A presentation of the background research on cheating in schools, with particular attention paid to the differences between digital cheating and conventional forms of cheating.

1. A discussion of relevant research and what to
do with it.

2.  70%of students feel prepared to
make ethical decisions in the
workplace.
 39% of students feel that it is
sometimes necessary to break
rules in order to succeed.

3.  Studentsranked themselves
below Professional Athletes and
Business leaders on Ethics.
 Theonly group that students
ranked lower was Politicians.

4. Disconnect between digital and normal life
 More than 57% said that it was unfair for
employers to make decisions based on
students‟ MySpace or FaceBook pages.
 47% said that it is ok on some level to
download music, but only 5% are ok to steal
from a store.

5.  Nearly 25% of the students who admitted to
lying to their parents say that lying is never
acceptable.
 Nearly 25% of students who cheated on a test
or plagiarized say that they know that it is
not ok.

6.  Students are more perceptive than teachers
when cheating happens in their classrooms.
 Students and teachers often have different
thresholds for cheating.

7. Who Cheats and
Why?
Teacher Student
Effects Perceptions
of Cheating
Recommendations… not
yet

9. Is there a difference between cheating in
Secular and Religious schools?
Short answer… No.
Students are likely to cheat whenever they can
get away with it, and have little regard for
consequences.

10. Is there a difference between cheating in
Secular and Religious schools?
Students who describe their home as religious
are less likely to cheat.

11.  Cheating is lower in the middle school.
 Cheating increases during the Freshman year
and throughout high school.
 Cheating reduces during college years.

12. High School students are more likely than
Middle school students attribute cheating to
personal responsibility.
Middle School students are more likely to
attribute cheating to external, uncontrollable
circumstances.

13. Students who think cheating is serious cheat
less often.
Students who think that cheating is not serious
cheat more often.

14. Most students mix digital and conventional
forms of cheating.
More students reported using „cut and paste‟
plagiarism online, than from conventional
sources.
More students reported using digital cheat
sheets than paper cheat sheets during tests
and consider it less serious.

15. Students are more likely to cheat when they:
 Work part time
 Have low academic self-concept
 Have friends that cheat
 Have poor time-management skills
 Fear failure
 Avoid work

16. Overwhelmed to Succeed
Personal Desire to Total “Overwhelmed”
Succeed justifies… Students
Cheating 54% 66%
Plagiarism 37% 51%

17. Pressures on Students
 Peers –exclusion from „Smart‟ group,
competition for grades
 Parents – awareness of college pressures,
scholarships, unreal expectations
 Teachers – mostly unaware of their influence,
students don‟t want to disappoint.
 Time – balancing activities, social life, work
and school, not enough hours

20. Cheating on exams is seen as the most serious
type of cheating.
Copying homework is often justified. In a
„teaching‟ setting, with one student helping the
other understand, it is not considered cheating.
While there is a perception that students with low
GPA‟s frequently cheat, but there is frequent
cheating among students with High GPA‟s.

21. Success is defined by the A, not by what was
learned or mastered.
Students generally know that cheating is
wrong.
Cheating is seen as sometimes necessary, due
to the pressure to perform.
Among AP/IB students, cheating students
rarely develop a pattern of dishonesty.

22. Rational For Plagiarizing
Not enough time to do the assignment 49%
Personal desire to succeed in school 37%
Pressure from parents to succeed in school 25%
Everyone else does it 18%
Thrill of possibly not getting caught plagiarizing 8%
Peer pressure 6%
Some other reason 16%
I don‟t know 13%

23. How do students justify Internet
plagiarism?
I felt I had no time to do my own paper. 28.1%
I felt unprepared to write the paper on my 26.3%
own.
I was not interested in the subject of my 21.1%
paper.
If I wasn‟t allowed to do it, the teacher should 14.0%
have explicitly said so.
I knew I would not get caught. 12.3%

24. How do students justify Internet
plagiarism?
I think it is okay to use papers from the 8.8%
Internet.
If I wasn‟t allowed to do it, someone should 7.0%
make it impossible to do.
I think it‟s fun to beat the system. 7.0%
I felt like my teacher would not care. 7.0%
Some of my friends or classmates do it. 5.3%

27.  A high performance goal structure lead to
more cheating.
 A high mastery goal structure lead to less
cheating.

28. Students are more likely to cheat when the
teacher:
 Is a tough grader
 Is unfriendly, boring or dull
 Has high expectations of student
performance
 Cover a lot of material
 Is disorganized

29. Teachers fall into one of 4 groups, based on
what they feel about plagiarism
 Given up – it is impossible to tell who did
what
 In retreat – use traditional methods to assure
academic honesty
 Needed guidance – are looking for solutions
that incorporate Internet resources
 Teachers who have developed a strategy

30. Teacher developed strategies incorporate the
following
 A Culture of honesty
 Observation of Students‟ continual work
 Review of intermediate drafts
 Ongoing Discussion with the students
CORD

33. Teachers who use CORD reduce the amount of
cheating and plagiarism in their classes.
 A Culture of honesty
 Observation of Students‟ continual work
 Review of intermediate drafts
 Ongoing Discussion with the students

34. Examination of your own teaching practices to
avoid unwittingly encouraging cheating
behaviors.
Take a stand against cheating early.
Objectively discuss cheating with the goal of
reconciling differing opinions about
cheating, may reduce cheating in classrooms.

35.  Technology and the Internet enable
cheating, they are not the cause of cheating.
 So far teachers have been reactive, not
proactive.
◦ Doccop, Turnitin, and other text checking websites
don‟t prevent plagiarism only catch it after the fact

36.  We should seek to prevent plagiarism.
◦ Create interesting assignments
◦ Require drafts, and intermediate products
◦ Discuss throughout school the importance values
such as honesty, trust, fairness, respect and
responsibility