Student Cheating in the Digital Age

Greetings from the Unviersity of Canberra, where Dr Jon Scott, from University of Leicester, is talking on "Academic integrity: To cheat or not to cheat in the digital age?". One point he made was about the honor codes and student tribunals used in some US universities and if these would work in the UK/Australian university culture.

In my view the universities could learn from the work which the professions, particularly the Australian Computer Society, on the teaching and adoption of professional ethics.

I discuss this in my lecture on ethics "Professional Ethics and Social Issues in Networked Information Systems". The researchers conducted a survey and interviews of ICT professionals on their attitudes to ethics and the IT industry (Lucas, 2008). One finding was that those borne 1981 to 1999 (so called "Generation Y") thought:

1. Ethical regulations should be less important,
2. Job security made a difference to ethical behavior.
3. They had more ethics education than previous generations.

I discuss this in my lecture on ethics "Professional Ethics and Social Issues in Networked Information Systems".

In my view, plagiarism can be dealt with by teaching research writing to the students and assessing it. If students fail to reference material correctly, they will fail those courses and other courses. There is no need to impose some sort of moral condemnation on the students, just identify where they need help with their work and provided it (and ensure those who will not or do not meet the stand never pass).

Jon e is also presenting "Why are students failing? What works to improve retention and success?" at 4.30-6.00pm and "Student and staff perceptions of assessment feedback: Myth and reality" tomorrow.