Student might not understand the fundamentals of plagiarism. Studies show that many students cannot define plagiarism and/or don’t have the skills to cite an idea appropriately.  Depending on cultural background, students may not be able to distinguish between providing reasonable help to a classmate and collaborating inappropriately on an assignment and/or may not have experience with paraphrasing.

Strategies

• Define cheating and plagiarism explicitly in your syllabus (see the CapU course outline template).
• Include a link on your course eLearn page for the Writing Centre.
• Include a link on your course eLearn page for the Library Citation Guides.
• Include links to a paraphrasing how-to guide on your course eLearn page, e.g. Purdue
• Explain the significance of this concept and the implications for the workplace
• Require students to complete the Academic Integrity Learning Module on eLearn during the first 2 weeks of your course.
• Require students to complete the APA Practice Tutorial/MLA Practice Tutorial on eLearn during the first 2 weeks of your course.
• Use Turnitin in your course. Allowing students to view their Similarity Report before the assignment due date increases their understanding of plagiarism and provides an opportunity for them to address potential academic misconduct issues.

Students might perceive tests and/or professors as being unfair. Research suggests that when students perceive exams or tests as unfair (e.g., including material that wasn’t covered in class, skills they haven’t had a chance to practice, questions requiring minute details), they are more likely to cheat.

Strategies

• Assess what is taught – align instruction and assessments
• Communicate the alignment to students, e.g., share the course Evaluation Plan with students

Some students might cheat because they have poor study skills that prevent them from keeping up with the material. University-level workloads can take some adjustment for students coming from high school or from other cultures.  Students may underestimate the time required to complete an assignment or have competing demands on their time (jobs, other courses) so may be desperate enough to consider cheating.

Strategies

• Include a link to CapU’s Learning Support Services on the course eLearn page.
• Use frequent, smaller assignments and tests
• Use classroom assessment techniques to help you and your students gauge their progress
• Discuss the weekly workload required to succeed in the course (e.g. 8 hours = 3 hours of class time, 1 hour for 4th hour activity, 2 hours reading, 2 hours assignments)

Students may be more inclined to cheat or plagiarize if the stakes are high or the likelihood of success is perceived to be low. Heavily weighted final exams or papers (accounting for a large portion of the final grade at the end of the course) can create significant pressure on students – there is little room for error and no chance to redeem themselves.  In these types of scenarios, students may try cheating rather than studying if they think cheating will provide a better chance of success.

Strategies

• Include a link to CapU’s Learning Support Services on the course eLearn page.
• Use frequent, smaller assignments and tests to give students practice and feedback and several opportunities to earn grades rather than a few high-stake assessments.
• Offer the opportunity to redo an assignment.

Students might perceive a lack of consequences for cheating and plagiarizing. Cheating is often dealt with privately to protect a student’s privacy.  Other students are not aware that cheating is detected and dealt with, leaving an impression that there are no consequences.

Strategies

• Publicly acknowledge when occurrences of cheating have been detected to your class (in general terms).
• Follow the S2017-05 Academic Integrity Procedure steps to report cheating and plagiarism incidents.

Students might perceive the possibility to cheat without getting caught.​The proliferation of options for cheating (chegg.com, coursehero.com, online test bank shops, generative AI) may lead students to believe that cheating is easy and that they will not get caught.

Strategies

• Require drafts of the work.
• Create unique assignments, e.g. using applied projects.
• Use Turnitin in your course.
• Use testbanks judiciously, e.g., for inspiration, reword questions where possible using examples from classroom discussions or local events
• Explain in advance the cheating-prevention techniques you will be using for in-person exams (allocate seating alphabetically, check ID/sign-in sheet, two proctors in the room, two or more versions of the exam, bags/coats at the front of the room, etc.). It may seem as if you’re giving students notice on how to prepare to cheat which may be the case for a few, but for most students, knowing that there will be measures in place can be enough to reduce the likelihood of cheating.

Student focus may be on grades rather than on learning. In this situation, students may be more willing to take a shortcut to achieve the desired grade because they do not perceive the importance of learning.

Strategies:

• Clearly indicate the alignment between the learning objectives and the assessments to students by sharing the course Evaluation Plan.
• Identify the relevance of the learning for future undertakings (e.g., other courses, the workplace, etc.)

Students are more likely to cheat when they feel anonymous in class. Students who have a connection to their instructor are less likely to cheat. Students don’t want to let you down. Students who experience anonymity in the classroom are not subject to these social and emotional costs and consequently are more likely to cheat.

Strategies:

• Learn and use students’ names.
• Use pre-class time to meet and greet students.

Students may not understand the criteria for the test/assignment. Unclear instructions and expectations can lead to feelings of frustration and fear of failure that may prompt a student to cheat.

Strategies

• Provide clear instructions in a handout, as part of your syllabus, or on the course eLearn page. Review these instructions in-class explaining the requirements (or provide a video for asynchronous courses).
• Use a rubric to clearly communicate your expectations.