-= NMSU PANORAMA - Summer 2006 =- Classroom Cheating Goes Modern

Features

Classroom Cheating Goes Modern

By Jeany Llorente-Ontiveros '00

NMSU professor is working to promote academic integrity

In today’s fast-paced modern world, mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs are not luxuries anymore; they have become necessities.

Created to make life easier and people more accessible, these gadgets – at times – have been tools of deceit and dishonesty.

A growing and alarming trend in today’s world of higher education is cheating with technology. Universities across the country have felt the effects of this development, including New Mexico State University.

But instead of dealing with the consequences after the fact, an assistant professor of management in the College of Business has been working proactively to combat cheating and promote a culture of honesty, honor and truthfulness.

For three years, Grace Ann Rosile has been at the forefront of academic integrity.

“My approach goes beyond procedural justice and due process in prosecuting cheaters,” she says. “Instead of focusing on the ‘bad apple,’ I emphasize methods to engage all students as well as faculty in promoting a classroom culture supporting integrity.”

Rosile didn’t begin her career with an interest in this type of research. She fell into it after having a firsthand experience with the issue.

In 2003, she failed nine students in one of her classes for using cell phone text messages to cheat on a test.

When she caught wind of the cheating, she faced a tough decision. She could change her testing methods and quietly “plug the hole and move on – sadder, wiser and more cynical” or face the situation head-on. Rosile chose the latter. She found a way to turn it into a positive experience.

“I thought about what was most fair to the whole group of students,” Rosile says.

Instead of tucking the issue away, Rosile opened up her classroom for discussion, which led to a learning experience for her and her students.

“I thought they just wanted to forget about it and move on, but the students started a discussion that lasted 45 minutes,” Rosile says.

Rosile noted that her students thanked her for standing up for the group as a whole and not allowing others to get away with cheating.

The lengthy conversation with her students provided Rosile with the beginnings of many classroom exercises.

To create a climate where cheating is not a taboo topic, Rosile talks about her experience with cheating and gathers anonymous student feedback, a process that “may yield the greatest candor,” Rosile says.

Devon A. Newell, a marketing major with a minor in management, has participated in Rosile’s classroom activities.

“We have done a few competitive activities that have to do with being honest,” the senior says. “It’s an interesting way to learn about these types of topics.”

Newell notes that discussing the issue is important because it emphasizes the significance of doing one’s own work and being true to oneself.

Most recently, Rosile’s activities have included writing a chapter for the book “Critical Perspectives on Business.” Her chapter will be on Ethics and Pedagogy. Rosile has continued to develop new activities where students discuss ethical dilemmas, including a classroom exercise which builds on an existing 1996 Mt. Everest climbing disaster scenario and extends these principles to corporations and academia.

Grace Ann Rosile, NMSU assistant professor of management, was awarded the “Champion of Integrity” award from the Center for Academic Integrity in fall 2005. Photo by Darren Phillips

Rosile has also conducted workshops for faculty on the NMSU Las Cruces campus and one at a national conference for management professors. Future possibilities include workshops at other NMSU campuses. She has written several articles, conference proceedings and conference presentations on the subject.

Rosile’s efforts against cheating behavior and her work thereafter didn’t go unnoticed.

In fall 2005, Rosile was awarded the “Champion of Integrity” award from the Center for Academic Integrity (CAI).

She received the award for her commitment to academic integrity, her willingness to “do the right thing” despite obstacles and/or rebuff, and for her contribution to effecting positive change among students, peers and colleagues within educational communities.

In a letter written to Rosile, Timothy M. Dodd, executive director of CAI, said the organization was “particularly impressed by her efforts at ‘championing’ integrity through workshops, conferences, and published proceedings and articles.”

Cheating on college campuses is more common than people choose to believe.

On most campuses, 70 percent of students admit to some cheating, according to research conducted for the Center for Academic Integrity. The survey also showed that close to one-quarter of the participating students admitted to serious test cheating in the past year, and half admitted to one or more instances of serious cheating on written assignments.

On the positive side, the study showed that academic honor codes help reduce cheating. Surveys taken in 1990, 1995 and 1999 revealed the positive effect of honor codes and student control of academic integrity. Campuses with honor codes typically have lower serious test cheating, from one-third to one-half lower than campuses without honor codes.

The findings were part of a nationwide academic integrity survey of almost 50,000 undergraduates on more than 60 campuses. The survey began in fall 2002, with the most current results released in June 2005.

Cheating is also prevalent in high schools, according to center studies. Results showed that more than 70 percent of survey participants in public and parochial schools admitted to one or more instances of serious test cheating. The surveys were conducted at more than 61 schools with about 18,000 students responding.

Rosile says there are several false assumptions in regards to cheating. First, do not assume students don’t cheat in your class. Second, the students who actually do the act of cheating are not the only problem; the students who witness or condone cheating are responsible as well. Third, enough is never enough. If “ethical issues” are discussed in a class, do not assume students will apply it to “immediate ethical choices about classroom behavior.”

Center for Academic Iintegrity, www.academicintegrity.org

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