I first became aware of the seriousness of the contract cheating* ‘problem‘, when Tracey Bretag, a co-leader of the contract cheating and assessment design project, presented findings from a survey of over 14,000 Australian university students and 1,100 staff to a Charles Sturt Learning and Teaching Leaders Forum in mid-2017. It showed that several disciplines in our Faculty were contract cheating ‘hot spots’, that the link between public perceptions of professional integrity and academic integrity was being overlooked and that we were not talking to our students about their risks they were exposing themselves and the community to by engaging in contract cheating .
In response I resolved to give considerable focus to the issue at our April 2018 Learning and Teaching Symposium in Wagga, attended by over 200 Faculty staff. To that end I invited Associate Professor, Cath Ellis to not only give a keynote address on the research findings but to co-plan a series of disciplined based workshops, immediately after the key note address. These workshops were aimed at producing a range of brief activities and accompanying resources that can be used by academic staff to begin conversations with their students about contract cheating.
Modules developed
Based on contributions from participants in those workshops, I worked with Nicole Mitchell to develop a series of modules aimed at deterring cheating behaviours by making students more aware of the personal and public risks associated with cheating at university. A prevention and support activity has also been included. The activities can be used in both synchronous (online and face-to-face) and asynchronous settings, on their own or as a series of activities. These modules have been made available to all via the university’s learning and teaching wiki but to try and strike a balance between maximising student exposure to the resources and minimising duplication I consulted with the Faculty L&T Teaching Committee, Heads of School and Course Directors on the 1 or 2 subjects in each school that might be well placed to embed these resources.
Although I communicated with the 201930 convenors of all selected subjects it became apparent that the message about these resources did not always filter down to the subject coordinators of all cohorts. Consequently I communicated directly with the subject convenors and coordinators of 201960 selected subjects and worked again with Nicole Mitchell to package the resources into an easy to use downloadable zip file. I recognise that there is more to do make students aware of the dangers of contract cheating. To that I recently joined a steering committee to plan Charles Sturt University’s first involvement in the International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating and we are working on ensuring that the new Charles Sturt Academic Integrity Course complements the resources we have developed.
Detection workshops
Of course the other side of the equation is giving our academic the skills to identify students who have chosen to ignore the risks and have engaged in contract cheating. To that end, in 2019 I prepared and delivered workshops in most schools in the Faculty based on a paper prepared by Cath Ellis and using real examples (with student names changed). The workshops have been well received but have provoked discussion about the risks of incorrectly accusing a student of contract cheating as well as the time it takes to resolve and allegation. Both are issues that require further judgement and resources to resolve.
Warwick Baines
Sub Dean Learning and Teaching 4 September 2019
*My definition of contract cheating is the one adopted by Cath Ellis: a student procures a third party (who knows about and benefits from the transaction) to produce academic work (usually but not always assessable work) on their behalf and then submits it to an educational institution as if it were their own work.
