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Student Tasks on Avoiding Cheating

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Task

Which if the following tasks would work best to minimise future incidences of contract cheating?

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You may also choose to discuss your response with a colleague or as part of a team meeting or CPD session.

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Embedding Awareness Raising in the Course

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Build an awareness of Contract Cheating into your course. This should take place at the point of need, rather than only in the initial induction or in academic advice sessions at the start of the course.

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Use a variety of contract cheating and plagiarism awareness tasks which are relevant and interesting. Use online quizzes, discussion and forums to discuss the issues of contract cheating and plagiarism, how to avoid it and what will happen if they do it.

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Discussion:

  • What is contract cheating?
  • How can you recognise contract cheating?
  • How do contract cheating companies snare you?
  • How widespread is contract cheating?
  • Why do students use contract cheating/
  • How can students how to avoid using contract cheating companies?.
  • How can a student report contract cheating?
  • What happens if you use contract cheating?

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Suggested responses are in the next slides. This Student Association resource.

Student Association resource

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Matching: Match the Term with the Definition

Contract cheating

If you use someone else to do your assessments. This includes online tutoring sites which answer questions in real time.

Chegging

When students use tuition services in real time during online examinations.

Essay or assessment mills

Agencies write academic assignments for students, usually for money.

Essay or assessment banks

A business sells pre-written work in order to commit academic fraud.

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Discussion: The Snare

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  • These target students via social media, freshers websites,and college email addresses. Sometimes they pretend to be an online tutoring or proof-reading service and use YouTube stars in their adverts.
  • Avoid posting information about your assessments on social media, as this can prompt contact from contract cheating companies

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  • Have you been targeted or have you heard of this before?
  • What would be your advice to new students?

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Discussion: The Snare

  • These target students via social media, and college email addresses. Sometimes they pretend to be an online tutoring or proof-reading service.
  • Some ask you to upload college materials and allow you to download other materials in exchange.
  • Avoid posting information about your assessments on social media, as this can prompt contact from contract cheating companies

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  • Have you been targeted or have you heard of this before?
  • What would be your advice to new students?

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Quiz: Team Quiz Questions

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  • Contract cheating companies target students via social media, especially if you post anything about assessment (T)
  • Manchester University had nearly 1,000 hits on cheating sites in one month (F- 9,000!)
  • Contract cheating companies target students via college email addresses (T)
  • Contract cheating companies pretend to be online tutoring or proof-reading services (T)

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Quiz: Team Quiz Questions (cont.)

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  • Putting “ “ quotation marks round everything means you are not plagiarising (F- Turnitin will still pick it up and all quotes need properly referenced)
  • Using a JPEG of your assessment can’t be read by Turnitin, so no-one will know you have cheated (F- word count on Turnitin will show the Lecturer that it is an image and it will not be accepted)
  • Chegging is when students use tuition services in real time during online examinations. (T)

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Quiz: Team Quiz Questions (cont.)

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  • Sites advertised on Freshers websites are ok (F- Contract cheating sites were advertised on a major Scottish Freshers site in 2021)
  • Contract cheating usually is not detected (F- Turnitin and your Lecturer’s experience in assessment and research, means it is very likely contract cheating will be identified)
  • Contract Cheating is not covered by the Student Disciplinary Policy (F)
  • You can be expelled for using contract cheating companies (T)

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Quiz: Team Quiz Questions (cont.)

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  • Contract cheating companies can ask you to upload college materials and allow you to download other materials in exchange. (T)
  • Turnitin can’t pick up contract cheating (F- If you use anything which is already published online, anti-plagiarism software used by the College will detect this)
  • All contract cheating allegations will be investigated (T)
  • If you use contract cheating, only your tutor will take action (F- you may be reported to the awarding body e.g. SQA, City & Guilds, MCA).

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Quiz: Team Quiz Questions (cont.)

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  • Turnitin picks up deep document metadata and text manipulation such as hidden text or character replacement (T)
  • If you swap a letter in the work e.g. swap “e” for a Cyrillic "e", Turnitin won’t spot that the whole work is plagiarised (F- Turnitin picks up character swapping)
  • Turnitin can’t pick up cheating if you use macros or PDFs (F)
  • Turnitin can spot if you have swapped all the spaces with invisible (white) text to try to avoid plagiarism (T)

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Ranking

Rank these reasons why students use contract cheating, from most likely to least likely.

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  • It is a habit. I had the opportunity to cheat
  • I don’t know how to reference, do research or write essays well
  • I can’t ask for help
  • I don’t understand the assessment
  • I leave everything until the last minute

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Discussion Groups

Assign each group a different reason why students cheat and how to avoid it. Groups agree on the best advice from the list provided and add a tip of their own.

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Groups information on next slides.

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Group 1

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Reason: It is a habit. I had the opportunity to cheat.

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Advice:

  • Be aware that Lecturers may check that the work is really your own by follow-up questions online or face-to-face.
  • Be aware that your Lecturer may ask you to submit early drafts of an assessment or discuss your research.

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Group 2

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Reason:

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I don’t know how to reference, do research or write essays well

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Advice:

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Talk to your Lecturer and Academic Advisor. Plan what help and support you need to develop your skills in how to, for example:

  • Study effectively
  • Stay relevant to the assessment question
  • Write evaluatively, critically, academically
  • Reference
  • Do research

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Group 3

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Reason:

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I can’t ask for help

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Advice:

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  • If you feel that you have a support need, talk about this in confidence, with your tutor, Academic Advisor or Learning Support. This could be a learning need, an issue at home, due to a disability or other circumstances which are affecting your life. You may be entitled to alternative assessment arrangements to help you in the assessment.
  • If you need support because English is not your first language, please ask.

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Group 4

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Reason: I don’t understand the assessment

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Advice:

  • Talk to your tutor about how to unpick assessment questions.
  • Talk to your classmates and tutors about making study teams, study buddies and peer mentors.

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Group 5

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Reason:

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I leave everything until the last minute

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Advice:

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  • Eliminating choke points by setting a study plan for the year, with assessment deadlines.
  • Form a Study Teams with your classmates, to provide peer support to keep to a Study Team Schedule.
  • Look through advice on how to stay focused, and maintain flow. Try out some of the ideas. Discuss the best ones with your classmates and tutor.

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Discussion

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Discussion question: You think that you have been contacted by a contract cheating agency. What should you do?

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Possible answers:

  • Inform your tutor asap.
  • Take a screenshot of any social media evidence
  • Forward any emails to your tutor.

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Discussion

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Explore the Student Association Academic Integrity Campaign site

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Get in touch via your class rep. How could you take part?

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Discussion

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Which is the 3 following graphics and slogans are the most effective and why?

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Go Further

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Reading and sources

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This slide deck is licensed under Creative Commons BY 4.0. This means that you are free to reuse, adapt or change the contents for your own use, including commercial use. All you need to do is credit City of Glasgow College, as this is a requirement of the license.

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