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Cracking down on cheaters

The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario) June 16, 2007 Saturday Final Edition Cracking down on cheaters; Universities must redouble efforts to teach students the importance of academic integrity KEN COATES, FOR THE RECORD INSIGHT; Pg.

A17 1268 words During the weekend of the April examination period, an anonymous email arrived.

The message described the theft of exam questions, which a student was attempting to sell to his classmates.

The writer (who later identified himself) was enraged and demanded action.

The warning proved unnecessary.

Several other students had gone directly to the department with the information.

The department altered the examination and ensured that the test proceeded on a proper and fair basis.

This example reveals three things.

First, the episode provides clear evidence of a student's willingness to cheat.

Secondly, and equally importantly, it reveals that other students were appalled by their classmates' behaviour and insisted that action be taken immediately.

In addition, the theft of the examination resulted in an immediate -- and entirely appropriate -- action by the department, which took the matter very seriously.

Academic integrity has become a significant public issue in Canada over the past few years.

University researchers have produced studies documenting an extensive pattern of cheating at universities.

Journalists have picked up the trail and have written on the growing evidence of widespread cheating.

They have even questioned the commitment of universities to addressing the problem.

The public could understandably come to the conclusion that cheating is rampant, that universities are ignoring the problem, and that the very legitimacy of higher education is at stake.

First, let it be clear that there are problems -- and they are significant.

Students cheat in a variety of ways: copying material from the Internet, buying essays, having surrogates write their examinations, submitting the same paper in more than one class, smuggling crib notes into examinations, and a variety of methods that are both ingenious and foolhardy.

While an unknown percentage of the cases of cheating are due to improved detection systems (professors can use the Internet as well as or better than most students), there are more incidents than in the past.

Universities have well-developed systems for academic discipline and these procedures have been called on more often in recent years.

As well, universities have ways of protecting themselves.

Some institutions have signed up to monitoring systems, like turnitin.com, that detects plagiarized papers.

Many have improved the monitoring of examinations.

Some have stiffened the punishments for infractions of university rules.

And virtually all campuses have increased educational initiatives designed to inform students about the need for academic integrity and the dire punishments associated with serious offences.

The rules are enforced, typically involving a complex series of quasi-judicial procedures and with ample opportunity for student appeal.

Instructors have also learned how to set examinations and assignments so as to diminish opportunities to cheat.

Using several versions of multiple choice and short answer examinations makes copying more difficult.

Individualizing research assignments largely eliminates the value of lifting a paper from the Internet.

Some professors have students sign integrity statements in their classes or indicate their compliance with university standards regarding plagiarism (copying material from a course without attribution) on each assignment.

The increase in cheating -- even though significantly less than the public comments suggest -- is often explained as an academic manifestation of broad moral lapses in western society.

This is, after all, the age of Enron, World Com, the Liberal sponsorship scandal and numerous other high-profile examples of the abuse of public office, corporate malfeasance, or corruption.

The collapse of ethical values, it seems, extends far beyond the universities and appears to be an unsavoury element of 21st-century life.

Others argue that cheating is a manifestation of the unrealistic expectations of academic pressure and the students' need to perform at a very high level in order to maintain scholarships or even to hold their place in a program.

Universities have a deep commitment to the defence of academic and professional integrity.

Commentators who assert that universities are lackadaisical in the prevention and punishment of cheating, misunderstand the centrality of this issue to the academy.

Universities operate in a world based on evidence and trust.

Research papers, by students or professors, must reflect the results of research and independent thought.

Students are trained to separate ideas gained from others -- which must be fully attributed -- and their own thoughts -- which must be supported by the evidence.

Documenting one's research, by citing the sources of information or properly describing the results of experiments, is an essential element in scholarship.

In fact, the key test of any work of scholarship is the ability of another to reproduce those results, given the same evidence or the opportunity to conduct a similar experiment.

Ensuring ethical behaviour, in a university or elsewhere in society, requires either personal standards that reject cheating or a healthy fear of the ramifications of being caught.

While we might wish that everyone fell into the first category, the truth is that the fear of exposure and punishment is a severe deterrent to inappropriate behaviour, in universities as in society at large.

Universities face a unique challenge.

Some types of cheating -- copying off a classmate's examination paper -- are clearly wrong and understood to be wrong by anyone.

The same does not apply to the acknowledgment of sources used in research papers.

Many students accused of plagiarism express sincere shock, and claim they had never been told they could not cut and paste sections from other sources, or that they did not know how and when to document the ideas and insights of others.

As a consequence, universities have a special obligation to outline the nature and meaning of academic integrity.

Focusing on the threat of punishment and even expulsion -- without first ensuring that students understand the basic rules of the academic enterprise -- would be inappropriate.

There is a great irony in the current public discussion about academic integrity and cheating at Canadian universities.

The problem has emerged as a matter of open debate precisely because the issue is of such great concern to the faculty, staff, students and institutions.

Faculty members devote a great deal of attention to ensuring that students adhere to the rules -- and many go to great lengths to identify and, if necessary, punish offenders.

University staff support the policies and principles of academic integrity through the management of appeal procedures.

Interestingly, students are equally strong defenders of academic integrity and often help professors by pointing out serious offences, such as the theft of exam questions this April.

The increase in cheating cases is largely due to the vigilance of the community and a collective desire to protect academic integrity.

Oddly, then, universities are facing public criticism precisely because they have been so determined to ensure that students understand and adhere to proper academic standards.

Universities will not back off from their defence against cheating and will redouble efforts to educate students about the value of maintaining ethical standards.

We do so because the cheating is contrary to the scholarly enterprise and because integrity is as an essential foundation for an ethical personal and professional life.

Ken Coates is the dean of arts at the University of Waterloo.

June 16, 2007 ENGLISH GRAPHIC: Drawing: ILLUSTRATION BY DIANE SHANTZ, RECORD STAFF , cheating; Photo: Ken Coates DOCUMENT-TYPE: OPINION Newspaper Copyright 2007 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.

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