{"id":17046,"date":"2020-03-31T10:16:55","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T10:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=17046"},"modified":"2025-10-22T11:20:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T18:20:01","slug":"mitigate-cheating","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/it\/teaching\/mitigate-cheating","title":{"rendered":"Strategies to Mitigate Cheating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Strategies to Limit Cheating That Don’t Involve Surveilling Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Using Design and Pedagogy to Prevent Cheating<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawbacks associated with anti-cheating software<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many university administrators, faculty, and staff are increasingly concerned<\/a> about the significant issues associated with using anti-cheating software, including issues related to cost, accuracy, and data privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many anti-plagiarism and exam proctoring tools use student data and student-produced work to improve their products, but also to generate revenue. These activities raise questions about data privacy and intellectual property.<\/strong> Additionally, some researchers<\/a> wonder whether the facial recognition\/comparison and behavioral tracking used by some educational technologies<\/a> such as ProctorU are contributing to the rise of a culture of surveillance<\/strong> in higher education. Anti-cheating software also isn’t free. <\/strong>Proctoring services raise the cost of instruction. Finally, anti-cheating software also can seemingly raise the stakes of an assignment, <\/strong>exacerbating one of the mindsets that prompt learners to cheat in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-cheating design and teaching strategies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of things instructors can do in the design process or in their teaching practice to prevent or minimize cheating in online learning environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Clearly define what constitutes cheating.<\/strong> Academic expectations and practices with regard to collaborating and copying differ across cultures, so paste\/link\/summarize your university’s academic integrity\/academic misconduct policy in the syllabus or in the course\u2019s “getting started” module.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Discuss the short- and long-term consequences of cheating.<\/strong> Prompt learners to think beyond the punishments they will suffer if caught by discussing the long-term ramifications they may suffer if they aren’t caught.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Include a certification question.<\/strong> Ask students to acknowledge their academic integrity responsibilities at the beginning of a quiz\/exam with a question like this one: \u201cThe work I submit as part of this quiz\/exam is my own work. I will not consult with, discuss the contents of this quiz\/exam with, or show the quiz\/exam to anyone else, including other students. I understand that doing so is a violation of UW Bothell\u2019s academic integrity policy and may subject me to disciplinary action, including suspension and dismissal.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Mix up your quiz\/exam questions. <\/strong>Use test banks, randomize your questions, and use different types of questions. Canvas has developed a number of tutorials<\/a> for how to create different types of quiz\/exam questions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Place parameters on quizzes\/exams.<\/strong> Canvas allows instructors to place time limits on quizzes, to make it so learners can only see one question at a time, to place response parameters on questions (such as word limits), and to limit learners’ access to the correct answers (important if you’re allowing multiple attempts).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Require students to reference course materials in their answers. <\/strong>Asking students to draw on course-specific materials in their answers makes it harder for students to copy\/paste answers from other sources.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Rethink high-stakes assignments.<\/strong> High-stakes assignments, such as an exam that counts for 25% or more of the course grade, make it hard for a learner to rebound from a mistake. If learners worry that a disastrous exam will make it impossible to pass the course, they are more likely to cheat. Rather than relying on high-stakes assignments\/exams, opt for a course design that provides learners opportunities to grow and rebound from missteps.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Scaffold with objective quizzes\/exams.<\/strong> Use low-stakes or ungraded, objective quizzes as formative assessments to help learners succeed on bigger assignments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Ask learners to apply their learning.<\/strong> Develop application scenarios in your quiz\/exam questions. Be sure that learners have not encountered these scenarios in practice quizzes or discussion prompts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Assign reflection.<\/strong> Add short answer questions to a quiz\/exam that ask learners to explain or justify their answers on multiple choice questions. Or develop a post-exam assignment that asks learners to justify their exam answers. Instructors need not spend a lot of time grading these; just spot check them to get a sense of whether learners are thinking for themselves. (Note: Canvas classifies short answer questions as “essay” questions.) <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    BONUS TIP: Allow learners to work together.<\/strong> Ask learners to collaborate to answer quiz\/exam questions. By helping each other, learners engage with the course\u2019s content and develop valuable collaboration skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Strategies to Limit Cheating That Don’t Involve Surveilling Students Using Design and Pedagogy to Prevent Cheating Drawbacks associated with anti-cheating software Many university administrators, faculty, and staff are increasingly concerned about the significant issues associated with using anti-cheating software, including issues related to cost, accuracy, and data privacy. Many anti-plagiarism and exam proctoring tools use…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":18061,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17046","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"Information Technology","email":"uwbit@uw.edu","phone":"425.352.3456","box":"Box 358540","address_line_1":"18115 Campus Way NE","address_line_2":"Bothell, WA 98011-8246","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nStrategies to Mitigate Cheating - Information Technology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/it\/teaching\/mitigate-cheating\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strategies to Mitigate Cheating - Information Technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Strategies to Limit Cheating That Don’t Involve Surveilling Students Using Design and Pedagogy to Prevent Cheating Drawbacks associated with anti-cheating software Many university administrators, faculty, and staff are increasingly concerned about the significant issues associated with using anti-cheating software, including issues related to cost, accuracy, and data privacy. 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