policies and procedures Promulgate and rigorously practice these policies Provide support for those who uphold the policies

Administrative Solutions Update existing policies to account for technology Publicize policies Foster a campus climate of academic integrity Administrators Staff Faculty Students Provide support for faculty in enforcing policies

Cheating or Not? Having a typist or computer program correct work for spelling and grammar without permission from the instructor Students using note-taking services Students sharing their passwords with others or letting others use their accounts Submitting a paper purchased from a "research" or term paper service

Honor Codes Reduce Cheating Campuses with honor codes Serious test cheating is typically 1/3 to 1/2 lower than the level on campuses that do not have honor codes The level of serious cheating on written assignments is 1/4 to 1/3 lower Typically less than 10% admit to such chronic test cheating

Honor Codes Reduce Cheating Campuses without honor codes 1/5 to 1/4 of students acknowledge chronic test cheating

Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or Online Class? Traditional Online

Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or Online Class? Physical separation Creation of psycho-social “distance” resulting in less influence by social norms Excuses and alibis Intentionally sending a corrupted file or an attachment that cannot be opened Faking technical difficulties during online tests

Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or Online Class? Hacking Looking at source code or a Java script might show the answers to online quizzes Changing the clock on your computer to send email late but to have an earlier date and time

Easier to Cheat in a Face-to-Face or in an Online Class? Electronic plagiarism Use of papermill websites sites Peer to Peer File sharing and communications

Cheating and Plagiarism Websites Used by Students School Sucks Cheater.com Research Papers Online The Evil House of Cheat

Advantages of Online for Monitoring Academic Integrity Electronic record of all correspondence maintained for online courses Entire courses are archived for future reference and for quality control purposes Instructor has a readily accessible record of everything done by each student from the first day of class to the last Easy to compare a student’s writing style on different class assignments

Easier to detect cheating online than in a traditional class

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Pedagogical Solutions Assign work and tests that are due frequently throughout the semester Assign work that builds sequentially on prior submitted work, such as revisions of drafts Call students at random during the semester to administer an unannounced oral exam Make all tests/quizzes take-home style

Pedagogical Solutions Debrief/interview a student concerning their test/quiz Ask specific questions about their answers Use alternative modes of student assessment such as portfolios, rubrics, self-assessment, peer assessment, and contracts Use multiple methods of measuring performance, mastery, and skill

Pedagogical Solutions Require assignment and test responses to relate the subject matter to students' lived experiences or test questions tied to current news events Deliver test/quizzes "orally" through live chat Meet with students individually online and test/quiz them on course content Require students to participate in discussion groups Keep the log and review writing styles of students

Plagiarism Responsibilities

Assignment Responsibilities

Construction of Effective Tests Validity Items are clear Content matches learning goals Items has appropriate weight of final score Level of thinking matches the learning goals Range of items wide enough to accurately represent the goal for learning

Construction of Effective Tests Reliability Clear instructions Time limits are realistic Vocabulary Layout of the test appropriate Make-up exams of same type as original exam

Alternatives to Tests Use multiple methods of measuring performance, mastery, and skill Group projects Creating a web site Developing a database to do something Solve a problem and explain the process Case studies Research projects Simulations, games and puzzles Portfolios: samples of a variety of materials Tests taken by teams instead of individuals Peer collaboration; peer assessment Have the students provide a presentation as either a web site or powerpoint presentation and post them to the web

Alternative Means of Evaluating Student Performance Empowering Students through Negotiable Contracting to Draft Rubrics for Authentic Assessment Why Rubrics? Alternative Assessment and Technology. ERIC Digest Alternative Assessment & Electronic Portfolios Consortium for Equity in Standards and Testing Critical Issues in Assessment Example of Scoring for a Concept-Resource Map Assessment and Evaluation for online courses Quizzes, Tests, and Exams Classroom Assessment Techniques Grading Practices

WebCT Quiz Settings Randomly generate test questions from Quiz Questions Database Set Quizzes in WebCT to have only one question per screen to make printing of quizzes more difficult Set Quizzes in WebCT to not allow return to previous questions Limit accessibility to tests to specific time periods Use timed online testing

WebCT Quiz Settings Avoid posting test scores, answers and/or feedback until after all students in a course have completed the quiz

WebCT Quiz  & Proctoring Use password protection for test proctoring arrangements Possible to limit access to a test to a specific computer at a specific internet address, where a proctor can be present

WebCT and Student Tracking Track the amount of e-mails and/or bulletin board messages generated by a student Track how students log on for each test

Strategies to Ensure Academic Integrity

Resources

Academic Integrity Assessment Guide Evaluate current academic integrity programs and policies Determine the attitudes of students, faculty, and administrators on campus concerning academic integrity Assess the level of academic dishonesty among students Identify areas that need strengthening Develop specific plans for improving the campus climate of integrity Create opportunities for campus-wide dialogue about the issue Promote buy-in from faculty students, and staff