Cheating and online learning – CRADLE Seminar Series 21 September 2021: Review by Dr Edd Pitt
5 October 2021
In this review, we hear from Dr Edd Pitt, a CRADLE Honorary Research Fellow and senior lecturer, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Kent. His principal research field is assessment and feedback, focusing on students’ emotional processing during feedback situations. Edd has previously completed an academic visitation with CRADLE and undertaken other collaborative research activities, including a seminar presentation.
CRADLE’s Associate Director Professor Phill Dawson took to the online stage in a uniquely organised live Q&A, co-hosted by Chukwudi Ogoh from Turnitin. The audience was vast, from all corners of the world, and they were armed with plenty of tricky detailed questions for Phill to tackle. The Q&A followed the four-part Turnitin vidcast series, Integrity Matters: Tackling e-cheating & assessment security with Phillip Dawson.
Artificial intelligence software and the rise of huge multibillion-dollar companies specialising in contract cheating were at the forefront of early exchanges. Phill explained the main issues surrounding how AI has changed the game. For instance, alarmingly good paraphrasing tools such as Quilbot are far more sophisticated than we have experienced in the past. Phill advocated the need for the sector to take these challenges seriously. Where possible, universities should try to de-platform such sites from campus and make it someone’s specific job to detect academic misconduct. In essence, we need to ensure the human is in the loop.
The last 18 months have been difficult for us all. During this period, exams have been under the microscope. The move to more online exams has shone a light on assessment security, academic integrity and assessment design. Phill is very passionate about this, and his answers demonstrated how difficult online exams are for us all to design. Assessment security in online exams is a challenge that Phill highlighted may need to be viewed differently than authenticating the student is who they say they are. He advocated we accept we will never be perfect and consider the positive student learning behaviours we may stamp out, such as collaboration and peer learning, if we try to secure every single task. We may need to reapportion our effort to look at the really big ones.
Exams have been a consistent way of assessing at university. To not offer is to offer an alternative that is cheat-proof. But we know even in-person proctored exams are not cheat-proof. Phill argued that we really need to look at how we design our online exams. Open book exams that use closed questions are not really replicating the conditions of in-person. Open book online exams could promote higher levels of learning. They can be more sophisticated and stretch our students. They are different, yes, but isn’t that a good thing? Perhaps COVID-19 has shown us that the old ways of assessing need a rethink, not just for assessment security and academic integrity but for good old fashioned student learning.
You can view the presentation on the Turnitin website.
For more information on the many areas Phill addresses, look at his recently published book Defending assessment security in a digital world: preventing e-cheating and supporting academic integrity in higher education.
