Students Cheat Less in Online Courses

In "Students Cheat More in Online Courses?", George Watson and James Sottile (Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 2010) report that students admit to cheating more in face to face courses than on-line ones. They suggest that this is because the students work together in the classroom and so are included to share answers. To stop the sharing of answers in on-line tests, the authors suggest having the test supervised, or better still change to other forms of assessment, such as assignments. One approach which they surprisingly do not suggest is group work. Students in the face-to-face class are working together should be seen a a positive outcome and could be encouraged by group work. I use online discussion forums as part of assessment, along with assignments.