CRADLE and contract cheating research

17 July 2017

In 2017 as a CRADLE Fellow, I presented at the European academic integrity conference in Brno, Czech Republic.

This is the first conference in the world to ever have a dedicated stream to discussing the growing issue of contract cheating in universities. My session featured CRADLE research (conducted with Phillip Dawson and Helen Walker) on Deakin student advocates’ perceptions of the issue of contract cheating. Ensuing conversations resulted in invitations to work more closely with Coventry University, Wolverhampton University and the UK Quality Assurance Agency (TEQSA equivalent for the UK).

A stellar line-up of academic researchers from around the world were present, including the researcher who coined the term contract cheating, Dr Thomas Lancaster. We discussed and debated issues such as plagiarism, exam cheating, contract cheating, ghost-writing and what universities could do in response to the issue threatening assessment integrity over three days. A thought-provoking session presented by Calin Rus revealed a framework for a model of ‘competencies for democratic culture’ (CDC) endorsed by the European Council Ministers of Education. These competencies set the foundations for students embracing ethical behaviour and codes of conduct for EU nation members in an effort to thwart cheating behaviours.

Since returning to Australia, I have been approached to deliver a keynote at the Higher Education Services Assessment and Review Summit from 19-20 September 2017. The focus is the work I have done as part of my CRADLE Fellowship with Phillip Dawson on marker detection of contract cheating, which was recently published online in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education.

Part of an expert contract cheating panel (from left) Shiva Sivasubramaniam; Phil Newton and Thomas Lancaster
Photo: Official Brno conference photographer