Honor Council optimistic after results from cheating survey
Paul Abts
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: Lifestyles
Back in January, the Wittenberg Honor Council invited students to take a survey about cheating. Now, the results are in, the numbers are crunched, and honor council advisor Scott Rosenberg is cautiously optimistic that a culture of academic integrity is catching on at Wittenberg.
The most common form of cheating at Witt is receiving help on assignments that are supposed to be done individually, with over 40 percent of the 287 survey participants admitting to doing so at least once.
Less than one third of respondents said they had seen an exam's questions and/or answers prior to taking it, copied other people's homework, or copied from a text or online source without giving proper citation.
Although Rosenberg is concerned that three-fourths of participants consider the above forms of cheating only "trivial to moderate," he pointed out that Witt's numbers are better than many other schools nationwide.
"Am I thrilled at the numbers? No," he said, "But we are above average."
Rosenberg admits that eliminating cheating entirely is probably impossible, but he said the faculty and honor council are "hoping to make a significant cut" in academic dishonesty.
"I think we've made progress in starting to change the campus culture," he said.
In addition to the numbers, Rosenberg said that the respondents' comments were helpful in guiding the honor council's efforts to promote academic integrity. According to Rosenberg, the dominant theme of the comments was students' confusion because of disparate policies among different professors and departments.
Rosenberg said that the honor council will work with faculty members on clarifying the honor code and applying it more consistently.
The most common form of cheating at Witt is receiving help on assignments that are supposed to be done individually, with over 40 percent of the 287 survey participants admitting to doing so at least once.
Less than one third of respondents said they had seen an exam's questions and/or answers prior to taking it, copied other people's homework, or copied from a text or online source without giving proper citation.
Although Rosenberg is concerned that three-fourths of participants consider the above forms of cheating only "trivial to moderate," he pointed out that Witt's numbers are better than many other schools nationwide.
"Am I thrilled at the numbers? No," he said, "But we are above average."
Rosenberg admits that eliminating cheating entirely is probably impossible, but he said the faculty and honor council are "hoping to make a significant cut" in academic dishonesty.
"I think we've made progress in starting to change the campus culture," he said.
In addition to the numbers, Rosenberg said that the respondents' comments were helpful in guiding the honor council's efforts to promote academic integrity. According to Rosenberg, the dominant theme of the comments was students' confusion because of disparate policies among different professors and departments.
Rosenberg said that the honor council will work with faculty members on clarifying the honor code and applying it more consistently.
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