Due to the emerging technological era, the propensity to cheat in an academic environment is becoming increasingly enticing for students and problematic for their instructors. As technologically savvy students become more creative in committing acts of academic dishonesty, their instructors must become increasingly competent in their endeavors to deter cheating. With the convenience of computers and online data, unfortunately, an unwelcome new challenge emerges: preventing the misuse of these technological advances in academic environments.
Cheating is widespread from high schoolers to college students. Not only do academic and professional teams recognize the widespread problem of cheating, but “students themselves are acknowledging the problem as well” (Campbell, p.35). According to the San Diego Union-Tribune (2001), nearly a quarter of students believe that everyone at his or her high school cheats.
Before the Internet, research was a laborious task, requiring trips to the library, searches within the card catalog and extensive handwritten note taking. In contrast, today the same information is readily available through the Internet, thus creating a convenient environment in which to engage in academic dishonesty. In this emerging technological age, many students fall prey and use the extensive amount of technology for negative reasons.
Szabo and Underwood (2004) engaged 291 students in a survey of 12 questions on the use and misuse of the Internet. The survey showed that more than half the students use information from the Internet to complete assignments at least once a month. More than half surveyed said they would or at least would be tempted to use the “copy and paste” function to prevent a failing grade. With the rapid growth of technology, this will become an increasing problem (Szabo and Underwood, 2004).
The Internet, especially invites