Promoting Accurate and Honest Assessment

in an
Online Learning Environment

            With the expansion of online learning there is a growing need to create an experience that resembles the face-to-face classroom interaction and to provide an accurate way to assess learning from a distance. Course designers work to make course activities engaging and meaningful while providing interaction between participants and the instructor. Another challenge for designers is to utilize authentic assessments that demonstrate the knowledge learners are building throughout the course experience. Because learners and instructors are functioning in a distance learning environment, designers and instructors must also consider the need to maintain academic integrity.

            Course management systems and other technologies assist instructors in providing a secure environment for assessment (Spaulding 2009). There may be other approaches to altering the perceptions of cheating and in avoiding cheating in the online environment.

Read the article Perceptions of Academic Honesty in Online vs. Face-to-Face Classrooms  http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/8.3.1.pdf

Consider:
Where is academic dishonesty most likely to occur and by whom?
What role do perceptions have in influencing cheating?
How can instructors change the students’ perception regarding academic dishonesty?
What technologies can be used to deter academic dishonesty?
Will cheating be as likely to occur if a course is well designed?
What other methods hold promise for reducing the likelihood that cheating will occur?

By Wednesday, respond to the prompts above, summarizing how instructors, designers, and learners feel academic dishonesty should be addressed.

By Friday, respond to at least two of your cohorts’ postings by identifying common thoughts and making suggestions for how you might address the concerns and proposed methods they have identified in their posting.

By Sunday, return to the postings and respond further to your cohorts.
Use the Discussion Board Rubric to guide your response. You can access the rubric by clicking here.



Additional resources:

Kennedy, K., Nowak, S., Raghuraman, R., Thomas, J., & Davis, S. F. (2000). ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND DISTANCE LEARNING: STUDENT AND FACULTY VIEWS. College Student Journal, 34(2), 309.

Milliron, V., & Sandoe, K. (2008). The net generation cheating challenge. Innovate, 4(6), 1–7. Retrieved from http://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol4_issue6/The__Net_Generation_Cheating_Challenge.pdf

Rowe, N. (2004). Cheating in online student assessment: Beyond plagiarism. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 7(2). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer72/rowe72.html

Spaulding, M. (2009). Perceptions of Academic Honesty in Online vs. Face-to-Face. In Journal of Interactive Online Learning. Retrieved April 9, 2012, from http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/8.3.1.pdf