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Though cheating is certainly not unique to the online environment, and in fact some studies have shown that cheating online is equally or less prevalent than in a physical classroom (see study findings from the US and from Australia), many instructors have reasonable concerns about opportunities for students to cheat online. These concerns may include:

inappropriate access to resources when completing an online assessment
copying answers or text found online
sharing answers with other students
contracting with a third party to complete online classwork
misrepresenting material created by generative artificial intelligence (AI)

It's important to consider that what might look like cheating may represent more a lack of understanding of the academic environment than malice on the part of a student. Approaching academic integrity from a mindset of helping students to learn - rather than policing student misbehavior - informs not only our immediate response when we detect what appears to be inappropriate student action, but also our entire approach to designing online learning experiences and assessment.

Approaches to Increasing Academic Integrity Online

Review each tab below to explore different dimensions of strategies to enhance academic integrity online.

Course/assessment redesign
Proctoring
Code of conduct and instructor leadership
Increasing Canvas exam security
Plagiarism prevention

Course/assessment redesign

Use multiple choice and essay questions requiring application of skills and analysis of knowledge rather than simple factual recall when appropriate. (If recall-type outcomes are important for your class, see below regarding proctoring.)
Design tests as open note/open resource so that you do not get caught in an “arms race” with students. (Such tests also typically place a premium on application and analysis rather than recall.)

Alter assignments and tests from semester to semester rather than reusing assignments for which students can easily pass along answers. Just in case you were not aware, many "homework help" websites are little more than repositories for students to post and retrieve answers to assignments.

Proctoring

Code of conduct and instructor leadership

Discuss with students the reasons why academic integrity is important.
Emphasize the benefits (and pleasures!) of truly engaging with course material and learning, rather than focusing on grades.
Develop relationships with students through regular interaction. This will enable you to better detect unusual behaviors and written work. Perhaps more importantly, this will help students to be more likely to feel invested in authentic learning with you. This will also help you decide when to respond to inappropriate student behavior with guidance and correction rather than discipline or punishment.
Have students sign or even jointly develop a statement such as a code of conduct summarizing the class's expectations and requirements for academic honesty.
Include a question on exams or other work that has students agree to the code of conduct and/or that has students indicate that they have completed the work on their own without using prohibited resources. (Read how another California Community College has approached this, on paper and in Canvas.)

Increasing Canvas exam security

When testing students through Canvas, the following methods can further reduce the ability for students to cheat. Note that as of 2023, Canvas has two different tools for managing tests – Quizzes (the original) and New Quizzes. New Quizzes is still being developed; at this time it has both advantages and limitations (see a New Quizzes FAQ) compared to the original Quizzes tool, but it is expected to eventually fully replace Quizzes (no definitive date has been announced as of June 2024). Links to Canvas guides for both Quizzes and New Quizzes are given following each item below as applicable.

NOTE: Some of the strategies below (especially limiting student ability to go back and forth between questions or to view multiple questions) may be harmful to students' legitimate test-taking strategies, particularly students with disabilities.

