Ethics at School

Does Distance Education Promote Plagiarism?As the demand for distance education becomes increasingly popular many students, teachers and institutions are concerned that academic dishonesty continues to rise. Students are expected to adhere to the code of conduct set forth by the university in which they are attending regardless if they are in a traditional classroom environment or an online forum. However, does the online forum make it easier for students to cheat their way to a degree?When in an online classroom the class size is typically smaller than in a traditional lecture hall setting thus creating an enhanced communication between the professor and the students. Grijalva, T., Kerkvliet, J. & Nowell, C., (2006) claim that this and the breaking down of social barriers leads to less cheating, stating, "This emergence of online identity may make the whole worry of online cheating a moot point. Often stronger one-to-one relationships are formed in online courses than in face-to-face (¶ 3).

Online Plagiarism by Greg Passuntino

Sponsoring 4th Plagiarism Conference

Symbolic torches on Heritage Tower fountain

According to Roach (2001) "higher education officials believe high online interactivity can act as a safeguard against students who are inclined to submit work other than their own." Because students are communicating with their classmates in chat rooms using threaded discussions and assignments are primarily short papers and essays; instructors are able to obtain a strong sense of a students writing style, thinking and technique. Thus making it seemingly easier to detect when students are not submitting their own work and falling prey to online cheating (¶ 11).

In recent news, attention was drawn to student-athletes at Florida State University (FSU) taking an online music history course. FSU reviewed 900 records of students enrolled in this course because these student-athletes were suspected of cheating. Out of the 900 records only 23 students were in question and center of this investigation. These results prove...