The Academic Integrity Technological Arms Race and its Impact on Learning, Teaching, and Assessment

Sarah Elaine Eaton

doi:10.21432/cjlt28388

Authors

Sarah Elaine Eaton University of Calgary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21432/cjlt28388

Keywords:

academic integrity, academic misconduct, technology, text-matching software, artificial intelligence, online proctoring

Abstract

This essay discusses the technological arms race that has developed in response to academic cheating. The author highlights three technological advances that impact academic integrity, from oldest to newest: a) text-matching software, b) online exam proctoring software, and c) artificial intelligence and Large Language Models (LLMs). This essay argues that there is no “silver bullet” to preventing or investigating academic misconduct and that our ethical obligations for learning, teaching, and assessment must include a human focus to promote student success.

Author Biography

Sarah Elaine Eaton, University of Calgary

Sarah Elaine Eaton is an Associate Professor at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. Her recent books include Plagiarism in Higher Education: Tackling Tough Topics in Academic Integrity (2021), Academic Integrity in Canada: An Enduring and Essential Challenge (Eaton & Christiansen Hughes, eds., 2022), and Contract cheating in higher education: Global perspectives on theory, practice, and policy (Eaton, Curtis, Stoesz, Rundle, Clare, & Seeland, eds., 2022).

References

American College of Radiology. (n.d.). What is a Radiologist? https://www.acr.org/Practice-Management-Quality-Informatics/Practice-Toolkit/Patient-Resources/About-Radiology

Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teacher presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(2), 1-17.

Berkey, D., & Halfond, J. (2015). Cheating, Student Authentication and Proctoring in Online Programs. New England Journal of Higher Education, 1-1.

Bertram Gallant, T. (2008). Academic integrity in the twenty-first century: A teaching and learning imperative. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Bretag, T., & Mahmud, S. (2009). A model for determining student plagiarism: Electronic detection and academic judgement. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 6(1). http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/vol6/iss1/6

Chrysanthos, N. (2020, May 22). 'You’re being watched and recorded, every breath': Students unsettled by exam software. The Sydney Morning Herxald. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/you-re-being-watched-and-recorded-every-breath-students-unsettled-by-exam-software-20200519-p54ucb.html

Clarke, R., & Lancaster, T. (2006). Eliminating the successor to plagiarism: Identifying the usage of contract cheating sites. Paper presented at the Second International Plagiarism Conference, The Sage Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, United Kingdom.

Dans, E. (2019, February 6). Meet Bertie, Heliograf And Cyborg, the new journalists on the block. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2019/02/06/meet-bertie-heliograf-and-cyborg-the-new-journalists-on-the-block/?sh=669bf965138d

Dawson, P. (2020). Strategies for Using Online Invigilated Exams. https://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/strategies-for-using-online-invigilated-exams.pdf

Dayma, B., & Cuenca, P. (2022, June 28). DALL·E mini: Generate Images from any text prompt. Weights and Biases. https://wandb.ai/dalle-mini/dalle-mini/reports/DALL-E-mini-Generate-Images-from-Any-Text-Prompt--VmlldzoyMDE4NDAy

Dubiansky, S. (2020, October 28). Students speak out on controversial lockdown browsers for online courses. Technician Online. http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_c9693924-1996-11eb-869a-4b90407243a0.html

Eaton, S. E. (2020). E-Proctoring: Understanding the debate about invigilating remote exams. https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/e-proctoring-understanding-the-debate-about-invigilating-remote-exams/

Eaton, S. E. (2021). Plagiarism in higher education: Tackling tough topics in academic integrity. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Eaton, S. E., Mindzak, M., & Morrison, R. (2021, June 1). The impact of text-generating technologies on academic integrity: AI & AI Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration (CASEA), University of Alberta [online]. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113569

Eaton, S. E., Stoesz, B. M., Godfrey Anderson, J. R., & LeBlanc-Haley, J. (2022, April 25). Academic integrity through an equity lens: Policy analysis of universities in Atlantic Canada American Educational Research Association (AERA) [online], San Diego, USA. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/114574

Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating cognitive presence in online learning: Interaction is not enough. American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), 133-148.

