MODULE 201 1

Purpose

This study was conducted due to concerns on colleges and university campuses about

academic dishonesty in regards to internet plagiarism. Several under-graduate students were

surveyed about these concerns and the findings lead to this study. The findings made it clear that

cheating and internet plagiarism is on the rise. In the article it stated that “many students believe

that they do not need to cite information found on the Internet because the information is public

knowledge” (Jones, 2011).

Method

A study in regards to academic dishonesty was conducted with a group of 48 students

enrolled in an online business communication course during Fall semester, 2010. They designed a

survey to answer each of the following six questions:

1. What percentage of students engages in cheating?

2. What percentage of students engages in Internet plagiarism?

3. What are the reasons for students to engage in academic dishonesty— cheating and

Internet plagiarism?

4. What do students perceive to be plagiarism/cheating?

5. How was information about academic dishonesty—cheating and plagiarism—

previously disseminated?

6. Did the students at the University of Central Florida cheat?

Synopsis

From the study findings, the online business college was able to redesign their course. This

was due to the fact they their current course was filled with plagiarism instructional strategies. The

study showed that 92% either cheated themselves or knew of someone else cheating. When the
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students were asked directly if they would cheat, 59 % said they would cheat intentionally. When

looking at the results of students who engaged in internet plagiarism about 50% of the students

indicated that they did or knew someone who had engaged in Internet plagiarism. The survey asked

for the reasons for these answers they had various responses but the most common response was

due to performance. From these findings, the study listed several instructional strategies that

teachers can do to equip students with the essential tools to reduce academic dishonesty—cheating

and Internet plagiarism. Some of these strategies are:

 Review the academic integrity policy during initial course orientation

 Give students a quiz, such as a treasure hunt, on the university’s academic integrity policy.

 Incorporate hyperlinks to some of the popular Internet tutorials.

Application

I think these findings are interesting because you see this even in elementary schools. These

findings are significant because while technology is a great educational tool, it can also be a

handicap. The findings from this study will improve my own instructional practices by making

sure when including technology in my classroom, I give proper instructions and be a positive role

model of how to use technology. It also stated in the article that when “appropriate digital

citizenship is stressed in all academic areas, teachers will begin to make a difference” (Jones,2011).

I remember this year, we had to do a lesson on digital citizenship at the beginning of the year. If I

am being honest, I thought it was crazy to have to go through each lesson with my second graders.

After reading this study, my thoughts have changed and I will take my time going through the

digital citizenship lessons with my second graders next year. I realize that academic dishonesty

involving technology can start at young age and by providing my students with digital citizenship

I can do my part.
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References

Jones, D. L. R. (2011). Academic Dishonesty: Are more students cheating? Business

Communication Quarterly, 74(2), 141–150. Retrieved from

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