Posted on February 1, 2022October 12, 2023 by

February 1, 2022 10:03 am

Why do students cheat?

Academic integrity matters — but it isn’t easy to guarantee. Here are 3 reasons why students plagiarize and how you can address it.

I’ll admit, in a moment of desperation, I typed into the search bar, “why do students cheat?” After extensive discussions about academic integrity, I couldn’t comprehend why my students would do such a thing. The internet would have an answer, I was sure of it (it seems my students also shared in this sentiment).

While it didn’t give me the solace I was looking for, it did take me on a tour of the history of academic dishonesty.

My first search result from 2018 offers us a solution: “Why Students Cheat – and What to Do About It.”

As I scrolled further, I noticed that in 1981, a teacher bemoaned, “Research papers advertised for sale. Cadets dismissed in cheating scandals. Students hiding formulas in calculator cases” in an article called “Why Do Some Students Cheat?”

And all the way back to 1941, an article titled “Why Students Cheat” appeared in the Journal of Higher Education.

This timeline tells us a few things:

Students have been cheating for at least 80 years, but probably longer.
And teachers have been bothered by it since then.
While we are quick to blame technology these days, it’s probably not the answer to the question.

So, what are the time-tested reasons why students cheat?

Pressure

Many students are under pressure from parents or guardians to earn certain grades. Maybe the expectation is acceptance to a certain university, following a certain career path, or just a general expectation of “success.” As much as teenagers like to pretend they don’t care what their parents think, this can be a heavy burden to bear.

Whether or not familial pressure exists, some students also place expectations on themselves to perform at a high level. While we hope all our students are intrinsically motivated, perfectionism and fixation on an idealized outcome can be unhealthy, especially because students may feel they need to achieve their desired GPA by any means necessary.

While this may not be our first thought, students do feel pressure from peers as well. When a Harvard Graduate School of Education student asked why cheating happens, a student wrote, “‘Peer pressure makes students cheat. Sometimes they have a reason to cheat like feeling [like] they need to be the smartest kid in class.’”

While educators cannot remove familial pressure, we can focus on intrinsic motivation by increasing student agency and creating a collaborative environment. That way, we’re relieving pressure instead of adding to it.

Priorities

Time management (or really the lack thereof) is likely the most common reason why students cheat when they didn’t intend to in the first place. For high school students, a due date a month away feels as distant as their 25th birthday. In the weeks before the assignment is due, they will have made time for everything but the work needed, so when they sit down to work on it the night before it’s due, they realize they just don’t have enough time to do it themselves.

Sometimes, a student just doesn’t feel like a required class fits into their life goals. A prodigal swimmer doesn’t see how an essay on The Great Gatsby is going to increase her odds of earning an athletic scholarship.

And often because of semester schedules and grading periods, students are faced with multiple exams, projects, and essays all due around the same time. This happened 40 years ago too: “‘It is Friday and many of the kids have three or four tests. It is certain that, since there has been too much to study for, there will be a lot of cheating going on today.’” We already know they struggle with time management, so they seek out lifelines when it all becomes too much.

Try collaborating with colleagues to spread out critical due dates for large projects within each grade level, and maybe add some direct instruction around time management skills with an SEL curriculum.

Knowledge & Skills

A student may feel that they don’t have the necessary skills to complete an assignment to the standards they set for themselves. They use someone else’s words instead of their own because they said it better than they could with what they view as the “lumpy, inelegant sound of their writing.”

In the case of plagiarism, it is also possible that students simply don’t quite understand the way to properly give credit for the use of someone’s intellectual property. While this was probably still the case when students were pulling information from actual, physical library books, it is especially true in this age of “reposting images, repurposing memes, and watching parody videos” where students “‘see ownership as nebulous.’”

Which brings us to technology. Though technology “has made cheating in school easier, more convenient, and harder to catch than ever before,” it is not necessarily a reason why students cheat. Clearly, students cheated 80 years ago without the help of the internet.

Knowing the reasons why students cheat helps us to empathize and avoid taking it personally. And as much as it contributes to the issue, technology also offers us a plethora of options for detection. You don’t need to re-read a student’s essay multiple times because something “sounds off” — Imagine Edgenuity’s embedded Plagiarism Checker automatically scans student work and alerts you when a match is found. Worried about students using software to move through courses more quickly (or maybe you didn’t know they could do that)? Speed Radar automatically flags students completing tasks more quickly than expected for educator review. Thanks to these resources, I have been able to stop Googling and relax a bit, knowing that I have the tools to help turn academic dishonesty into a learning opportunity.

