Having recently had a conversation with a colleague on online education this article from Inside Higher Ed caught my attention. It caught my attention for two reasons...it addressed faculty burnout in relation to online education and cheating. The article points out that the idea of faculty burnout in relation to online education is more of a fear. It suggests that faculty may be confusing burnout with the amount of time it takes to learn a new application of education.
This got me thinking...how difficult is it really to teach an online class? Is it difficult simply because many faculty have never really used this medium of instruction? Does the learning of how to teach in a different medium cause the feelings of burnout? It is hard to say I think either way.
The article goes on to address cheating. It is stated by the article to be one of the areas online education is often questioned on. The article does not directly address this issue by quoting Philip D. Long in saying "many issues endanger the integrity of online learning, such as assessing individual contributions to group projects, are not unique to online education." And he has a point. Group work, something I am sure we all enjoy, is difficult to assess in the classroom as well. Each person has an their own view of how the work went and it makes it difficult to assess. However, online education is making strides in one realm, if universities can afford it and see the value in it.
It is Proctor U. An interface via webcam that a distance education student can have for proctoring work. If a professor decides they want tests proctored, Proctor U allows for students to comply with this requirement without having to come to campus. From viewing their online videos, Proctor U seems to be fairly user friendly and effective. Student sign into their account (anytime and anywhere) pick a date and time for their exam and when the exam day arrives they log on with a Proctor U representative that verifies their ID, remotely access their screen, and double checks their work space via web cam to ensure their are no other materials out. Then the students takes the test while being viewed by the proctor and is assisted by the proctor if technical issues arise.
I see Proctor U as a successful step in response to the concern of cheating when it comes to distance education. It also seems many universities and colleges do as well. Proctor U has over one hundred universities and colleges listed as partners including Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado.
Although this initially strikes me as pretty Big Brother-ish, unfortunately I see the need for a ProctorU type of service. I continue to be shocked and saddened by the large numbers of students who cheat. According to some reports, up to 75% of college students admit to cheating or plagiarizing within the past year- check out the research done by the Center for Academic Integrity (www.academicintegrity.org). CAI studies use self-reported data, so just imagine the actual numbers. In any case, it seems that there is limited information on the prevalence of online class cheating-- which surprises me. Even ProctorU's website doesn't include any statistics on the issue, which presumably would be a valuable marketing tool for the company. In any case, I'm interested to see if this online cheating monitoring company takes off in popularity, or if institutions will develop their own mechanisms for addressing the online cheating that isn't quite so intrusive.
ReplyDeleteGreat article. Some other interesting points that have been discovered by researchers is that one in four higher education students take at least one course online and 53% of high school students think cheating is "no big deal."
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! In a recent article in The Chronicle (http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/to-monitor-online-testing-western-governors-u-gives-students-webcams/34099), Western Governor's University is now giving students webcams as part of their welcome packet. Students must connect the webcam, which give 180 degree views of the room, before taking a test. Students are also required to pull their hair back behind their ears, to ensure they don't have a bluetooth device to feed them answers.
ReplyDeleteThe exams are then monitored remotely to ensure that the students aren't cheating. It might seem a bit Big Brother-ish, but with online education here to stay, this may be the wave of the future.