Paying to have your DL work done

This is an unsavory topic. It existed during the days of "correspondence courses" through the United States mail service -- and it is now rearing its ugly had through internet courses in the 21st Century, which many state universities have embraced. For example:

As long as there are currency differences, then it may be extremely profitable for certain global citizens to do online coursework or dissertations for those who are willing to pay, as long as the prospective student is willing to fork over the cash. This IS an issue that may eventually end the credibility of distance learning.

Those colleges and universities that can verify testing procedures in the 22nd Century may be at an economic advantage.

 

You make a very good point, but there are things that could be done. DL might have to use some sort of proctored exam system, for example. And there are things that could be done with technology that would address this as well.

As for writing papers and dissertations, there really isn't much difference between cheating on those in a B&M setting or a DL setting. A residency, where one has to defend his/her writing before a committee would take care of most of that issue. As for me, I wouldn't think of cheating because there is someone watching who I want to honer and serve to my upmost!

 

From the BusinessWeek article, "At Apollo Group's (APOL) University of Phoenix, the biggest for-profit college in the U.S., some active-duty military personnel can earn an associate's degree, which typically takes two years of study, in five weeks."

The courses might run 5 weeks in duration but I can assure you no student could ever earn a associate degree or bachelor degree in only 5 weeks at University of Phoenix. I took a 1-credit hour course 401 History of Mathematics a few years ago as I needed one additional credit hour in mathematics towards a degree earned elsewhere. The course required a sufficient amount of reading and more writing than I would have imagined for a 1-credit hour mathematics history course. I think the person quoted in the article was confused.

 

There is a double standard.

In my B&M students, I have never checked ID, but I pretty nuch know every student. I have heard of a faculty member in a big class (over 100) ask a student who they were, and the fake student admitted they were a professional test taker - and left with no security called.

I have the option to teach a class completely online - I have decided that the tests will be on campus, with ID checked. Just omake sure that it is them actually taking the class (essay test).

 

For my community college classes, I require an in-person final exam and I do check ID. I do allow proctors and require them to check ID and confirm the person's identity.

...

I agree with others who have said that this is not just an online problem nor just a for-profit problem: I knew many kids 30 years ago who purchased papers. And wasn't there a politician who was expelled from Harvard for having a friend take a test? Oh, yeah - Ted Kennedy! This was in 1951 - almost 60 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy

 

When I read that I thought of this - Have an MOS that is worth more then 15 credits, take a lot of CLEPs (free for military) for the electives, and take the one required class EL299 and earn an AA through credit recognition from UoP. That is kind of what I did. I only took one UoP class for my AA and the rest was CC credits and CLEPs. Maybe that is what was meant...

 

How is this a problem of DL or Correspondence schools only?

This is a general problem in education including B&M traditional universities as well. Academic paper services flourish not on DL but on the need for the students to cheat traditional or not.

 

Yes, of course. Cheating has occurred in all schools throughout history. But let's be serious. In a DL course where there's an online test with no proctor, who knows who is actually taking the test? When people come to this board asking about programs with unproctored tests, what do you think they're really thinking? Be serious.

 

Me personally, I would be thinking about not wanting to go hunting for a proctor at the US Embassy, here half way across the globe from the US.

Btw, why don't more universities start using that web-cam proctor thingy that AJU uses?

 

There shouldn't be non proctored tests period. In some situation I know cameras are used and also some functionality of PC is restricted but in general I totally against non supervised un-proctored exams. I though you are talking about academic papers.

From what I know there are no degree programs that offer all non proctored exams. I think there are varying number of proctored exams, some require 40% of all exams to be proctored to others that have higher %.
I read long time ego that Cal Coast Univ had to few proctored exams, I could be wrong.


There are no DL degree programs without Proctored or Supervised exams. The question is the frequency or percentage of total exams that are proctored.

 

Actually, I personally have a problem scheduling proctors for exams and had very few proctored exams at FHSU, thankfully. Those unproctored exams that I did take were timed and open book, open notes so why would I want someone to take it for me? It isn't always about cheating...sometimes it's difficult finding someone at just the right time (usually planned ahead at the beginning of the semester). Local libraries are an often used source of proctors but my local library started charging what I think is too much to proctor so I always preferred unproctored exams. The advantage for me in distance learning is the flexibility of being asynchronous anyway. I need to work whenever a few moments presented themselves. A little bout of insomnia comes up...cool! I have taken some online exams that I was ready for at very odd hours as have many others.

 

Actually, Liberty stopped requiring proctors for DL students in (I believe) 2006. When I checked this just recently, the first two syllabi I pulled up were CHHI 520 and 525, both of which have unproctored online multiple choice tests worth 40% of the grade. I am given to understand that this is not uncommon, but I still think the assessment methodology reduces credibility.