Looking for more tips?

Find sample academic integrity policies, downloadable resources, and more on Imagine Learning’s academic integrity page.

About the Author

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.

Posted on September 24, 2021October 13, 2023 by

September 24, 2021 8:00 am

Nine Tips for Success with Virtual Learning

Whether you are new to the virtual classroom or an experienced online teacher, here are a few tips for success with virtual learning.

Right now, schools everywhere are utilizing some amount of virtual instruction to keep students learning, regardless of educators’ comfort and experience levels with delivering instruction virtually. Whether you are new to the virtual classroom or an experienced online teacher, there are a few tips for success with virtual learning you can utilize to make this easier for you, your colleagues, and your students.

Offering targeted training and online learning resources will ultimately help students (and your school) succeed. Our nine tips for success with virtual learning are great both for educators who may be new to online learning and those who want a refresher on how to be the best teacher in their virtual classroom.

Nine Tips for Success with Virtual Learning

Set Up Your Workspace. At this point, I think we all can agree it’s time to relocate our “office space” from the kitchen or couch! As we adapt to the “new normal” of learning, creating a quiet, comfortable workspace will help you stay organized and on track. What resources would you usually keep on hand? Is your area equipped to support you technologically? These are things you shouldn’t have to worry about while schoolwork is underway.
Set Aside Time to Prepare for YOUR Week. Set aside time over the weekend to plan your school week. Take this time to not only focus on grading and lesson planning but also on how you can connect with students and create activities to encourage engagement. Doing this will help you sleep better and be able to start Monday off in the right frame of mind.
Be Available for Quick Help. It’s easy to say, “I am there for my students,” but it means so much more to show up to the virtual classroom alongside your students. When you teach in person, you’re almost always available when students need that extra support. So, log in to your class a few minutes early and stay those 10 extra minutes after—provide consistent support, and your students will reap the benefits.
Don’t Forget to Log Off. Teaching virtually doesn’t mean you need to be on call 24/7. Let your students know your hours of availability for extra help, and keep to your schedule. You need downtime now more than ever, so make sure to respect the time you spend away from the classroom.
Encourage Students to Create Their Own At-Home Workspace. Just like a student has their desk in school, students should have that personal space for learning at home that is free from distractions. Ask students to send you a picture of their “at-home classroom” as part of your introductions to students, and share a photo of yours. Make it exciting for them to have their own space!
Get to Know Your Students. Schedule one-on-one time with each student, even if it is just for five minutes. Students are most likely not going to make the proactive decision to get to know you or their peers; however, by cultivating a positive and fun environment, you can drive student engagement. Your number one focus every day should be connecting with students and helping them stay connected to their peers and education. Are students communicating? Are they collaborating? Are they asking questions? Are they answering questions? Just like in your physical classroom at school, you need to help facilitate connections with other students, so keep pushing them forward!
Keep Students Interested and Engaged. Easier said than done, we know. However, if there is one thing students have lost during the pandemic, it is their independence. Give students the opportunity of choice. Creating decision-making opportunities allows students to feel in control of their education. And importantly, you are recognizing a student’s voice while also keeping them engaged and involved in activities and discussions.
Create a Community. Group projects and class time could be the most interaction with others that a student is getting. Encourage students to not only come to you with questions and conversation but to also go to each other. Provide discussion topics to help steer conversations, and promote the community for when you are not available: outside of school hours and weekends. Let students know they always have support within their virtual classroom!
Address Common Questions or Issues from Students. It is important to remember that there may be technical challenges or issues with students’ coursework. If you are receiving frequent complaints or questions regarding a topic or process, take the time to address the problem for the whole class. Some students won’t come forward with their questions or concerns, so plan for that by doing things like designing a how-to section or students. Providing these resources that are specific to your classroom and coursework prevents students from falling behind due to technological or directional error. And don’t be afraid to contact IT if you can’t resolve the problem—you are not expected to also be a technology expert!

Additional Resources and Tips for Success with Virtual Learning

There are so many great resources available to help teachers (and parents) engaging in virtual learning. EdWeek has published a number of helpful articles full of tips for both teachers and administrators, including the following:

The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) has also launched a COVID-19 webinar series for administrators setting up their schools for 2020–2021. Hear from various international education experts as they share their tips for success with virtual learning, including how to support teachers and why you should offer SEL resources for both adults and children. Access the entire series, or watch the specific webinars that help address your learning needs.

And for more information about supporting your students and staff, check out our tools for building school reopening plans.

