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Academic Integrity: Using Technology to Cheat

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Academic Integrity: Using Technology to Cheat Throughout time there have individuals who have cheated on various things such as; sporting events, personal and professional tasks, and academic tasks. While the examples of cheating in these areas are endless, we will focus on academic cheating. With the advent of modern technology bypassing check-and-balance systems that are in place to keep people honest have become extremely easy to bypass; for example, in the 1980’s individuals would borrow VHS cassettes and copy them; however, technology has changed and advanced since then, and with more advanced technology more people are using technology to cheat. An example of using modern technology to bypass a …show more content…

“90% of students who cheat are likely to continue to cheat or violate policies later in life.” (Harding, 2004). Looking at the various options students have available to cheat, students are able to use several readily available services that can be easily accessed on the internet. Websites such as Free Essay Network (http://www.freeessay.com/) have become very popular as they offer an “essay sharing” network. One of the most popular tools available students on the internet is Google. Google’s search system allows users to perform very detailed and specific searches, even allowing user to search for specific file types such as Microsoft Word documents, Adobe Reading documents, which are popular formats for academic material. An article featured in the Minnesota State University Reporter states plagiarism has also become a big business as some companies provide prewritten papers, presentations, and other assignments a student may seek. In addition to these services some companies also offer custom research at a premium. (Kates, 2003) With everything that is available to students, it can seem overwhelming to educators who have to combat cheating; however, educators are not as “behind the curve” as some students may think. According to a recent trial in the United Kingdom, the exam board Edexcel has that its technique of tagging papers with radio transmitters and applying microscopic identification to individual papers has proved successful in reducing

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