Principles of Online Design

Assignment Construction

 

Introduction

One of the best methods for reducing cheating, is to develop assignments that require higher levels of thought, and use of multiple sets of resources.  If a student cannot simply look up the answer, it will be far more difficult for a student to cheat.

In addition, whatever the instructor can do to personalize each assignment will assist in the efforts to avoid student academic misconduct.  Students who must apply the theories, concepts, strategies, tactics, and procedures from the course to their individual lives will find it more difficult to cheat - since each student's experience will be unique.  The secondary benefit is that students are likely to take a greater interest in assignments that directly apply to their own lives.

 

Screenshot of D2L Edit Module Page

 

Allocation of Points / Stages of Assignments

One of the easiest methods to discourage cheating is to design the course to have many assignments each worth a relatively small portion of the overall course points.

For example, if the instructor chooses to have quizzes that cover the textbook readings, the quizzes could be offered for each individual chapter (rather than combining several chapters under one quiz).

Larger assignments, such as term research papers, could be broken down into smaller sets of activities with deadlines spread throughout the course.  This helps students plan their workload and to continue their progress on major assignments.  It also helps the instructor catch procrastination.   Students can be brought back on-task before serious damage is done.

For example, a 100 point research paper might be broken down as follows.
 

Activity

Due

Points Value

Topic and 10 research sources submitted

Week 3

10 points

Outline of major points including facts to be introduced from research sources

Week 4

10 points

Draft of major point 1

Week 5

10 points

Draft if paper introduction

Week 7

10 points

Paper submitted in final form

and submission of research notes and drafts

Week 10

60 points

Once students have selected a topic and a reasonable number of research sources, do not allow them to change their topic (they might otherwise attempt purchasing a paper or project to submit).

 

Reduce Anxiety Through Self-Assessments

Another important principle is to reduce anxiety and pressure through self-assessments.

Use of practice tests, drafts for papers, and drill & practice activities help students build confidence – thereby greatly reducing incentives to cheat.

In order to ensure that students take advantage of the self assessments, points could be given for completing the activities to some level of mastery.   As an example, students who earn at least 85% on the practice quizzes would receive full credit for that course activity.

 

Research Papers and Projects

A common concern is that students may attempt to make online purchases of term papers or projects to submit as their own work. 

Here are some methods that you might incorporating your course to deter cheating on major assignments.

Age and Composition of Research Sources

Require that students use at least two sources that are less than three months old. 

Consider requiring students to use multiple sources of research (2 book sources, 3 journal articles, one interview, one survey, and one governmental .gov or educational .edu website).  This will help students become more aware of resources and methods of gaining information and will also greatly limit the types of information that might be plagiarized.

 

Topics for Papers and Projects

Help ensure that students are not purchasing or referencing other papers; design a list of topics that are up-to-date (events and people in the news in the last month or two). 

Require that students tie the paper to the content found in the textbook (less likely to find direct-match papers on term paper sites).

Have students write an abstract for their paper (it will be more difficult for them to write an abstract if they do not thoroughly understand the design of the paper).

Paper and Project Debriefing

Once the student has submitted the paper or project, interview them to ask what they learned from the assignment.  Ask some probing questions about some of the sources used and conclusions drawn in the assignment.

 

Anti-Plagiarism Software

For major papers, it is highly recommended to use the TurnItIn.com site to document possible occurrences of plagiarism.  The web-based software application allows the instructor to upload the papers students have submitted, and then it runs a comparison against other student papers, journal articles, books, and other sources to create an originality report showing if the paper has word-for-word matches with other sources.

 

Common Resource List

One means of combating plagiarism is to create common resources for the course.

For example, if students need to write a research paper for the course, it is relatively easy exercise to require students to locate and post academic journal articles on a specific topics as offered by the instructor.  These are posted to a discussion area of the course (so that all students can see what has already been listed – to avoid duplication).  The instructor reviews the articles for credibility and applicability to the research paper assignment and then further reduces the list by choosing only a couple sources per student for the final compiled list.  Then, students are required to read the articles from the list and write their paper using only those sources (cited appropriately). 

This process helps the instructor in two ways.  First, it helps avoid the "purchased paper" problem, since it will be extremely difficult to find a paper that only uses the sources approved by the instructor.  Second, it allows the instructor to be familiar with the sources to ensure that students are properly attributing and applying ideas.
 

 

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© 2004-2007 James Falkofske -