Technology-Aided Cheating in ODeL: What Else Do We Need to Know?
Gerard G. Ravasco
Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, University of the Philippines Open University
One of the major concerns in online teaching and learning in a distance education context is academic integrity. Technology has made it easy for learners to cheat. While there are efforts to address this concern based on what teachers know, it is also important to take a closer look at how learners do it based on their own narratives. An open ended questionnaire was distributed to the students enrolled in a graduate course in Computer Ethics during the first semester of Academic Year 2011-2012. The course, including the final exam, is fully online. Fifty-two students accomplished the questionnaire. Specific examples/cases will be presented to validate student responses. Results of this study will hopefully contribute towards the development of a Learning Assessment System that is more appropriate to an open and distance e-learning (ODeL) context.
Keywords: ethics, academic dishonesty, cheating, online classroom