SOURCES

DARBY, F. (2019, APRIL 17). HOW TO BE A BETTER ONLINE TEACHER. CHRONICLE. HTTPS://WWW.CHRONICLE.COM/INTERACTIVES/ADVICE-ONLINE-TEACHING

KRAUS, C. (2020, JULY 14). EMOTIONALLY CONNECTED LEARNING IS POSSIBLE ONLINE: START WITH RELATIONSHIPS. EDSURGE. HTTPS://WWW.EDSURGE.COM/NEWS/2020-07-14-EMOTIONALLY-CONNECTED-LEARNING-IS-POSSIBLE-ONLINE-START-WITH-RELATIONSHIPS

LAMBERT, D. (2020, MAY 13). A LOOK AT DISTANCE LEARNING STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS: EDSOURCE WEBINAR. EDSOURCE. HTTPS://EDSOURCE.ORG/2020/A-LOOK-AT-DISTANCE-LEARNING-STRATEGIES-FOR-SUCCESS-EDSOURCE-WEBINAR/631433

TATUM, J. & FAGAN, E. (2020, JULY 13). 5 WAYS TO BUILD A STRONG ACADEMIC SCAFFOLD FOR 2020-2021: PART 1. ESCHOOLNEWS. HTTPS://WWW.ESCHOOLNEWS.COM/2020/07/13/5-WAYS-TO-BUILD-A-STRONG-ACADEMIC-SCAFFOLD-FOR-2020-2021-PART-1/?ALL

Posted on June 1, 2021October 13, 2023 by

June 1, 2021 8:00 am

Rethinking the Future of Digital Learning

COVID-19 forced a revolution in digital education — and opened a path to a more connected future.

It has been just over a year since schools across the globe were forced to shift to digital learning environments and new ways of teaching and learning. The experience was disastrous for some, imperfect for many, and preferable for others.

There’s no denying the past 12 months represent a revolution in education that will fundamentally impact how educators, students and parents think about learning going forward.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic massively disrupted learning and left a host of challenges in its wake, it also catalyzed a breakthrough in digital learning that has been decades in the making.

As we close out this school year and plan for the next, the education community has critical decisions to make, knowing there’s no going back to the “way things were” before the pandemic. Our collective focus must be on taking everything we’ve learned from this year — the good and the bad — to build a more connected, collaborative, data-led future for education.

A Decade of Advancement in Just 12 Months

Before the pandemic, personalized and adaptive learning experiences were widely available, but not widely adopted. A shortage of devices for K-12 students and a widespread belief that the technology was better suited for supplemental learning prevented most students from benefiting from a truly connected digital learning experience.

The past year has seen an explosion in digital learning in North America and around the world. By mid-April 2020, UNESCO estimates that around 1.6 billion students around the globe were learning fully remotely. To accommodate this sudden shift, districts across the country ramped up their device distribution. In March of this year, Education Week reported 90% of middle and high schools are providing one device for every student. In contrast to a 2018 EdWeek Market Brief report, where only 40% of district IT directors said they had a 1:1 student to computer ratio.

By mid-April 2020, around 1.6 billion students around the globe were learning fully remotely.

Nearly every teacher in America has been experimenting with new technology, and we have more data than ever before on how that technology can best support teachers and students and enable learning breakthroughs. Beyond these insights, many districts and schools now have a much more robust infrastructure for online learning.

In a non-pandemic world, it would have taken years or even decades to reach this level of adoption, device distribution, and real-world data. All of these developments have created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine learning.

Real Challenges to Learn From

As with any sudden, widespread adoption of technology, there were plenty of growing pains. Through our work partnering with over 5,000 school districts and supporting over 10 million students across the country, we shared a front row seat to many of those challenges.

COVID disruptions exposed and exacerbated the digital divide and inequities of our education system. Initial studies suggest millions of students were without access to the internet, the right devices, and family support — falling further behind.

A recent study we conducted with Oliver Wyman (2020) reported that educators from across the country suggests that more than 50% of their students are performing below grade level. This staggering reality is compounded by millions of students who must be supported to catch up academically, address their social and emotional well-being and even process trauma, something that educators say will take several years.

Despite the heroic efforts of educators, many students, parents, and teachers have come away from this experience with varied views of the benefits of digital learning. What we know for sure is that technology cannot replace teachers. Teachers are the center of student learning. And when paired with the right resources and support, students feel more supported, and achieve higher levels of learning and overall growth.

The True Value of Digital Learning

Even in the face of challenges, everyone involved in education has seen enough to realize the potential value of digital learning.

