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Over the years of being responsible for academic misconduct investigations, the one thing I have learned is that even the most egregious cheater thinks of themselves as an honest person.
The issue has never been "Are students dishonest".
[A thread] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/opinion/sunday/online-learning-cheating.html?smid=tw-share
The issue has never been "Are students dishonest".
[A thread] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/opinion/sunday/online-learning-cheating.html?smid=tw-share
Here are a few examples:
A student who admits to trying to hire a grad student from another university to write her final exam argues in that interview that her parents taught her to always behave honestly.
A student who admits to trying to hire a grad student from another university to write her final exam argues in that interview that her parents taught her to always behave honestly.
Another student who admits to accessing an online answer key during an exam tells me that her parents are both lawyers who have always encouraged her to follow rules.
Many many students who can clearly define what plagiarism means in the meeting and understand that plagiarism is academic misconduct who will then argue that they could not have possibly plagiarised despite ample evidence that they have done exactly that.
The issue is not "Are students honest" the issue is whether or not the student's concept of honesty aligns with the university's concept of honesty. And that is the bridge we need to cross.
All my students, and many other students in our programs, take quizzes at the beginning of the term that includes this question:
I am fully supportive of integrity pledges, but anyone who thinks asking students to behave with integrity without clearly defining that concept for students will be very disappointed with the outcome.
