One in six university students admitted to cheating while taking online exams in the last year, according to a recent survey.
The poll, which involved 900 undergraduate students, was carried out by Alpha Academic Appeals. It revealed that 16% of students said they had cheated during online assessments. However, of those who admitted to it, only 5% were found out.
33% said they thought cheating in online exams was either not wrong, or ‘mildly wrong.’ Former lecturer and lead barrister at Alpha Academic Appeals, Daniel Sokol, deemed cheating a ‘major problem in academic institutions in the UK.’
Covid changes exam processes
Times Higher Education reported that 100% of the respondents said they had taken an online exam during this academic year, despite Covid-19 measures not being as strict.
But how did these students cheat? Responses from cheating students revealed that they had messaged a friend, used Google, or asked their parents to check their answers before submitting their exams for marking. The largest proportion of students who admitted to cheating were first years, although only slightly.
The level of cheating on online exams appears to be higher than that of in-person exams, simply due to the increased ease of it. 79% of respondents said they believed it was easier to cheat when not in an exam hall.
While some students, 37%, said that their university had attempted to stop cheating by implementing measures such as software that monitors online behaviour during assessments, another 37% said that these measures were not applied by their uni.
A student perspective
As a student during the pandemic, I found myself seated at my computer, ready to take an online exam more than once. I was an English Literature student, meaning my take-home exams were open book papers which I had several days to complete. I did these alone, worked hard, and submitted them. Could I have done better in these exams if I was in a better situation? If there were in-person seminars all year, more support, and an actual exam hall for me to take my exams in? Unfortunately, I will never know the answer.
However, I had assumed that everyone was in the same boat. To find out that as many as one in six students were cheating on exams, while others were trying to abide by the rules and maintain academic integrity in a time where we were all struggling, is upsetting.