Posts Tagged ‘cheating’
Is Scientific Communication Fit for Purpose?
problems is scientific misconduct and fraud, which, it is important to note, is perpetuated by scientists themselves. This category includes scientists who use fraudulent data, inappropriately manipulate images, and otherwise fake experimental results. Publishers have been investing increasingly to block bad contributions at the point of submission through editorial review and more is almost certainly needed, likely a combination of automated and human review. Another form of misconduct is the failure to disclose conflicts of interest, which, notwithstanding efforts by publishers to strengthen disclosure guidelines, have continued to be disclosed “too little too late,”
Beyond individual misconduct, there are also organized and systematic challenges. We are seeing “organized fraud” and “industrialized cheating” to manipulate the scientific record to advance self-interests. These choreographed efforts include citation malpractice, paper mills, peer review rings, and guest editor frauds. And, even if it does not rise to the level of misconduct, we have seen the use of methods and practices that make substantial portions of at least some fields impossible to reproduce and therefore of dubious validity. Whether individual, organized, or systematic, all these are threats to scientific integrity.
Online Cheating Isn’t Going Away. Use It as a Teachable Moment for Students and Educators
By Wade Tyler Millward Jul 27, 2020
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-07-27-online-cheating-isn-t-going-away-use-it-as-a-teachable-moment-for-students-and-educators
my note:
Nothing new in this article. It has been wildly known for a long time that the larger part of students commit academic dishonesty because they are not educated on that issue.
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More on Online cheating the same as blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cheating
A peer-reviewed journal published hundreds of them. Why?
https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-did-a-peer-reviewed-journal-publish-hundreds-of-nonsense-papers
One clue is that the overwhelming majority of the papers were ostensibly written by authors who claim to be affiliated with Chinese institutions. Universities in China often reward researchers for publishing in notable journals listed on the Science Citation Index, in some cases paying them cash bonuses, though China’s science and education ministries have recently tried to crack down on the practice. It’s also long been a requirement that doctoral students at many Chinese universities publish a paper before they graduate.
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China’s Plagiarism Problem
https://www.forbes.com/2010/05/26/china-cheating-innovation-markets-economy-plagiarism.html
Plagiarism and the lack of academic integrity it engenders are intricately connected to the larger debate about intellectual property rights (IPR) in China and the government’s promoted idea of a harmonious society to support stability.
The real devil behind rise in academic cheating during pandemic isn’t online learning: expert
https://nationalpost.com/news/the-real-devil-behind-rise-in-academic-cheating-during-pandemic-isnt-online-learning-expert
“There was about 20 years of research before the pandemic that showed that there was less academic misconduct in online courses compared to face-to-face learning.”
tudents were “forced into online learning when they didn’t want to be,”
tudents become easy prey for a US$15 billion global industry specializing in “contract cheating,”
Countries like New Zealand, Ireland, Australia are already ahead of the game, with legislation making it illegal for contract cheating businesses to operate.
U.K. is catching up, having tabled similar legislation.
But Canada has been slow to address the problem
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more on cheating in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cheating
Cheating Companies Hacked Websites at MIT, Stanford, Columbia And More Than 100 Other Schools
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2021/02/25/cheating-companies-hacked-websites-at-mit-stanford-columbia–and-more-than-100-other-schools/
Jim Ridolfo at the University of Kentucky and William Hart-Davidson at Michigan State University have found that more than 100 websites of American colleges have been hacked or otherwise compromised by essay mills, the contract cheating providers that improperly sell academic work to students.
“If you Google something like essay help and Stanford,” Ridolfo said, “you’ll get school content injected by essay mills or find pages that redirect you to their services.”
block the SQL injections and to set regular scans for additional paper mill intrusions.
hese intrusions were from just 14 known cheating providers when there are probably hundreds of them.
this pattern of hacking legitimate university property to sell cheating services could get much more complex and much more dangerous.
Since cheating is a billion-dollar, global dark market, it’s not surprising. It’s just awful. And schools should move quickly to address it, not just with patches, but with policy and policing.
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more on plagiarism in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=plagiarism
https://www.dailyemerald.com/news/students-cheat-with-online-learning-service-professors-hope-to-identify-users/article_552d56f4-5a31-11eb-98ae-879264ec0299.html
Services like Chegg have become more accessible to students during unproctored exams in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, causing what UO chemistry professor Shannon Boettcher believes is a “huge problem with academic dishonesty across the nation in the light of remote learning and COVID-19.”
he Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s notice and takedown process requires that service providers remove material that a copyright owner identifies on their website through a valid notice of copyright infringement or become subject to potential secondary liability for assisting with copyright infringement, according to Copyright Alliance.
Chegg Inc. has been sued twice in federal court for claims of copyright infringement, denying allegations in both instances.
Apart from its subscription services, Chegg rents and sells textbooks. The publishing company John Wiley & Sons Inc. filed a lawsuit against Chegg on Dec. 18, 2018, in Manhattan U.S. District Court, alleging that Chegg sold counterfeit versions of its textbooks.
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This $12 Billion Company Is Getting Rich Off Students Cheating Their Way Through Covid
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2021/01/28/this-12-billion-company-is-getting-rich-off-students-cheating-their-way-through-covid
Chegg is based in Santa Clara, California, but the heart of its operation is in India, where it employs more than 70,000 experts with advanced math, science, technology and engineering degrees. The experts, who work freelance, are online 24/7, supplying step-by-step answers to questions posted by subscribers (sometimes answered in less than 15 minutes).
Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig has profited handsomely. His holdings in Chegg plus after-tax proceeds from stock sales add up to $300 million. Rosensweig, who declined to speak to Forbes, has said that Chegg Study was “not built” for cheating. He describes it instead as the equivalent of an asynchronous, always-on tutor, ready to help students with detailed answers to problems. In a 2019 interview, he said higher education needs to adjust to the on-demand economy, the way Uber or Amazon have.
Throughout the pandemic, schools have spent millions on remote proctoring, a controversial practice in which colleges pay private companies like Honorlock and Examity to surveil students while they take tests.
Chegg Study was enjoying steady growth and little competition. Its only serious rival, privately held Course Hero, is a much smaller operation, valued at $1.1 billion, that generates most of its answers from students.
My note:
such proliferation would not have been possible, if the middle and upper administration has been more supportive of faculty when misconduct is detected. If the administration turns blind eye due to “enrollment” and “retention” priorities and curbs faculty reports regarding academic dishonesty, the industry naturally fills out the gap between a mere syllabus statement and inability to act upon it.
There is plenty of lipservice regarding “personalized learning,” but the reality is overworked faculty, who do not have the opportunity to spend sufficient time with students, less to educate them about plagiarism, cheating and similar “auxiliary” trends besides the content of the course.
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more on cheating in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cheating
link to the “Grammarly” thread:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/onlinelearningcollective/permalink/717390118891689/
Hi all, I don’t use Grammarly, but I hear that a lot of people find it useful. I am also hearing that some instructors/universities find its use problematic. Several years ago, a student that I knew was not a good writer was accused of plagiarism by another instructor. She claimed that her nearly flawless papers were written with the help of Grammarly. I am curious to know if you encourage or prohibit Grammarly in your classes and if your department or university has a policy concerning its use.
My summation of this thread:
naturally, opinions are for and against:
pros –
it helps/forces students understand the need to proofread
partially replaces the very initial work of instructor
cons –
algorithms/technology are/is not perfect
it does not replace a living person (sic!!!)
e.g. it detect passive voice, but does not teach the replacement
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more on grammarly in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=grammarly
https://www.chronicle.com/article/7-ways-to-assess-students-online-and-minimize-cheating
- Break up a big high-stakes exam into small weekly tests.
- Start and end each test with an honor statement.
- Ask students to explain their problem-solving process.
- Get to know each student’s writing style in low- or no-stakes tasks.
- Assess learning in online discussion forums.
- Don’t base grades solely on tests.
- Offer students choice in how they demonstrate their knowledge.
As we all work to improve our online teaching, we have the opportunity to rethink practices we’ve relied on for years in our physical classrooms.
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more on cheating in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cheating
https://go.edsurge.com/EdSurge-Live-How-to-Protect-Academic-Integrity-From-a-Cheating-Economy.html
Educators are in an arms race these days against an industry that seeks to profit by helping students cheat. Some websites offer to write papers for students, others sell access to past tests by individual professors, and others will even take entire online courses for students, as a kind of study double.
January 28, 3PM Live: How to Protect Academic Integrity From a ‘Cheating Economy.’ We’ll see you on Tuesday, January 28 at 1pm PT/4pm ET at this Zoom link or with the Meeting ID: 655-009-467.
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-01-23-how-the-contract-cheating-industry-has-gotten-more-aggressive-in-recruiting-students
Webinar:
question to Tricia: the aggressiveness of the Websites. radio silence by governments, universities.
is there a data on contract cheating: data from Australia, UK. 7 Mil students worldwide engaged in contsure
punitive vs preventive practices.
students being educated for that matter faculty.
stakeholders: students, faculty (accreditation), parents, administration. what the forces in place to keep in check the administration/
how does the education happen in a world where the grade is the king and the credit is the queen?
If i organize a workshop on cheating noone attends; overworked
not magic bullet. more communication and awareness. teaching and learning issue. in the business of certifying. integrity is essential to the certification program and teaching and learning, otherwise it cannot be graded. lost from the core mission.
clear and better policies: what is the role of the faculty in the process. when teaching and learning is not sufficient and needs to move to allegations.
Instructional designer: online is easier to cheat.
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How the ‘Contract Cheating’ Industry Has Gotten More Aggressive in Recruiting Students
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-01-23-how-the-contract-cheating-industry-has-gotten-more-aggressive-in-recruiting-students
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What Colleges Are Doing to Fight the ‘Contract Cheating’ Industry
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-01-30-what-colleges-are-doing-to-fight-the-contract-cheating-industry
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more on cheating in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cheating
Ed-tech historian and critic Audrey Watters, for example, said plagiarism-detection software in general frames all writers as potential cheaters, undermining the trust that is essential to strong student-teacher relationships. She said the companies making the software tend to accept as given that most writing assignments are so cookie-cutter that students can reasonably consider copying someone else’s work a viable strategy.
My note: the paragraph above reflects my deep personal belief and most of the information and notes in this blog regarding the “automation” of plagiarism detection
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more on plagiarism in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=plagiarism