Shifting our focus

Moving from discouraging online student dishonesty to encouraging authentic assessment of student work

Abstract

The rapid and consistent rise in online delivery of university credit courses, and the corresponding requirement to assess student work in this mode has resulted in a proliferation of academic enquiry in the areas of contract cheating and online proctoring, including discussion and publication surrounding the verification of student identity when engaging in online formal examinations. The increasing availability of commercially-written academic essays (submitted by students as their own work), commonly referred to as “contract cheating,” has become another hot area of academic enquiry.

This symposium will provide a forum for an important discussion surrounding whether or not too much emphasis is being placed on discouraging a very small percentage of students from performing in dishonest ways, as compared to the amount of effort that should be placed on finding valid and reliable ways to assess student achievement that is aligned with stated learning outcomes. Presenters will contend that many of the concerns relating to online students’ academic dishonesty could be allayed if the two most common university assessment tools – the formal academic essay, and high-stakes formal examinations were not used to measure the achievement of online students. Several suggestions for authentic, workplace-related tasks will be discussed.