Academic cheating is a vice that could put one into serious consequences and compromise the reputation of the institution involved. Some students cheat during online classes due to various reasons, such as getting overwhelmed with their coursework.
Cheating can put you at risk of failing the course or being placed on academic probation. That does not deter them. It is reported that 73% of students believe that that student cheats at one point during coursework.
Of those cheaters, 2% were caught during examination sessions, while 5% napped during class sessions. These students believe that you must participate in academic dishonesty to get good grades.
How Students Cheat in Online Classes
There are several ways that students cheat in online classes. Such include purchasing tests, essays, or term papers. Using notes when prohibited or hiring someone to do the test for them.
Some of the methods used to gain such desires are copying answers from the internet and paraphrasing them to appear unique. The student uses this method due to increased competition to acquire a suitable grade.
1. Buying Essays from contract writers
As a student, you can resolve to cheat in online classes by employing different methods unsuspectedly. One of the most common ways how students cheat in school is by buying essays from reputable wring agencies.
However, these writing firms could be having experts in various fields of study who can handle any topic when they receive your order.
An essay is easy to cheat on since you have more time to research and organize your arguments reasonably.
Fortunately, you can choose to outsource this issue to a professional who can do it on your behalf perfectly.
Then, when you land a suitable essay writing company, the chances are high that the paper will go through and make you pass your coursework.
2. Cheating by using Friends
One can opt to use a friend to cheat during online classes. These friends could be colleagues who attend similar courses in the same field of study.
You can involve them by allowing them to follow and share the content of what the lecturer taught without you attending the same virtual classes.
Once issued with the content, you can study it privately and familiarize yourself with the available facts about the topics involved.
This method allows you to attend part of the classes while relying on your friend to update you on the latest facts concerning new study topics.
This is mainly done by copying the answer. 7% of the student admitted copying word to word from a written source without citation. In addition, they got overwhelmed by other commitments and unable to handle the pressure to perform and acquire good grades.
This method could be challenging, especially when handling complicated topics. Therefore, ensure that you read and understand everything before proceeding with the exams.
3. Hiring People to do their Full Classes
Impersonations could be another method that many students employ to cheat in online classes. However, due to commitments elsewhere, one can decide to hire an expert who could attend the courses on your behalf.
The same person can still help you do the exams using various tactics that could end suspicion.
Ensure that you use someone who has thorough knowledge about your coursework. This was cited as a method how to cheat in exams too.
This strategy could work well if you cannot balance work and studies; hence seek a helping hand to relieve you of some of the daily obligations.
Unfortunately, ensure that you perform this act smartly to prevent your institution from catching you. Familiarize yourself with the school policy about impersonation to avoid the underlying penalties.
4. Plagiarism as Academic Cheating
A student may resort to copying paste someone’s work with its roots in the same study topics. Here, the student will copy all the content that other people studied to get updated on relevant facts that could improve your performance.
One must avoid plagiarizing work when doing assignments or exams since the institutions have plagiarism detection software that could land you in trouble.
Before submitting your final draft of any kind, whether an exam or assignment, you must kick out any form of similarities and present the work as original; the professor will have an impression that the student did the work from scratch.
5. Use Educational Sites
One can still use other educational sites like CourseHero and Chegg to do assignments and homework. These sites are resourceful in providing the student with the correct solutions to the asked questions.
Therefore, the student who misses online classes can use the site to find the correct answers from the experts to pass the assignment or homework and escape the hook.
Unfortunately, you must avoid plagiarizing every content that you receive from this site because the institution can tell your sources. Ensure that you paraphrase your final finding in your words to promote originality and uniqueness.
Why Students Cheat in Online Classes
There are several reasons why a student would cheat in an online class. In a research, 28 % of students would do anything to get an “A”. Here is a summary of the reasons why they cheat.
Fear of Failure
Students stigmatize failure as an embarrassing encounter with destiny. A student would instead use other unacceptable means to gain knowledge and pass the exams than fail the coursework.
Failing comes with several repercussions, such as repeating the whole unit or course in an extreme situation. Moreover, since student hates being failures, they use other loopholes in the online situation to facilitate their passing of assignments and examinations.
Laziness
Laziness is cancer that can make one fail any test when given online. Instead, many lazy students would hire someone to attend the class and use their expertise to pass exams and eventually get good grades.
A lazy student lacks the commitment to handle any situation that is ahead.
For example, one can approach the best essay writing company to craft the best content to fetch better grades.
Peer Pressure
Cheating could have roots in the type of company that is surrounding you. If everyone is using cheating methods for academic gains, then why not you? But, unfortunately, that could prompt other students to get tempted in participating in the vice as a way of getting better grades without much sweat.
Poor Preparation
When a student lacks adequate facts to handle any homework or essay, the chances are that the same person could decide to approach an expert to handle some tasks at a fee. That could be essay buying or hiring an expert to attend the class.
How to Prevent Cheating in Online Classes
1. Use Proctored Tests
The institution can implement the use of proctored exams to prevent cheating during online classes. Furthermore, the institution should use advanced technology in knowing the people who are attending online classes genuinely. Such software could be Google meet which is among the best software to use for online-based classes.
Some software has excellent features for biometric detection. For example, if you are impersonating someone, the software will flag you for an inconsistency.
On the other hand, proctor software will reduce cases of cheating during class or examination sessions and eventually curd this vice. Also, educational management systems help. For instance, with proctoring, Canvas detects student screens to detect any cheating.
2. Integration of Plagiarism Software
The institution can integrate plagiarism detection software, which prevents intentional or accidental plagiarism in your paper. If you are submitting a plagiarized content, the software will detect and reject it depending on the level of the percentage that your institution tolerates.
One way that institutions use to know if the final work is authentic is passing it through a plagiarism checker to establish if you used other people’s ideas or not. Plagiarism is a form of stealing which could lead to severe academic and legal consequences in your life.
3. Using Advanced Technology
Technology is simplifying how we approach issues efficiently. For example, the institution could use a webcam to detect your facial parameters and establish your authenticity. Other learning software can detect your keystrokes to make sure you do not copy-paste from other sources. The software will detect the typing pattern hence raise the alarm if the trend begins to deviate alarmingly.
Some software has combined biometric for fingerprints and facial recognition. Such is a sure method of verifying your identity so that no stranger can gain access to the examination materials and do it on your behave.
4. Familiarize the Student with Academic Policies
The situation can create and post a video detailing the student code of conduct during the class and an examination situation. In addition, the post should have detailed information on the importance of academic integrity and the consequences of violating the set policies on academic dishonesty.
Before a student begins the studies or exams, there should be a code of honor where you sign to prove that you read and understood the policies that govern the code of conduct. Doing so makes the student be aware of the consequences of cheating and possibly avoids them.
FAQs on Cheating in Class
Can Netacad detect cheating?
Netacad is a proctoring software that has reliable features to detect cheating remotely. In addition, this software implements features such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning to authenticate the user before allowing him to do the examination.
Can Testmoz detect cheating?
Testmoz has an excellent feature to prevent cheating. The software allows tutors to randomize the question for each student who is participating in the test. Furthermore, it sets a time limit for the test to operate within the time frame before it closes automatically.
Can Pearson detect cheating?
Persons happens to be the world’s largest texts maker and other academic materials. This software can monitor how the student use social media when the exams are ongoing.
Pearson detects cheating by using proctor software to monitoring student activities. The software enables the instructor to see if the student leaves a tab. Also, the instructor can see how you are answering the quiz in real-time.
Can McMillan detect cheating?
MacMillan detects cheating by using super proctoring software that allows the institution to investigate academic fraud and cheating. In addition, the software comes with relevant tools that help the instructor know if the student participated in academic dishonesty during exam sessions.
Can wileyplus detect cheating?
Wileyplus flags cheating because it uses proctoring software that allows students to do timed exams. The software enables you to submit individual questions until you are through all the questions over that paper. This secured test prompts the student to log in using a password.
The software detects plagiarism in your final submission. The instructor may involve the help of other software such as a lockdown browser to prevent the student from navigating through pages.
Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.