Assessments: Curbing Cheating

One of the issues that comes up each time you talk about assessing online is the problem of cheating. The most frequently asked question is how you limit the possibility of students cheating. How do you know it is the student taking the assessment? How do you know that they are not using other materials or each other? These are excellent questions when it comes to online assessments. So, what are the answers? Here are some suggestions on how you can handle this issue.

If you decide you want to give a traditional assessment; for example, a quiz or exam with multiple choice or matching questions, the best ways to limit cheating are:

• have a big database of questions and use questions sets so students do not receive the same questions
   
• limit the time that the students are able to take the assessment
   
• show one question at a time so that they cannot print the assessment easily
   
• if appropriate and possible, proctor the assessment
   
• allow students to use their notes and resource materials with the understanding that they will have a limited amount of time to take the assessment, so they will not be able to look up all the answers
   
• allow students to take the assessment twice and average the grades together, this may lower the level of anxiety, which may in turn lower the need to cheat
   
• increase the number of assessments so that each one is not worth as much; therefore, students are not as likely to feel they need to cheat. You can also combine this with the ability to drop a grade or two.

Another alternative is that you can change the way you do assessments:

• create group assessments where they can use notes, other resources, and each other
   
• create more open-ended questions
   
• continue to limit the amount of time they have to complete the assessment
   
• switch from traditional, objective testing to more alternative assessments, like portfolios, projects, papers, or group activities.