Faculty and graduate student instructors are working exceptionally hard right now to support student learning, and to design assessments that measure and reinforce that learning. One challenge instructors have identified is maintaining academic integrity and accurate assessment of student learning when administering exams online. Regardless of the remaining assessments in your course, we invite all instructors to (1) let students know what they can expect during their final assessments and (2) revisit any upcoming high-stakes exams to see what general strategies and specific tips below might be easily implementable to increase academic integrity.
To support these actions, this post includes:
- Six general strategies all instructors can keep in mind to decrease the likelihood of academic dishonesty.
- Tips to increase academic integrity through smaller modifications of high-stakes exams. Most of these also apply to high-enrollment classes.
- A list of important reminders as we head into finals.
These strategies and tips are not comprehensive, but compile a number of options that TEP, UO Online, the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, and CAS Deans have identified for faculty.
We appreciate the expertise and care that has already shaped your course and its assessments. We hope this post will support you in balancing your assessment needs in this remote context within your time constraints, and we would welcome working with you to implement additional assessment strategies tailored to your needs, whether for a final exam this semester, or as you plan your assessments for winter and spring.
General strategies to increase academic honesty:
- Deemphasize competition, which is one of the driving forces for academic dishonesty. While integrating competition into learning activities can be effective, there is little indication that competition in assessment performance enhances learning. Where competition is codified, such as with a curve, consider omitting the curve. An example of language that can deemphasize competition/encourage cooperation might be: I encourage you to study virtually with peers if that feels supportive as you prepare for the exam.
- Lower the stakes of an exam where possible, as higher stakes correspond to higher rates of academic dishonesty. One way to do this even at this point in your course is to allocate some of the points to an exam “wrapper,” which offers a pre and post (or just post) metacognition activity students can do for completion credit. Another option is to break one higher stakes exam into two (or more) lower-stakes exams, something a number of STEM faculty have had success with at UO. An example of language that lowers the stakes in tone might be: Your final is an important assessment of what you’ve learned this term, but it is just one of the multiple ways you will have demonstrated that learning.
- Refrain from framing academic dishonesty as something you believe students do frequently, as students’ believing that their peers will cheat is one of the driving forces in their own decision to do so. This does not mean that we should not let students know that we have academic honesty checks in place (which can be a deterrent), only that describing academic dishonesty as common is counterproductive. An example of language that might support a culture of greater integrity might be: While I know that cheating occurs at times and I have academic integrity checks in place, this is a rare occurrence in my courses, and I believe that each of you will take the exam honestly.
- Tell students explicitly that you believe they can and will succeed with preparation. Students are more likely to act with integrity if they believe that they can achieve their goal without cheating. Emphasizing the difficulty of an assessment and the failure rate is counterproductive for many students as a motivator for learning. An example of language that signals your belief they can succeed might be simply: I believe that each of you can succeed on this exam.
- Reference integrity through the lens of UO’s Student Conduct Code and/or the code of ethics for your discipline if students are likely to work professionally in that discipline. Once you’ve done this you can discuss the authentic relevance of integrity in your field, and can—immediately before they take a high-stakes assessment—ask students to check or sign a statement about abiding by the honor code. One example of a statement you can use and modify throughout the semester comes from UO Online’s Academic Integrity Pledge; you can also see several examples of statements to have students sign just prior to an exam, including what it might look like in Canvas, here.
- Discuss academic honesty early and often, and support students in being able to identify it. For the winter term, consider making UO Library’s excellent Exploring Academic Integrity tutorial a class assignment or activity. You can contact your Subject Librarian for assistance. For this term, some example language around this may be: Academic honesty matters to me because of ____, and it matters to our discipline because ____. I know that it also matters to you and your peers–you have worked hard. In the past, on final exams, some students have been honestly confused about whether__ or __ constitute academic dishonesty [if this is applicable]. The answer is [clarify and welcome additional questions].
Tips to Increase Academic Integrity on High-Stakes Exams
Modify high-stakes exams by:
- Expanding your question bank each term (consider having students generate test questions as an activity). Avoid using questions that come verbatim from a textbook.
- Using varied question types like multiple choice, multiple select, and conceptual short answer questions (such as “explain why this step is necessary?”).
- Designing for a mix of objective and subjective questions/answers, or a mix of questions that ask students to identify, apply, and analyze information. For example, an exam on law and society might ask a multiple choice question about the scope of a particular law, but other questions might ask students to apply that law to a specific scenario and predict the outcome, or to analyze what social changes might have occurred had the law applied in a different region or time period.
- Having students identify an error in a computational problem, as opposed to solely identifying answers.
- Randomizing questions by creating question groups in Canvas so students get questions in order that differs from their peers.
- Shuffling answers.
- Setting a time window for exam access. We encourage faculty to set a window that will provide enough time for all students to complete their exam without rushing, as timed exams have drawbacks for students who have test-taking anxiety.
Keep high-stakes exam as is, but more accurately assess student learning (by decreasing likelihood of misconduct and decreasing stressors on cognitive load that are associated with high-stakes exams) by:
- Removing a grading curve, if you have one.
- Making the exam “open book” where possible.
- Ensuring that students have experience with the genre (multiple choice exam, short answers, etc.) and technologies (Canvas quizzes, ProctorU) of the assessment. If there is something about your high-stakes exam that is new, do ensure you allow students to practice prior to the exam itself. This increases the likelihood that the assessment will measure student learning as opposed to technological issues or anxiety with a new medium.
- Inserting a “challenge question.” Where instructors have a concern about ensuring that the person taking the test is the student, the CAS Dean’s office describes this as “asking a surprise question only the student knows the answer to—and that you can easily verify” such as their favorite reading or activity from the course.
- Asking the student to audio-record or video-record an explanation of an answer, both to assess deeper knowledge, and for the purpose of the “challenge question” above.
- Allowing for a partial re-take of the assessment (or portions of it) for a fraction of the initial credit.
- If the exam is proctored, ensuring that your students have already used the proctoring software or process prior to the final exam in your class; if not, providing a practice test session. This increases the likelihood that the assessment will measure student learning as opposed to technological issues or anxiety with a new medium.
Important Reminders & Additional Resources
As we look ahead to remote finals, please keep in mind that:
- Scheduled finals will occur according to the normal Registrar’s Exam Schedule.
- The Accessible Education Center reminds faculty and GEs that they are responsible for adding extended time and adjusting availability windows in Canvas appropriately to facilitate testing accommodations. Questions regarding testing accommodations can be directed to aectesting@uoregon.edu or (541) 346-1074.
- Students have difficulty planning their time during tests when they cannot view the whole exam at once. If you choose to have only one question visible at a time, you can help them by including an overview of the exam structure in the directions and, with each question, giving an estimate of the time the question should take.
- The SimCheck plagiarism detection tool is available within Canvas.
For additional resources and how-to-guides around Canvas quiz functionalities, please see:
- Create an Exam or Quiz in Canvas
- Canvas Instructor Guide
- Building Final Exams and Calculating Grades with Grace and Efficiency
For additional UO resources on academic integrity approaches, please see: