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Addressing contract cheating:
local and global responses
Assoc. Prof Tracey Bretag and Dr Rowena Harper
University of South Australia
Project Co-Leaders, Contract cheating and assessment design:
exploring the connection
Overview
A perfect storm?
2015/2016 context: increasing threats to integrity
Contract cheating: a new era for academic integrity
International movement
Solving the problem with assessment design?
Multi-pronged, systemic approach
Overview
• Academic integrity landscape: the last 20 years
• 2016: a new era
• Debunking the myths, or what won’t work
• Multi-pronged and holistic approaches
• Designing teaching and learning with integrity
2015/2016 global context
Commercialisation and marketization of HE
Widening participation and diversification of HE
Internationalisation of HE and links to immigration
More pressure on universities
Managerialism, metrics and ‘measurement’
Increasing competition at all levels – funding,
admissions, performance in teaching and research
Digital disruption and global trade agreements
affecting employment
Job markets more precarious
Corruption in wider society, scandals regularly in
media
Changing social values and norms
2015/2016 local context
Policy changes with every new government, and
perpetual uncertainty about funding
A profit mindset: financially strategic offerings,
large class sizes, ‘efficiency’ in teaching
Casualization of the academic workforce
Growing diversity among students and staff
Employability focus
credentialism drives instrumental and transactional
approaches to learning
Explosion of global networks and social media
MyMaster scandal (Visentin 2015)
Fake diploma mills (Chung 2015)
SBS ‘Pens for Hire’ http://www.sbs.com.au/news/thefeed
ICAC investigation of corruption in higher education
TEQSA request to all Higher Education Providers for
‘assurance of academic integrity’
More scandals: ‘ghost’ students, fraudulent recruitment
practices, low standards
2015/2016 local context
A new era for academic integrity
Contract cheating
When a student arranges for a third party to
complete their work for them.
The third party may be a relative, acquaintance or stranger.
It may be for money, or done as a favour or exchange.
Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke, 2006, 2007, 2016
How serious is it?
Small scale study in UK, Rigby et al (2015)
half of the student participants (n=90) were willing to buy
an assignment from a cheat site
UniSA student, academic integrity discussion (2015)
“When we have a group task, the first thing we do is sit
down and ask the question: ‘Should we buy the assignment
or do it ourselves?’ Which one would be quicker and get the
best result?”
Study on appropriate responses (Newton 2015, p. 11)
Standard university response: suspension or expulsion
89.9% of undergraduate students thought a more lenient
penalty should apply, with 41.8% thinking the penalty
should be to fail the assignment
How serious is it?
Currently, no Australian data on the issue
Australian OLT Project (Bretag & Harper)
www.cheatingandassessment.edu.au
Will gather data on the issue in Australia from students
and staff
Despite a concerted effort by Australian universities over
the last 15 years to improve academic integrity policies
and processes, they are still catching up to this emerging
problem
Need for a consistent approach within and across
universities, locally and internationally
International movement
Cheat sites/essay mills are illegal in New Zealand and in
some states in the USA
Since 2014, a group of scholars have been collaborating
to develop legislation for making contract cheat sites
illegal in Canada
International consortium on Contract Cheating
Led by Tricia Bertram Gallant, UCSD, & membership from
USA
Canada
UK
Greece
Australia
International movement
UK petition
started by
Marcus Ball,
June 2016
International movement
International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating
19 October 2016
http://contractcheating.weebly.com/
Assessment design: the solution?
There appears to be an unchallenged consensus
that assessment design is the ‘solution’
Assessment design is critical, BUT…
… a number of myths abound which assume
that it can be used to easily address contract
cheating
Myth 1: Invigilated exams will eradicate
contract cheating
Debunking the myth
In countries where invigilated exams are the norm,
academic integrity issues are rife
Impersonation, identification fraud, devices and
gadgets
Learning issue
High stakes exams encourage rote learning, and assess
a limited range of learning outcomes.
Disadvantages students who do not perform well in
these circumstances.
Assessment design: the solution?
Myth 2: Authentic assessment will eradicate
contract cheating
Debunking the myth
Employment portfolios, reflective journals, case
studies, experiential reflections, online presentations,
group projects, research proposals, and even complete
doctoral dissertations can all be bought like any other
commodity.
Learning issue
Authenticity should be valued - for students genuinely
engaged in learning, authentic assessment provides
relevance, and valuable opportunities to link theory to
practice.
Assessment design: the solution?
Myth 3: Personalised, sequential & original
assessments will eradicate contract cheating
Debunking the myth
This counters ‘opportunistic cheating’
Again, ANYTHING can be outsourced.
https://www.takeyourclass.com/
Learning issue
It will not be appropriate for assessing all learning
outcomes
Not practical in all courses
Assessment design: the solution?
Myth 4: Decreased ‘turnaround time’ will
eradicate contract cheating
Debunking the myth
For a price, and even within extreme timelines of hours
rather than days, any assessment can be contracted out
Overall mean requested turnaround time for 132 posted
assignments on ‘Freelancer’ & ‘Transtutors’: 5.14 days.
24% of these requests were for a turnaround time of one
day or less (Wallace & Newton, 2014, p. 233).
Learning issue
Disadvantages good students who carefully plan
assignments. May even encourage students to outsource
assignments due to unreasonable time pressure.
Assessment design: the solution?
Multi-pronged approach
A multi-pronged approach is needed (Newton &
Lang 2016, cited in QAA Report 2016):
Legislation (national and international collaboration?)
Technology
Course and assessment design
Consequences, both academic and legal
Relationship building (between students and staff)
Systemic approach
Integrity should underpin every aspect of a university’s
operations
Institutional mission statements, marketing & admissions
processes (Bertram Gallant & Kalichman 2011)
Nuanced and carefully articulated policy & procedures (Bretag
et al 2013; Carroll & Appleton 2001)
Curriculum design and assessment practices (Devlin 2002)
Professional development for staff (HEA 2011a)
Information provided during orientation and on campus
(Bertram Gallant & Kalichman 2011; Bretag 2013b)
Partnering with students as integrity champions (Saddiqui 2016)
Technologies for both education and detection (HEA 2011a)
Office with a remit for academic integrity (HEA 2011a)
Concluding comments
We are confronting new and serious academic
integrity challenges that require new responses
The sector needs to commit to a systemic,
collaborative approach which makes integrity
central to all areas of university operations
This requires a commitment of resources and the
willingness to be transparent and accountable
Both local and global responses are needed
The risk to higher education is too real to be
complacent
Academic Integrity Standards Project: http://www.aisp.apfei.edu.au/
Bertram Gallant, T. & Kalichman, M. (2011). Academic Ethics: A Systems Approach to
Understanding Misconduct and Empowering Change in the Academy. In Creating the Ethical
Academy: A Systems Approach to Understanding Misconduct and Empowering Change in
Higher Education, ed. T. Bertram Gallant, 27-44. New York: Routledge.
Bretag, T. (2013). Challenges in addressing plagiarism in education. PLOS Medicine, 10(12):
e1001574. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001574.
Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., East, J., Green, M., James, C., McGowan, U., Partridge, L., Wallace, M. &
Walker, R. (2011a). Academic integrity standards: A preliminary analysis of the academic
integrity policies at Australian universities, presented at Australian Quality Forum, 29 June-
1 July, Melbourne, Australia. http://www.auqa.edu.au/files/auqf/paper/paper_h20.pdf
Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., Green, M., East, J., James, C., McGowan, U.,
Partridge, L. (2011b). Core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy in Australian
higher education, International Journal for Educational Integrity, 7(2), pp. 3-12, available
online: http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/IJEI/article/viewFile/759/574
Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Walker, R., Wallace, M., McGowan, U., East, J., Green, M., Partridge, L.
and James, C. (2013). ‘Teach us how to do it properly!’ An Australian academic integrity
student survey, Studies in Higher Education,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.777406
Carroll, J. & Appleton, J. (2001). Plagiarism: A good practice guide, JISC Joint Information
Systems,UK.
http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20140614152728/http://www.jisc.ac.uk/
media/documents/programmes/plagiarism/brookes.pdf
Useful references
Chung, F. (2015). The great Aussie degree scam: Forgers raking in thousands selling bogus
qualifications, news.com, 30 March, http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/the-great-aussie-
degree-scam-forgers-raking-in-thousands-selling-bogus-qualifications/story-fnkgbb3b-
1227284475119
Davis, S.F, Drinan, P. & Bertram Gallant, T. (2009). Cheating in school: What we know and what
we can do, Wiley-Blackwell, UK.
Exemplary Academic Integrity Project: www.unisa.edu.au/EAIP
Harding, D. (2015). Three hundred people arrested, 750 students expelled in India after mass cheating
scandal, New York Daily News, 22 March 22. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/hundreds-
arrested-expelled-india-cheating-exams-article-1.2158517 [accessed 2 November 2015]
HEA (2011a). Policy works: Recommendations for reviewing policy to manage unacceptable academic
practice in higher education, Higher Education Academy JISC Academic Integrity Service
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/academicintegrity/policy_works
HEA (2011b). Supporting academic integrity: Approaches and resources for higher education, Higher
Education Academy JISC Academic Integrity Service
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/academicintegrity/SupportingAcademicIntegrity
_v2.pdf
International Center for Academic Integrity (2012) Fundamental Values Project (revised)
http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/resources-2.php
Lancaster, T. & Clarke, R. (2016). Contract cheating: The outsourcing of assessed student work. In
Bretag, T. (Ed). Handbook of Academic Integrity, Springer.
Mahmud, S. and Bretag T. (2013b). Postgraduate research students and academic integrity: ‘It's about
good research training’. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 35(4), 432-443.
Mahmud, S. & Bretag, T. (2013a). Fostering integrity in postgraduate research: An evidence-based
policy and support framework, Accountability in Research, DOI:10.1080/08989621.2014.847668
Useful references
Newton, P. & Lang, C. (2016). Custom essay writers, freelancers and other paid third parties,
Chapter 19 in Bretag, T. (Ed). Handbook of Academic Integrity, Springer.
QAA (2016). Plagiarism in higher education: Custom essay writing services: An exploration and next
steps for the UK higher education sector,
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Plagiarism-in-Higher-Education-2016.pdf
[accessed 4 October 2016]
Rigby, D., Burton, M., Balcombe, K., Bateman, I. & Mulatu, A. (2015). Contract cheating and the
market in essays. Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization, 111, 25-37.
Saddiqui, S. (2016). Engaging students and faculty: Examining and overcoming the barriers, Chapter
69 in Bretag, T. (Ed). Handbook of Academic Integrity, Springer.
Swearingon, B., Stinnett, K., Johnson, a. & Tomasi, T. (2015). The new technologies of academic
dishonesty, 23rd Annual International Conference on Academic Integrity: Integrity in the Real
World, Vancouver, Canada, 26 February-1 March.
Visentin, L. (2015a). MyMaster essay cheating scandal: More than 70 university students face
suspension, Sydney Morning Herald online, 19 March, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/mymaster-
essay-cheating-scandal-more-than-70-university-students-face-suspension-20150318-
1425oe.html
Visentin, L. (2015b) Sydney University to crack down on cheating following MyMaster investigation,
Sydney Morning Herald online, 13 April, http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-university-to-
crack-down-on-cheating-following-mymaster-investigation-20150413-1mju3q.html
Wallace, M.J. & Newton, P.M. (2014). Turnaround time and market capacity in contract cheating
Educational Studies, 40(2), 233-236.
Useful references
Slide 3
Storm photograph. Creative commons image from Pixabay. Free for commercial use.
Slide 8
Photographs of on-campus advertising (authors’ own)
https://thinkswap.com/
https://www.coursehero.com/
http://custom-papers.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/
https://www.customwritings.com/
Slide 12
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/128037
Slide 21
Deakin University http://www.dusa.org.au/Advocacy-(1)/Contract-Cheating
George Mason University https://www2.gmu.edu/
Brigham Young Student Honor Association http://www.byui.edu/student-honor-office
University of Windsor http://www1.uwindsor.ca/academicintegrityoffice/
UniSA, Office for Academic Integrity
Images