Teaching staff play a pivotal role in the prevention, detection and management of cheating in higher education. They enact curriculum and assessment design strategies, identify and substantiate suspected cases, and are positioned by many as being on the 'front line' of a battle that threatens to undermine the integrity of higher education. Against…

Unethical behaviour has become an increasingly controversial issue in Higher Education institutes. There have been debates about the reasons for the increase in unethical behaviour. But many of those debates contain problems. A key problem has been the lack of empirical results about faculty members' perceptions of their role in the phenomenon,…

Students are increasingly relying on contract cheating (CC), a phenomenon in which a third party completes the assignment, quiz, or homework for students in exchange for a fee. Using an exploratory qualitative method and underpinned by critical theory and social responsibility theory, this study explored the perceptions of faculty members…

This chapter presents a gender perspective on the faculty members' role in assigning discipline for academic dishonesty. Results of a study on this topic, along with recommendations for equitable practices, are included.

This article examines the management of the seemingly ubiquitous problem of plagiarism by students in higher education. An integrated review of the conceptual and empirical literature to date is undertaken in the pursuit of two objectives. First, to provide structure to the scattered knowledge about the topic, which is achieved by developing a…

If media reports are to be believed, Australian universities are facing a significant and growing problem of students outsourcing their assessment to third parties, a behaviour commonly known as 'contract cheating'. Teaching staff are integral to preventing and managing this emerging form of cheating, yet there has been little evidence-based…

University faculty are frequently tasked with promoting academic honesty among students. However, there is little reliable evidence about whether faculty actions can prevent academic dishonesty. The purpose of this study is to examine whether more severe punishments from faculty can reduce academic dishonesty among students. We analyze nationally…

Plagiarism continues to be an issue in postsecondary contexts. This paper discusses how educators can take a proactive stance to prevent plagiarism and cultivate students' sense of honour and academic integrity, rather than focusing on punitive consequences after plagiarism has already occurred. Strategies include assessment design, formative…

Numerous academic studies and reports indicate that as many as half of all students cheat on exams. Cheating on exams undermines the central purpose of a university, corrupts the meaning of grades as a measure of subject matter mastery, and significantly harms honest students. Although instructors are aware that many students cheat and they…

This paper identifies several methods a student could use to cheat while enrolled in an online course. Problems encountered in conducting an online course and in administering an online exam involve: (1) identifying the test taker, (2) preventing the theft of the exam, (3) combating the unauthorized use of textbooks and/or notes, (4) preparing an…

This applied dissertation was an inquiry into the phenomenon of cheating among students who take their classes online. There is a common perception that cheating is rampant in online classes and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the accreditation association in the South, implemented policies, which mandate stricter monitoring of…

Most college faculty care about the characters of their students, especially when it comes to questions of honesty. But can students today be trusted not to cheat when completing papers and exams, and not to do so for the right reasons? In section one of this article, the author reviews some of the leading research on cheating behavior, and in…

This study sought to find a better understanding of plagiarism in the university writing classroom; specifically, institutional and departmental honor codes and policies were looked at--as was the tendency of individual instructors to follow those policies versus creating their own. The narrow purpose of the study was to investigate plagiarism…

The incidence of plagiarism, according to the literature, is increasing. But why do students plagiarise and why the increase? Is it due to laziness, opportunity, ignorance, fear or ambivalence? Or do they know that there is little chance of any significant penalty? The literature suggests that all of these apply. Given this, are universities and,…

Plagiarism can be "plaguing" if it is not discussed, understood, and enforced by the professor right at the beginning of the course and throughout the semester. Students usually don't "have" to cheat or plagiarize; they do so mainly because "they can." Professors who turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to students who plagiarize create deleterious…