Essay Cheat

University Wire September 18, 2007 Tuesday Penn State faculty cracks down on academic dishonesty By Leslie Finlay, Daily Collegian; SOURCE: Penn State 577 words DATELINE: UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. With assignments constantly looming, some students can be tempted to disregard the honor code and cheat to get by. But with an entourage of faculty and staff at its helm, Pennsylvania State University is taking the pledge to eliminate this temptation by making academic integrity a top priority in the coming years. "We're paying such close attention to academic integrity because we care about our students' learning," said John Harwood, senior director of Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn State. Harwood, along with several of his colleagues, delivered a report on academic integrity to Penn State's Board of Trustees on Sept. 7, illustrating its importance and the steps the university is taking to make honesty a staple in every classroom. "The role of faculty is critical for preventing development of a culture of cheating," said Angela Linse, executive director of the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence. "Some students cheat because they are bored with a class or an instructor or because they see the assignment as irrelevant." The presentation listed several strategies faculty members have been encouraged to implement into their curriculum. "None of the strategies suggest to dumb down the workload," Linse said. Instead, faculty members have been encouraged to help students manage their workload, employ active teaching and implement preventive measures to make cheating difficult. These measures include designing courses around progressive assignments and assigning original topics. More than 50 percent of faculty consider cheating a moderate problem on campus, Harwood said. However, devices such as turnitin.com have made it easier for faculty members to monitor cheating in their classes. "There is no evidence of widespread plagiarism," Harwood said, noting that nearly 1,000 faculty members have used turnitin.com for more than 64,000 papers in the past two years. "Only 4 percent of papers show significant lack of originality." Recent years have shown faculty becoming more proactive in cracking down on academic dishonesty. The number of cases reported in the past year reached 417. Before the policy was established in the 2001-2002 school year, about 15 cases were reported per year. Robert Pangborn, dean of Undergraduate Education, said most cases consisted of plagiarism and copying. He said cases were prevalent among, but not limited to, younger students. "First-year students may just not know better, but in the upper division, stakes are higher and the temptation greater," he said. Much of the university's dedication to academic integrity has developed from the honor code implemented at Smeal College of Business under its dean, Jim Thomas. Thomas strongly promotes student involvement in upholding honesty in education and said it must be a cultural shift with students' futures in mind. "[Integrity] is expected in the marketplace," Thomas said. "It is a function of careers in corporate America and the corporate world." Thanks to modern technology, such an honor system may at one point become irrelevant. Later this fall, Pollock Computer Lab's new testing center will be open with security measures in place such as pre-registration, student ID card-swiping, log-in, visual verification, 24-hour surveillance video monitors and exam proctors. "When our students take an exam there, we have all reasonable measures for students to be assessed on what he or she knows," Harwood said. (C) 2007 Daily Collegian via U-WIRE September 18, 2007 ENGLISH Newspaper Copyright 2007 Daily Collegian via U-Wire