Contract cheating: a survey of Australian university staff

Harper, Rowena; Bretag, Tracey; Ellis, Cath; Newton, Philip M.; Rozenberg, Pearl; Saddiqui, Sonia; Haeringen, Karen van

doi:10.1080/03075079.2018.1462789

Cited by 125 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This seems to indicate that large-scale research in the Canadian context is, as yet, an underdeveloped area of inquiry. This becomes more evident when considering the global context, in which large-scale national Harper et al 2018;McCabe 2016;McCabe et al 2001); and multi-national (Foltýnek and Glendinning 2015;Glendinning 2013Glendinning , 2014 research has been underway in Australia, the United States and Europe for some time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening the research agenda of educational integrity in Canada: a review of the research literature and call to action

Eaton

Edino

2018

Int J Educ Integr

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We present findings of a literature review on the topic of educational integrity in the Canadian context. Our search revealed 56 sources, published between 1992 and 2017. A historical overview showed a rise in the number of scholarly publications in recent years, but with an overall limited number of research contributions. We identified three major themes in the literature: (a) empirical research; (b) prevention and professional development; and (c) other (scholarly essay). Our analysis showed little evidence of sustained research programs in Canada over time or national funding to support integrity-related inquiry. We also found that graduate students who completed their theses on topics related to educational integrity often have not published further work in the field later in their careers. We provide five concrete recommendations to elevate and accelerate the research agenda on educational integrity in Canada on a national level. We conclude with a call to action for increased research to better understand the particular characteristics of educational integrity in Canada.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening the research agenda of educational integrity in Canada: a review of the research literature and call to action

Eaton

Edino

2018

Int J Educ Integr

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“…A recent survey study from Australia (Harper et al 2018) examined the views of staff towards contract cheating. The study used a broad definition of contract cheating that included outsourcing to any third party, including friends and family, rather than the restricted focus on commercial contract cheating studied here.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Staff views on commercial contract cheating in higher education: a survey study in Australia and the UK

Awdry

Newton

2019

High Educ

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Contract cheating is, potentially, a serious threat to the quality of higher education around the world. Prior research has focused on student perspectives and the companies themselves, but the staff view is poorly understood, despite staff being a major stakeholder with considerable influence over strategies designed to address contract cheating. We surveyed staff in Australia and the UK about their views on contract cheating. We asked staff to estimate the extent of contract cheating, how much it cost students to buy assignments, and whether proposed strategies to tackle contract cheating would work. We also asked about the factors which may motivate students to engage with contract cheating. Staff in both countries estimated high costs for an assignment from an online essay mill. Staff believed that low numbers (5-10%) of students are using these services, although this could represent approximately a quarter of a million students across the two countries. A large proportion of staff had had some experience with student cases of contract cheating at their university and reported that outcomes were lenient. The most prominent reasons which staff believed contributed to contract cheating were 'Studying in a non-native language' and 'Fear of Failure'. Over half of the respondents were aware of companies selling work to students on campus. There was strong support for the view that contract cheating services should be illegal, and that creative assessment strategies could reduce contract cheating. There was also modest, qualified support for the criminalising of student use of these services, and an increased use of examination-based assessments. Suggestions are made for how these data can inform the ongoing debate around contract cheating, including increasing staff awareness of contract cheating and the development of more appropriate assessment strategies.

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“…This study has highlighted some clear differences of perception between students and teachers with respect to the support that was provided to students by their teachers. Whilst the questions used in the survey in this study are not the same as those used to investigate this topic in the Contract Cheating and Assessment Design project Harper et al 2018), it is interesting to note that that project also found that students described themselves as receiving a lower level of support than the teachers claimed to provide.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This literature (see for example : Howard 2016;Flint et al 2006;Selwyn 2008;Sutherland-Smith 2016;Vehviläinen et al 2018) has explored the extent of plagiarism and its impact, but has also raised issues about the nature of plagiarism and its relation to scholarship more generally, and argued for ways of addressing plagiarism through improved approaches to academic literacies. More recently, the phenomenon of 'contract cheating' has perhaps overtaken plagiarism as the area of most concern (see Harper et al 2018;Lancaster and Clarke 2016;QAA 2016).…”

Section: Academic Integritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The project Contract Cheating and Assessment Design: Exploring the Connection (https://cheatingandassessment.edu. au) has explored the issue of assessment design in some depth, collecting data from a large sample of students and teachers as well as examining procurement requests to cheat sites and examples of purchased assessment items identified by universities Harper et al 2018). The findings of this project challenge the view that assessment design alone might be the solution to the issue of cheating.…”

Section: Using Assessment Design To Reduce Opportunities For Cheatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using a Student Authentication and Authorship Checking System as a Catalyst for Developing an Academic Integrity Culture: a Bulgarian Case Study

2019

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This paper presents a case study carried out at Sofia University in Bulgaria, describing the relationship between two developments, firstly an expanding involvement with online learning and e-assessment, and secondly the development of institutional approaches to academic integrity. The two developments interact, the widening use of e-learning and e-assessment raising new issues for academic integrity, and the technology providing new tools to support academic integrity, with the involvement in technological developments acting as a catalyst for changes in approaches to academic integrity. The aim of this study is to describe in what ways the integration of technologies for student authentication and authorship checking in this university has begun to influence teachers' approach to academic integrity, and has also helped to identify specific issues that need to be resolved for the future of academic integrity in the university. Data collected during the implementation of pilots for the project TeSLA -An adaptive trust-based eassessment system -enabled an examination of the perspectives of administrators, teachers and students on approaches to cheating and plagiarism, and on possible future directions. The data suggests that the piloting of the TeSLA system has triggered a deepening consideration of approaches to academic integrity, and has also helped to identify important issues for future developments.

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Contract cheating: a survey of Australian university staff

Cited by 125 publications

References 35 publications

Strengthening the research agenda of educational integrity in Canada: a review of the research literature and call to action

Strengthening the research agenda of educational integrity in Canada: a review of the research literature and call to action

Staff views on commercial contract cheating in higher education: a survey study in Australia and the UK

Using a Student Authentication and Authorship Checking System as a Catalyst for Developing an Academic Integrity Culture: a Bulgarian Case Study

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