Imagine Edgenuity Implementation Guide to Ensuring Academic Integrity

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Use this page to view Edgenuity's Implementation Guide.

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Prevalence of Cheating

Data indicates that cheating is a major issue in American schools. From fall 2002 to spring 2015, the International Center for Academic Integrity surveyed more than 70,000 American high school students about cheating in 2017 and found that:

  • 64% of survey respondents admitted to cheating on a test
  • 58% admitted to plagiarism
  • 95% said they participated in some form of cheating, whether it was on a test, plagiarism, or copying homework

Edgenuity believes academic integrity is a non-negotiable to guaranteeing high-quality, meaningful learning. However, with the proliferation of websites dedicated to posting answers to assessment questions, ensuring academic integrity can be difficult. Fortunately, research has uncovered several, evidence-based strategies that teachers, administrators, and curriculum providers can take to ensure school work is completed honestly.

Clearly Define Academic Integrity

Studies indicate that student misunderstandings about academic integrity and the concept of plagiarism contribute to an increase in digital cheating (Ma, Lu, Turner, & Wan 2007). One of the best ways to make sure students are honestly completing their schoolwork is to articulate what is appropriate conduct and what constitutes cheating. If students understand how to complete their work without plagiarizing or cheating, many of them will make sure to avoid doing both.

As researchers McCabe & Trevino (1993) note, a school’s “ability to develop a shared understanding and acceptance of its academic integrity policies has a significant and substantive impact on student perceptions of their peers’ behavior. Thus, programs aimed at distributing, explaining, and gaining student and faculty acceptance of academic integrity policies may be particularly useful” (p. 533-534).

Bottom line: Schools should engage with teachers, parents, and students alike to reinforce how to set expectations. For example, do teachers explicitly explain that looking up answers during a test is cheating?

Set Expectations Collaboratively with Staff

We would encourage all schools to engage their staff in a discussion of the kinds of expectations they have set with students about cheating behavior. Do teachers explicitly explain that looking up answers during a test is cheating? What are the consequences when students do it? Are those consequences made clear to parents/guardians and students from the start of the year?

We believe that the most effective way to prevent cheating is to manage the students instead of attempting to manage the technology. When we try to design tools to stop students from cheating, all we teach them is to look for other ways to cheat. Given the number of stories we hear every day about professionals who lie on their resumes, academics who falsify their data, and corporate leaders who make questionable financial choices, it's clear that we're not doing enough in the early years to help students understand and value integrity.

Bottom line: This is a perfect opportunity to help students understand what the school defines as cheating, and what the consequences will be should cheating occur in the classroom. 

Establish an Honor Code

Research shows that students who attend schools with honor codes are less likely to cheat. However, to be most effective, the honor code must be well implemented and strongly embedded into student culture (McCabe & Trevino, 2002).

Customize an Honor Code into the course that students must agree to before progressing to a test or exam. Below is a sample honor code that teachers can use in their classrooms: 

Bottom line: The honor code should encourage the development of good character and outline specific deterrents to cheating (e.g., clear penalties that are meaningful to students).

Set Consequences and Hold Students Accountable

When students perceive high levels of cheating by their peers and a lack of punishment for cheating, they are more likely to cheat themselves (McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001). An honor code doesn’t mean anything if there aren’t any appropriate consequences for when students break it. Schools must develop fair and consistent grading policies and procedures, remove opportunities to cheat (e.g., monitor tests, be sure there is ample space between test-takers), punish transgressions in a fair and timely manner. Students need to understand what could happen should they choose not to adhere to the honor code. What are the consequences when students do it? Are those consequences made clear to parents/guardians and students from the start of the year?

Bottom line: Continually communicate classroom expectations, and hold students accountable to their own learning through clearly a clearly defined honor code.

Address Peer Culture

Research shows that peer culture plays a large role in why students cheat.  Data indicate that when students perceive high levels of cheating by their peers, they are more likely to cheat themselves (McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001).

Bottom line: Address any instances of cheating right away and apply the consequences set out by the classroom honor code and student contract.

Foster Strong Connections to Students

Research shows that students are more likely to cheat when they perceive their instructor to be less concerned about them and think they are physically farther away from the classroom (Stuber-McEwen, Winseley, & Hoggatt, 2009). To discourage cheating, experts recommend teachers develop a strong presence—either online or offline (Stuber-McEwen, Winseley, & Hoggatt, 2009).  When teachers get to know students personally it promotes student respect. When students respect their teacher they are less likely to cheat.

Bottom line: Continue to foster a positive, honest classroom with open dialog and mutual respect for one another.

Use Digital Tools

We recommend that Edgenuity users, within the Edgenuity system:

Teachers

What Teachers Can Do Preemptively Notes and Resources
Set Criteria for Retakes

Set the desired number of Fail Attempts (retakes) and use Auto Progression to discourage unlimited retakes for assessments. If students are allowed only one, or even zero, retakes for heavily weighted assessments after they’ve failed them, they know they must work hard to do well on them. Review these settings periodically to be sure that they’re working for your students.

