Cheating in campus classrooms

The Georgia College Honor Code defines cheating as “the employment of rendering of any illicit aid in any assigned work,” a definition which extends beyond the classroom to encompass homework and any online assignments as well.

“I’ve never witnessed cheating either,” says Junior Nursing major Karissa Ekstrom. “It may appear in more generic classes like those you take for your core, but I have never witnessed it in classes specific to my major.”

Sophomore economics major T.J. Cornay said that he has only witnessed cheating in a Georgia College classroom once, and it was in a class of roughly 80 students.

Senior sociology major Emmy Baker says she’s seen cheating occur in many different forms.

“I’ve seen people cheat using hat bills, shoes, legs, forearms, and the inside of their calculator. It might not be on a regular basis, but I’ve definitely witnessed cheating before.”

According to Conaway, the bigger the class size, the more likely it is that cheating will occur “The benefits of cheating are pretty universal, but the costs of monitoring it can vary.” Conaway said.

This is especially true in bigger classes, where the number of students makes it very difficult and impractical for a single professor to fully monitor cheating. For this reason, students who cheat in large classes incur less risk upon themselves than students who cheat in small ones.

But according to Conaway, the fact that Georgia College’s class sizes relatively small helps to discourage students from cheating, as the lower number of students makes it easier for teachers to keep track of everything that goes in their classes.

What goes on outside the classroom, however, is a completely different story. Because professors can’t monitor what students do outside of class, cheating is far more likely to occur in out-of-class assignments. Moreover, it is much more difficult to prove when cheating has occurred outside of a classroom.

While out-of class assignments and the cheating risks that they prose are certainly not new, technology has exacerbated the problem.

“I don’t give online assignments because I would expect a higher degree of cheating,” Conaway said.

Still, online assignments and quizzes are becoming increasingly common, and they, like any other out-of-class work lend themselves more easily to cheating. With no way to monitor the work that students do online, any cheating that occurs is less likely to be noticed or proven. At this point, it is up to the students to respect the Honor Code and refrain from illicit activity in their work.

According to the Honor Code, the penalty for a first cheating offense is suspension for the rest of the semester, and the suspension may extend into the next semester as well. A second offense usually results in expulsion from the university.

Yet Shay O’ Keif, a senior marketing major said, “I know someone who has been to Student Judicial Board for cheating, and they did not receive nearly as bad of a punishment as listed in the Honor Code. I don’t know if it was a special circumstance, but it wasn’t as bad. But I still don’t think cheating is something you want to be accused of at Georgia College.”