A recent article by Marc Perry with The Chronicle of Higher Education writes that contrary to popular belief, face-to-face peers cheat more than online students.
Studies were performed on a small group of students from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas- a private Christian based college. Only undergraduate students were surveyed according to seven types of academic misconduct including, plagarism, cheating on exams and letting classmates copy papers.
Perry also shared that "older students tend to cheat less frequently than other students"-Stuber-McEwen (professor of pyschology).
While the article was interesting, this goes to show that opinions are sometimes posed as factual because there is "research" behind it. In this situation, there wasn't enough research compiled to say either way which group of students cheats more or less. Do you really think that many students are going to confess to their typical cheating activities? Plus, what age is considered an "older student"?
I find both subjects, face-to-face students and online students, probably equally guilty in the cheating department. Just because online students aren't in front of their professor doesn't mean they aren't Gooling information during an exam, or they are plagarizing an article they found online. Equally as likely to cheat, Face-to-Face students can just as easily download a paper online and pawn it off as their own.
Unfortunately, with all of the access and capabilties that technology provides to students through the web and cell phones, cheating will forever be a constant dilema. Another study with students by age, undergraduate vs. graduate and a variety of college participants would give a more comprehensive idea of which group of individuals cheats and by what means. Bottom line-cheating should not be tolerated by anyone, in any form, ever.
For more information on this article, visit http://chronicle.com
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