Turn on Teacher Review for Quizzes for individual students

Set Teacher Review on assessments to ensure students take assessments in proctored environments. Teacher Review alerts educators when a student has reached an assessment, giving the teacher the chance to review the work students have submitted. This presents an opportunity for educators to confirm that students are completing their work as they’re supposed to (checking student eNotes, for example), and to also check in to make sure they’re understanding the content.

Notify Students about the Appropriate Consequences per District Academic Code of Conduct Set and communicate student expectations. Inform students what it takes to be successful online learners.
What Teachers Can Do Post-Assessment Notes and Resources
Review Open-Ended Questions

Spot-check open-ended questions. Look for any answers that seem out-of-the-ordinary or verbiage that sounds like an adult worded.

Analyze Completion Time with the Score

Compare the time it took the student to complete the assessment and if they received a passing score.

Progress Complete Score

Keep an eye on the Progress percentage. There should not be a drastic change in percentage complete for the student. 

What Teachers Can Do If Cheating is Found Notes and Resources
Reset Assignments for students that have been caught cheating Require the student(s) to retake the activity(ies) related to cheating either in-person or online with a proctor. 
Use Discussion Based Assessment (DBA) questions in person or over the phone

If you suspect a student of cheating on a particular assignment or assessment, you could prepare 3 to 5 unique questions around the content covered. Have the student verbally respond with their answers, either in person or over the phone, as a way to asses whether or not they understand the curriculum. 

Enforce Appropriate Consequences per District Academic Code of Conduct Based on what was outlined by the school/district, apply the consequences. 
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Districts

What Districts Can Do Notes and Resources
Set Teacher Review on Tests and Exams

Set Teacher Review on assessments to ensure students take assessments in proctored environments. Teacher Review alerts educators when a student has reached an assessment, giving the teacher the chance to review the work students have submitted. This presents an opportunity for educators to confirm that students are completing their work as they’re supposed to (checking student eNotes, for example), and to also check in to make sure they’re understanding the content.

Enable IP Registry

Enable IP Registry. When activated, IP Registry can block students from accessing assessments from home—or block students from accessing Edgenuity from outside the school network at all.

Lockdown Browser Experience

Set up the SecureLock Browser Experience. The SecureLock Browser Experience will prevent students from opening new tabs, browsers, and programs while they’re working in Edgenuity.

Academic Integrity add-on — Plagiarism Checker,  Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Detector, and Speed Radar

The Academic Integrity add-on includes a Plagiarism Checker and Generative AI Detector can automatically scan many assignment types for plagiarism and content created by artificial intelligence. Those that cannot be automatically scanned can be manually scanned.

If the Academic Integrity add-on is enabled for a school, the attendance log display includes a speed radar which shows any activities where the students' progress is faster than expected.

Apply Academic Code of Conduct for cheating in online courses

Set expectations with staff and create an Honor Code that students are to sign and follow. 

 

Outside the Edgenuity system, Edgenuity users should: 

  • Hide educator passwords where student cannot find them. Consider using a password manager application, which can securely store a large number of passwords.
  • Don’t post assessments or answer keys on easily found and accessed websites. If you can find these documents with a simple web search, students can, too.
  • Block websites on your school network that are known to post answers to assessment questions. Edgenuity does regular web crawls to look for this, but if you come across any Edgenuity content on the Internet, please notify Customer Support. We will take the appropriate steps to address this issue.

What Should I Do If Imagine Edgenuity Answers are Found Online?

This is regrettable. 

Direct issues to Imagine Edgenuity's Support team at support@imaginelearning.com. Support will work with our security teams to have this content removed. We also actively scrub the internet for Imagine Edgenuity questions and answers, although sometimes it's tough to stay ahead of the students. The extra hand from our fellow educators that notify us of the websites and content submissions we have missed is appreciated.

Additional Items

For schools or districts, this guide might be helpful when considering the academic integrity policies: Imagine Edgenuity Implementation Guide to Ensuring Academic Integrity.

Find additional information on Academic Integrity on our website.

References

  • International Center for Academic Integrity. (2017). Statistics. Retrieved from

    https://academicintegrity.org/resources/facts-and-statistics?highlight=WyJzdGF0aXN0aWNzIl0=

  • Ma, H., Lu, Y., Turner, S., & Wan, G. (2007). An empirical investigation of digital cheating and plagiarism among middle school students. American Secondary Education, 35(2), 69-82.
  • McCabe, D. & Trevino, L. (1993). Academic dishonesty: Honor codes and other contextual influences. The Journal of Higher Education, 64(5), 552-538.
  • McCabe, D., Trevino, L., Butterfield, K. (2001) Cheating in academic institutions: A decade of research, Ethics & Behavior, 11(3), 219-232.
  • McCabe, D., Trevino, L., & Butterfield, K. (2002). Honor codes and other contextual influences on academic integrity: A replication and extension to modified honor code settings. Research in Higher Education, 43(3), 357-378.
  • Stuber-McEwen, D., Winseley, P., & Hoggatt, S. (2009). Point, click, and cheat: Frequency and type of academic dishonesty in the virtual classroom. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 12(3).