I really hope they tighten this up. As an alumni (M.A.R. by correspondence DL, M.Div. in residence) I have mixed feeling about mentioning this on a discussion board, but I want potential students to be forewarned.

 

Right now, ALL learning management systems log your IP address when you log in or complete assignments. It's much more likely that someone will pay for minor proofreading (at ~$5/hr), which I'm actually neutral towards. "Minor" being the operative word.

Probably OT, but worth noting that my social work prof asked me about logging in from CA when I took a trip there. People ARE manning the stations, and certainly if "you" log on from Mumbai at 3pm and from Fresno at 4pm, something is going on. If you're accused of plagiarism and they check the logs, you're toast.

I also disagree with this notion that unproctored testing breeds cheating behaviors. For one, proctoring doesn't seem to cut down on the amount of cheating. And for two, the combination of tests, homework and papers makes up your total grade -- not just testing. Inconsistencies in any of those areas would be a major red flag.

I don't think it's a problem with the various distance learning formats, given that people cheating at school goes back to cuneiform. The book Up Your Score has a funny anecdote about two students who simply swapped exam booklets during the SAT (rather successfully). I knew someone who hid a tiny laser-printed answer sheet for a pre-pharm exam. These are specific to colleges in general, not programs in specific.

 

For years I'm told that Brain-Bench exams and certs are looked down for a reason that the exams are not supervised / proctored.

The combination of proctored exams by competent proctors is the key.
I don't want to add complexity but maybe the exams should be simply at Parametric or Thompson direct?
There can be a case made for appropriate % of the total exams that need to be in such format.

Overseas in some countries these exams are actually administered by Ministry of Education and for person earning National format Degree they are state proctored.
This is called State Attestation.

This way you are not letting the wolves to guard the sheep.
Independent body is grading and evaluating the examinations.

Ron Dotson - I understand what you are saying, I also took some DL classes and exams at odd times and at times traveling in another city wile on work related trip.
Some universities today require simple cam and they disable right click on the mouse during the exam so to not to go online to dig for answers etc. They limit the time etc so in such cases I think technology is there to make the exam more reliable.
In other cases what is stopping a student from having at home number of friends to assist during the exam?

 

That's funny; I recently started my first online course, and the instructor posted a discussion question asking everyone to "describe where you come to class." I thought it was a silly icebreaker, but thinking back on how we all listed specific location information, it probably helps the instructor keep track of any fishy/abnormal log-ins when they're monitoring IP addresses.

 

It can be both! Plus he can gauge your writing ability or style and make suggestions.

For my Intro to Business class, my instructor actually gave us all permission to search for answers online because in the business world you will get answers anywhere you can (which I've found true with my businesses).

Sounds like a gimme course right? I barely got a D. BARELY. Not exaggerating. A f*ckin D. LOL. Especially with stuff that isn't "simple" or isn't T/F, Google doesn't have all the answers. Some people use graphing calculators and Bagatrix stuff to help with math, only to find it doesn't help much at all.

 

Actually the ability to avoid proctored tests was the main reason I choose DL over B&M. I hated through all school and undergrad time the short time exam tactics by hammering endless random data in my head and getting punished for looking outside the box. This lead to the situation that my grades in exams were really bad but in papers were excellent. After that I researched every local University on what percentage of the final grade is earned by non-exam based tasks. Since the result was horrible (outside the art/social science area), I ended up doing my Masters online and really enjoying piling through stacks of books. Plus, it is probably the best preparation for my next goal, a big thesis UK PhD.
(To make a little confession: I cheated through school like crazy, just because of this subjective "injustice". I just went on denial and developed an attitude along the mindset "if you force me to comply to this retarded system, I will do my very best to beat it". But I stopped doing it as soon as I had a "choice" - at the point I entered University.)

 

I did my undergraduate work at a B&M university. Every class I took was butt-in-seat. It would have been so easy to pay someone to take the majority of my classes. The professors never checked ID to verify that you were you. The only classes I would have had a hard time with someone else taking the course for me were the few classes where the professors knew me.

I recall a calculus course where the class size was around 25. One of the students showed up the first day of class to get the syllabus and then showed up for the two exams and then the final exam. I don't think this was a case where someone was paying someone to take a course for them, but thinking back on this, it would have been easy. Other courses I had were held in lecture halls which allowed 50-80 students to take a class. Regardless of class format, any class where you are just a face in the crowd is a prime class for this sort of practice.

 

DL proctoring...

My undergraduate degree was completed almost entirely via DL. Bethany required attendance on campus for registration every semester and thoroughly explained their proctored exam policy. Exams were always mailed to an approved proctor (by examination) and was returned by same.

Why would a DL school not employ such a system?

Kindly,