When utilized effectively, digital learning solutions can dramatically improve the learning process. They can help support the relationship between student and teacher and drive learning breakthroughs, in part by:

Managing time-intensive tasks like practice and assessment
Providing actionable, real-time data on student progress, and
Creating personalized learning paths that allow students to work at their own pace

Used as designed, digital learning technology frees up teachers to thoughtfully plan lessons, focus on social and emotional needs, and develop deeper relationships with their students. The goal is to let the technology do what it does best, so our teachers can do more of what they do best.

“In a non-pandemic world, it would have taken years or even decades to reach this level of adoption, device distribution, and real-world data. All of these developments have created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine learning.”

Sari Factor

A Better Vision for the Future

For the vast majority of students who will be returning to in-classroom learning, we expect digital learning to remain a fundamental part of their education. Many districts have seen enough value that, according to a recent RAND Corporation survey, nearly 20% of districts across the country are at least considering a virtual school offering for the coming year — and many years beyond.

We’ve seen how purposefully integrated digital learning tools can complement classroom learning and ignite breakthroughs for students.

So the question before us is not if but how best to integrate digital learning into the classroom?

As U.S. Education Secretary Dr. Miguel Cardona recently asked “What do we want our system to look like?” Rather than going back to the pre-pandemic status quo, we imagine a collaborative, connected, data-led future for learning in which teachers, curricula, and technology work together to ignite learning breakthroughs for students.

Here’s how we can do it:

1. Embrace Personalized Learning.

Each student is on their own individual learning journey, and instruction should be personalized and differentiated for them. A 2019 study by The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) showed that educational software can effectively overcome traditional classroom challenges like “large class sizes with a wide range of learning levels,” which can “make it hard for teachers to personalize instruction.” Just as products like Waze design a route for drivers in real time — accounting for traffic and other roadblocks and delivering the driver to their destination as efficiently as possible — teachers should be able to pick students up wherever they are in their learning journey and take them where they need to go. While the destination may be the same (3rd grade reading proficiency or the successful completion of Algebra 1), each path will be different depending on the learner and her environment. Personalized and adaptive technology empowers teachers to identify and overcome those roadblocks without losing precious instructional time. Teachers can then scaffold up in areas where a student needs assistance or provide more rigorous material that encourages her to stretch, building confidence and enabling her to perform at her maximum potential.

2. Reimagine Assessment.

We must rethink our approach to assessment, which has long been used to sort and label kids in unproductive ways. An overwhelming majority of teachers (81%) believe students spend too much time taking district- and/or state-mandated tests. (Center of Education Policy) Adaptive technology can improve the efficiency and fairness of formative assessments by reducing bias and freeing up valuable instructional time. And this type of assessment enables more personalized learning: when teachers have real-time data on which students need specialized attention and instruction, they can better tailor content to each students’ unique educational journey.

3. Address Unfinished Learning.

To address unfinished learning, districts from Los Angeles to Atlanta are considering adding summer sessions, lengthening the school day or even the school year. But after a particularly draining year, some parents are pushing back on plans to adjust the academic calendar. And for those students who were already behind, we simply can’t make up all the time that has been lost. We must consider the essential skills that are prerequisites for grade-level learning — prioritizing the most important literacy and mathematics skills to succeed. Digital learning companies, together with teachers and administrators, need to collaborate to create plans that help students get to grade level and beyond. Rather than focusing on acceleration — which doesn’t make sense for students who may already be several grade levels behind — we should be coming together to develop on-ramps to help students reach their potential.

Nearly 20% of districts across the country are at least considering a virtual school offering for the coming year and may years beyond.

Implementing this technology in the classroom with fidelity requires leadership and continued professional learning opportunities for educators and district leaders. And the digital learning industry needs to be true partners in making that happen.

When it comes to digital learning, there isn’t just a light at the end of the tunnel of a truly difficult year — there’s a very bright future for our students and our educators. I hope we have the courage to embrace it and collaboratively create new learning experiences that enable every student to grow and thrive.

About the Author – Sari Factor

Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, Imagine Learning

Sari began her career as a mathematics teacher but soon thought of much bigger ways to impact students. Recognizing that technology could greatly transform the way students learn, she made a career move into education technology and has been working to leverage technology to help students, teachers, schools, and districts ever since.

Sari joined Imagine Learning in 2011 and has held leadership positions at successful educational publishing and learning technology companies, including Kaplan, McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, and Everyday Learning Corporation. “I knew that I could fulfill my vision to combine technology with research on learning to make education truly student-centered.”