There are many ways to discourage academic dishonesty in virtual settings. There are several tools or methods available to monitor academic honesty – differentiated assessments, frequent writing patterns, originality detection software, and the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) itself.
Differentiated Assessments
eLearn teachers employ a variety of assessment types and formats which allow for student choice and voice in their learning and evaluation. This process also ensures that student work is completed by the student themselves and not with use of any online intelligence/technological tools.
Frequent Writing Patterns
The student’s written voice is almost always the only “voice” the teacher recognizes. Throughout the eLearning course, there are many opportunities for teachers to get used to the student’s “written voice” (e.g., the student’s common writing pattern, common mistakes) that they notice when the writing pattern is inconsistent with previous work. In this respect, teachers of eLearning courses often comment that it is easier to identify academic dishonesty in eLearning courses than it is in face-to-face courses.
Academic Honesty & Plagiarism
All of the work that you submit has an expectation of originality. The ideas that you present should have been created and organized by you.
Plagiarism is the presentation of another’s ideas as your own. There are ways that you can incorporate other people’s ideas into your work, but they must be clearly marked and cited. Any act of plagiarism that a teacher identifies can have a range of serious consequences ranging from requiring resubmission, to assigning a mark of zero, to withdrawal from the course.
The VLE
The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) automatically keeps track of all student log-ins, the IP address of the machine being used, and the total time logged-in for each session. The VLE is used by teachers to manage their eLearning courses and includes many features to identify potential dishonesty (e.g., “progress tools”) to monitor student access. Other features (e.g., the “quiz tool”) allow teachers to differentiate tests and assignments so that students receive random questions or tasks. Another feature (i.e., the “drop-box summary”) allows teachers to monitor submission of assignments.
Academic dishonesty can be a problem in any setting – elementary schools, secondary schools, post-secondary schools, face-to-face and eLearning. No teacher can eliminate it outright, but teachers of eLearning courses have many tools to make academic dishonesty difficult.