Lot's Wife Edition 6 2015

STUDENT AFFAIRS 19
Electronic Cheating
Universities are increasingly fearful of electronic cheating as
desperate students strive for guaranteed results.
Regulatory measures against plagiarising and cheating
on assignments, essays and exams have increased
after students were caught breaching academy integrity
standards in the past year.
The Age’s Glenn Mulcaster reported that Curtin University
in Western Australia recorded 651 incidents of plagiarism last
year – the equivalent of 2 plagiarism
incidents per 1000 student unit
enrolments.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Education
Jill Downie said it was difficult
to judge whether plagiarism had
increased or whether text analysis
systems like Turnitin had made
breaches easier to find.
"There is a consistent pattern of an
increasing numbers of plagiarism
being reported each year... this trend
may reflect continued improvements
in the detection and reporting of
cases," Professor Downie said.
But as students become more
desperate to succeed, and expanding
digital networks make the flow of
information more easily accessible,
methods of cheating have become
more sophisticated and difficult to detect.
From using ‘spy kits’ to communicate with accomplices
via Bluetooth during an exam to printing fake drink labels
with answers or formulas, it may not be that students are
actually cheating more – just the means in which they do it
are becoming more devious and difficult to detect.
There are even tips available from the suppliers of these
devices, and thousands of YouTube tutorials, on how to cheat,
and how to make sure you don’t get caught.
Monash University Council Regulations states that
possession of unauthorised materials is a discipline
offence. These materials include electronic devices such as
mobile phones, smart watches, electronic dictionaries and
calculators for certain faculties.
The current penalty for possession of these materials,
attempting to cheat, or cheating ranges from a $300 fine to
suspension or even exclusion.
Anxiety and fear can rise to peak levels as deadlines and
exams loom just around the corner. It’s the story of every
university student’s life – and it often drives some to cheat in
order to succeed.
A report by Fairfax Media found that thousands of students
last year enlisted a Sydney company called MyMaster to write
essays and assignments, as well as sit online tests.
"But as students
become more
desperate to succeed,
and expanding
digital networks
make the flow of
information more
easily accessible,
methods of cheating
have become more
sophisticated and
difficult to detect."
One request lodged was for a 6000-word human rights law
research assignment at the University of New South Wales,
worth 70 per cent of the student’s overall grade.
The cheating occurred throughout the state’s university
system, with almost 1000 assignments paid for by students
studying courses from law and economics to philosophy and
astronomy.
Universities Australia Chief Executive Belinda Robinson
said universities were aware of
services like MyMaster looking to
exploit students seeking an easy path
to success.
But how can universities stop online
cheating?
The MyMaster essay scandal has
raised the profile of a new student
society aimed to raise academic
integrity standards at Sydney’s
Macquarie University.
The Academic Integrity Matters
student group was set up last
year as a chapter of the University
of California San Diego’s AIM
organisation.
55 per cent of the students surveyed
at Macquarie said academic integrity
was a serious problem, and many
agreed to join a student-led group to
help renew trust in the system.
One initiative the AIM ambassadors promoted was an online
learning module, Academic Integrity for Students, which
complements the support module that helps students plan
study habits. The modules are not compulsory.
Macquarie University is the first Australian university to
have a student-led academic integrity campaign, and was
also one of the universities that were most affected by the
MyMaster scandal. Over 131 requests were made by students
at Macquarie, with $25,815 spent on essays and assignments
across the campus.
Monash University students, however, spent $848 on the
service – roughly equating to about 13 students among the
65,006 students enrolled across all campuses.
The problem isn’t as widespread at our university, but it
is a problem nonetheless. It represents a group of reckless
students who will do whatever it takes to pass their course.
Universities are putting more effort into identifying and
deterring plagiarism and online cheating, but more needs to
be done to promote academic integrity among students at
universities across Australia.
And if you’re going that far to guarantee your success,
you’re probably better off studying in the first place.
BY MATTHEW EDWARDS