Plagiarism in the Online Classroom

Hi, I would like to take a few moments to talk about student academic integrity in the online learning environment. The ever so rapid growth of online education has brought focus on the opportunities students have to plagiarize their work in order to reduce their own workload and improve their chances for a better grade. Many strategies have been employed to reduce academic dishonesty in the online environment but it appears that for every measure to avoid it there is a countermeasure to trump it. It is my opinion that it is human nature to find the easiest way to reach an objective and often ethical and moral standards are violated to reach those goals. Everyone has reasoned with themselves that it is ok to do certain unethical things based on the circumstances; for example, most people would turn a watch they found on the floor of a store in to lost and found because they wanted the owner to get their property back, but if the same person found cash it would likely go in their pocket with the reasoning that if they didn’t take it then someone else will. 

Understanding people’s motive for breaking the rules is the first step in stopping it. Most people will prioritize doing what is best for them, so in order to increase academic honesty, teachers, counselors, and administers need to stress the importance of learning as a path to succeed in life, over getting an A on their assignments. There will always be a need to monitor penalize students for dishonesty, but the real goal should not be to catch students from cheating, it should be to discourage them by making it difficult and motivating them to be honest for their own good. To do this we must limit opportunity, the 20-dollar bills laying on the floor, and encourage integrity, tell the students that the money likely belongs to an elderly person who needs that money for food. This strategy helps change the culture of cheating where it is not an accepted practice in any situation. We need to state the rules, teach and reward good behavior, reduce opportunities through creative course design, monitor students for academic honesty, and discipline students when they violate the rules.

Brian Goodsell