Availability Window – Restrict the availability of the test to a specific date/time range. Quizzes | New Quizzes
Time Limits – Limit the time a student can spend on a test once they start it. Quizzes | New Quizzes
Disallow Multiple Attempts – Multiple attempts is a great option for a “mastery” quiz where you want students to retake it until they achieve a certain level of proficiency; this isn’t typical of a summative, high-stakes assessment. Quizzes | New Quizzes
Delay Per-Question Feedback – Providing students feedback on each question can help them learn; delaying the availability of this feedback until after the test availability window is over can help ensure the integrity of the exam. (Note: In Quizzes, instructors can set a specific time when feedback becomes available; in New Quizzes feedback must be manually enabled or disabled.) Quizzes | New Quizzes
Answer Randomization – Answers to multiple choice questions can be randomized/shuffled so they are presented differently for different students. (Note: In Quizzes this is one setting for the entire quiz; in New Quizzes this is a per-question setting.) Quizzes | New Quizzes
Present Questions One at a Time – It can be more difficult for students to share answers with friends during testing if questions are only available one at a time. An additional option can prevent students from going back to previous questions, which can further strengthen the integrity of the exam, but can also frustrate students who legitimately realize they made a mistake on a previous question and wish to correct it. Quizzes | New Quizzes
Shuffle Questions (New Quizzes only) – This will present the quiz questions to students in random order. New Quizzes
Question Randomization with a Question Group/Item Bank – Drawing questions randomly from a pool (or pools) can make it even more difficult for students to productively share questions during an exam. Keep in mind that if your pool contains more questions than the number of questions you are drawing from the pool to go into the exam, you need to be careful about maintaining consistency of the questions within the pool (both in terms of outcomes measured and difficulty of the questions). Quizzes | New Quizzes
Calculated (Formula) Questions – Formula questions can include a range of values for one term/variable. Thus, the same question will have unique answers across different quizzes, but the question can still be auto-graded. Quizzes | New Quizzes
Require Presentation of ID – if you are not using a physical proctoring center, but you would like students to demonstrate that the person taking the test is the person enrolled in your class, one suggestion is to have students record a brief video holding a picture ID next to their face. This could be done with an Essay question that directs students to access their webcam through the Rich Content Editor and record this. Of course, this requires students to have a webcam (and still wouldn’t prevent the student from doing this, then having someone else complete the rest of the exam). Quizzes | New Quizzes
Restrict Computer Activity During Exam – Some third-party technologies enable faculty to require that the student’s computer and browser are “locked down” during an exam, preventing them from opening other browser windows or applications, taking screen captures, etc. MiraCosta does not have any institutional software tools to do this, but some individual departments may.

Plagiarism prevention

MiraCosta College licenses Turnitin, which may be used within Canvas to help prevent plagiarism. Most faculty prefer to use it as an educational tool rather than one for policing. This can be done by:

Enabling students to self-check their work with Turnitin (note, however, the AI-generated text capability Turnitin has added in 2023 is not available to students when self-checking work with Turnitin)
Requiring submission of drafts
Educating students about how to properly cite sources and avoid plagiarism
Giving students opportunities to revise work

MiraCosta faculty using Turnitin for plagiarism prevention should consider these key points from MiraCosta’s administrative procedure on intellectual property:

When an instructor makes use of software that incorporates student works into its database, as is common with plagiarism-prevention software, the use should be governed by the following guidelines:

- Student work may not be submitted to plagiarism-prevention software or other software that incorporates a student’s work into its database without the student’s knowledge.
- Students should be informed in the syllabus that such software is used in the course and that the software incorporates any student work submitted into its database.
- Students should be given alternatives, such as requiring students who do not submit their work to plagiarism-prevention software, to document their references using an annotated bibliography and/or photocopies of the first page of all sources used and/or to write a brief paper describing their research methodologies.

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What if You Observe a MiraCosta Student Behaving Inappropriately?

MiraCosta BP 5505 (Academic Integrity) gives the following examples of academic dishonesty: cheating, plagiarizing, falsification, and facilitation. If you believe that a student is acting in one of these ways in an online class, consider what you know about the student and whether it's possible this is a moment for further instruction rather than disciplinary action. If you feel stronger action needs to be taken, BP 5505 offers the following potential remedies:

verbal warning,
a lowered assignment grade,
submission of an academic integrity report to the Office of Student Affairs.

It is also noted that "Instructors may consult with the dean of Student Affairs or their designee to review appropriate remedies per state statutes and codes."

If you feel the need to report an incident of academic dishonesty or disruptive behavior to the Office of Student Affairs, fill out a Maxient CARE Referral form. This will enable Student Services personnel to begin investigating and provide support to you and to the student.

If you do discipline a student, you should also be aware of AP 5505, Academic Dishonesty Discipline Appeal Process.

Extending Your Professional Learning

The 4-page Best Practices Strategies to Promote Academic Integrity in Online Education (PDF) has been a key reference on the topic since its publication in 2009.

Note: Much of the text on this page is adapted from the Academic Integrity & Canvas Exams article, and some from the Turnitin article, originally posted on the MiraCosta TIC site.

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