Think Students in Your Class Might Be Cheating? Here’s What to Do

Cheating has made headlines again in recent weeks with investigations at Dartmouth College and Duke University. The details of the two cases are different, but both involve alleged violations by many students in a single course, suddenly thrusting the instructors into the high-profile role of guarding their institution’s academic rigor.

At Dartmouth, a religion professor noticed a discrepancy between the number of students answering questions with clickers and the number who appeared to be in the room in his “Sports, Ethics, and Religion” course. After a bit of sleuthing, the professor, Randall Balmer, determined that some students were using the clickers for other students to make it appear that the absent students were showing up and completing in-class work—a violation of the college’s Academic Honor Principle. (See timeline.)

So while he did not relish the duty, Mr. Balmer felt obliged to report the incident. “If students are obligated to abide by the terms of the honor code,” he figured, “professors are as well.”

At Duke, meanwhile, the investigation involves assignments submitted by “a number of students” that were suspiciously similar to the solutions available online or to the work of other students. Each of the hundreds of students who took the course, in computer science, last spring or who are enrolled in it now received an email saying they might receive a lighter academic penalty if they came forward now and confessed to cheating rather than be investigated. (The email was first reported by the student newspaper, The Chronicle.)

The university and the visiting professor who informed officials of the incident both declined to comment because the investigation is still in progress.

Cheating is widespread, experts say, and it could happen in any professor’s class. So what should you do if it happens in yours? Here’s what the experts say:

How common is cheating?

Surveys suggest that some students will try to cheat even when professors do everything right, says Teddi Fishman, director of the International Center for Academic Integrity. Researchers estimate that about 20 percent of students won’t cheat, regardless of the environment they’re in. Another 20 percent will try to cheat even if professors take extra precautions. But, Ms. Fishman says, “the great big middle you can influence.”

Can cheating be stopped before it starts?

To a point. Students tend to regard cheating as a “victimless crime,” Ms. Fishman says. Teaching them that cheating does matter and has real-world consequences can make a difference, she argues. It helps, for instance, to explain that if a college gets a reputation for graduating students without the skills they’re supposed to have, it will cheapen everyone’s degree.

Professors can also reduce the chance students will cheat by conveying that they care about their students, and by having them sign a statement saying their work is their own before they take a test, Ms. Fishman says.

It also helps, she says, if professors monitor an examination from the back of the room instead of from the front: “It’s completely simple and low-tech.” Low-tech solutions are good, Ms. Fishman says, because “professors cannot out-tech their students.”

Good course design that accounts for the technology students use also helps, says Tricia Bertram Gallant, the center’s outreach coordinator. Still, she says, the goal is not to make cheating impossible. Ideally, it’s something students will choose not to do.

I think students might be cheating in my class. What should I do?

Professors who suspect students of cheating might investigate on their own, as Mr. Balmer did at Dartmouth, as long as they can do so without violating students’ privacy, says James M. Lang, a professor of English and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption College. (He is also a regular contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Advice section.)

Another option, he says, is to report the incident to a dean or to whoever oversees academic integrity on the campus. “Most disciplinary officers like to know about faculty suspicions,” Mr. Lang says, “even if they don’t come to anything.” Suspicions can help shed light on systemic problems on a campus.

I know that students cheated in my class. Now what?

When students are caught, it’s important to discern whether they knew that what they did was cheating, Ms. Fishman says. If the student did not understand, and it’s the first time, then the penalty should be educative, she says. But the incident should also be reported.

“Every act of cheating has to be reported to a central office on campus,” Mr. Lang agrees. Professors, he says, should not try to work out a punishment or other arrangement with a student on their own. The reason? “A student could be getting a separate deal in 40 different classes.”

Many colleges have distinct punishments for first-time versus repeat offenders. But unless incidents are reported centrally, no one knows which is which.

Professors who catch cheating are often angry or frustrated, Mr. Lang says. Having someone else on the campus handle the incident helps ensure punishments aren’t set on emotional grounds.

Some colleges have honor codes, others do not—and the codes are a better fit for some campuses than others, he says. Whatever system a college has in place, Mr. Lang says, the best thing a faculty member can do is follow it. If the system itself is flawed, he adds, professors should work with the administration to change it.