Hayden, K. A., Eaton, S. E., Pethrick, H., Crossman, K., Lenart, B. A., & Penaluna, L. A. (2021). A scoping review of text-matching software used for student academic integrity in higher education. Education Research International, 2021, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/4834860

Howard, R. M. (2001). Forget about policing plagiarism. Just teach. The Chronicle of Higher Education, B24. http://chronicle.com/article/Forget-About-Policing/2792

Lancaster, T. (2022, May 6). Artificial intelligence led threats to academic integrity [online] European Network on Academic Integrity (ENAI) 8th European Conference on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism (ECAIP) 2022, Porto, Portugal.

Lang, J. M. (2013). Cheating lessons: Learning from academic dishonesty. Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press.

McKenzie, L. (2021, April 6). Proctoring Tool Failed to Recognize Dark Skin, Students Say. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/06/proctoring-tool-failed-recognize-dark-skin-students-say

Moro, J. (2020). Against cop shit. Jeffreymoro,com. https://jeffreymoro.com/blog/2020-02-13-against-cop-shit/

Morris, E. J. (2016). Academic Integrity: A Teaching and Learning Approach. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of Academic Integrity (pp. 1037-1053). Singapore: Springer Singapore.

Mortati, J., & Carmel, E. (2021). Can we prevent a technological arms race in university student cheating? Computer. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9548108

Parnther, C., & Eaton, S. E. (2021, June 23). Academic integrity and anti-Black aspects of educational surveillance and e-proctoring. Teachers College Record. https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/TCZ/Commentaries%20Collection/2021%20Commentaries/Academic%20Integrity%20and%20Anti-Black%20Aspects%20of%20Educational%20Surveillance%20and%20E-Proctoring-1650325575.pdf

Rich, S. (2022). The new poem-making machinery. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-new-poem-making-machinery

Rowland Williams, J. (2021, November 1). Rethinking Assessment, Equity and Academic Integrity. Diverse Issues in Higher Education. https://www.diverseeducation.com/opinion/article/15280803/rethinking-assessment-equity-and-academic-integrity

Seabrook, J. (2019, October 14). The next word: Where will predictive text take us? The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/can-a-machine-learn-to-write-for-the-new-yorker

Sharples, M. (2022). New AI tools that can write student essays require educators to rethink teaching and assessment. LSE Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2022/05/17/new-ai-tools-that-can-write-student-essays-require-educators-to-rethink-teaching-and-assessment/

Stoesz, B. M., & Eaton, S. E. (2020). Academic integrity policies of publicly funded universities in western Canada. Educational Policy. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904820983032

Stoesz, B. M., Eaton, S. E., Miron, J. B., & Thacker, E. (2019). Academic integrity and contract cheating policy analysis of colleges in Ontario, Canada. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 15(4), 1-18. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-019-0042-4

Swauger, S. (2020, June 7). Taking Back the Narrative of Ed Tech. Shea Swauger. https://www.sheaswauger.com/post/taking-back-the-narrative-of-ed-tech

Talview. (2016). Online Proctoring is Trending: Here is All You Must Know. https://blog.talview.com/a-complete-guide-to-online-remote-proctoring

Thomas, J., & Scott, J. (2016). UK perspectives on academic integrity. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of Academic Integrity (pp. 39-53). Singapore: Springer Singapore.

Vaughan, N. D., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Garrison, D. R. (Eds.). (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments. Athabasca University Press. http://www.aupress.ca/books/120229/ebook/99Z_Vaughan_et_al_2013-Teaching_in_Blended_Learning_Environments.pdf

Vogt, L., & Mercer, B. (2022, May 19). Getting off the beaten path… Authentic assessments that enhance teaching, learning, and academic integrity [online]. Paper presented at the Academic Integrity Inter-Institutional Meeting (AIIIM) 2022, Winnipeg, Canada.

Weber-Wulff, D. (2016). Plagiarism detection software: Promises, pitfalls, and practices. In T. Bretag (Ed.), Handbook of Academic Integrity (pp. 625-638). Singapore: Springer Singapore.