Abstract
Cheating in the undergraduate classroom is not a new problem, and it is recognized as one that is endemic to the education system. This paper examines the highly normative behavior of using unauthorized assistance (e.g., a solutions manual or a friend) on an individual assignment within the context of an upper division undergraduate course in engineering mechanics. The findings indicate that there are varying levels of accepting responsibility among the students (from denial to tempered to full) and that acceptance of responsibility can lead to identification of learning and necessary behavioral changes. The findings have implications for institutions and engineering faculty, in particular the need for consistent academic integrity education and the teaching of professional integrity and ethics.
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Notes
This approach to the data complied with the human subjects exempt approval by protecting student confidentiality and because we were using existing data, student permission was not required under the granted exempt status.
We have chosen to replace the student identifiers with pseudonyms, which is standard practice in social science research when using the participants’ own words in the research write-up.
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Bertram Gallant, T., Van Den Einde, L., Ouellette, S. et al. A Systemic Analysis of Cheating in an Undergraduate Engineering Mechanics Course. Sci Eng Ethics 20, 277–298 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9435-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9435-6