Academic integrity violations on the rise at USD
USD’s interim vice provost sent out a mass email addressing the rise of cheating during a global pandemic
Tyler Pugmire / News Editor
On the first day of the Spring 2021 semester, Roger Pace, Ph.D., interim vice provost, sent an email to the USD student body regarding an increase of academic integrity infractions that have happened since shifting to an online learning format.
In the fall semester of 2020, the first remote learning semester, there were a total of 32 academic integrity violations reported to the office of the provost, according to Dr. Pace. This was an increase from 23 infractions in Spring 2020, and is more than 400% increase from the five cases in the Fall semester of 2019, the last semester to be fully in-person.
These numbers are likely lower than the actual count of students that have been caught by professors because some professors refrain from reporting to administrators and prefer to handle the situation independently. This has become a problem for administration because they are finding it more difficult to find serial violators of the academic integrity policy, according to Pace.
Plagiarism has been the most prominent form of violation to the academic integrity guidelines, followed closely by using third-party websites for exam answers, he said.
Cases have risen at universities across the globe, with as many as 100 cases of cheating at the University of British Columbia on a single math midterm, as well as at Texas State University where there has been a 33% increase of cheating cases reported. As stated in an email sent to the student body, the main offense at TSU comes in the form of visiting third-party websites during exams in order to find answers.
One of the more popular websites students look to for homework and test answers is Chegg, which has begun reporting to universities if they suspect foul use on their website. Chegg’s stock price has tripled since the COVID-19 lockdowns and classroom restrictions that began Mar. 13, 2020.
These violations occur more often in the STEM departments because most exam questions are based on formulas and numbers, whereas an English or philosophy exam comes in the form of essay answers, according to Pace.
USD professors have been notified through the college deans that these infractions are on the rise, and have been asked to come up with their own questions, as opposed to those from a textbook.
“We are hoping for a grassroots effort, where faculty can encourage students (to take their exams without any outside help),” Pace said. “We are not recommending the use of the Respondus Lockdown Browser, and we know that there are concerns from students about privacy there.”
Administrators aimed to alleviate the urge to cheat on exams by sending out the mass email, and do not plan on sending another blanket statement to the student body, but are exploring other ways to encourage honest learning.
“My goal with the email was to motivate students to rethink how they’re approaching it and even though that there may be easy ways around the work, that is never an adequate substitute for learning the material,” Pace said.
As students navigate their way through a global pandemic, it is clear that no one is entirely aware of what anyone may be going through and, in uncertain times, it seems as though most of the cheating comes from a “time crunch” as Pace says. He also noted that there does not seem to be many cases of premeditated cheating at this time.
Less than a week after the email by Pace, while San Diego remained in the purple tier, Gail F. Baker, Ph.D., provost and vice president, announced that the spring semester would be starting remotely. Classes will remain online until the county can enter the red tier, and when professors feel it safe enough for themselves to deliver material in a socially distanced, in-person classroom.
While classes remain online, USD officially has more than 1,000 students living in on-campus housing, according to Pace.