Uni students finding cheating loophole with online exams

One in five students at universities in Queensland have admitted to cheating on exams in the past year, with experts warning the act can have dire consequences.

University students are finding cheating “easier than ever” due to an increase in online learning with two-thirds of Queensland students reporting a rise, shocking research has revealed.

With university exams set to begin next month, support service Studiosity has found an increase in unsupervised online exams was tempting students who were struggling to consider cheating.

The research found one in five Queensland students had cheated on an exam or assignment in the past year, or knew someone who did.

Online learning has resulted in a rise in cheating according to 64 per cent of Queensland students, while 14 per cent said they would be more likely to cheat if they knew another student in their class had done so.

One student told researchers “online exams are very easy for people to cheat on. For example, my university did not have cameras or computer tracking at all so I could easily have had notes right next to me to copy”.

Studiosity chief academic officer Judyth Sachs said the alarming results indicated students were not considering the long-term implications cheating could have on their future.

“The very sad part is that a lot of students don’t fully realise the risks they’re taking by cheating,” she said.

“Even things like texting exam answers to a friend during an online quiz, can make you lose your degree and cost your entire academic career.

“If you’re caught cheating, it goes down on your permanent academic record.”

A student also said “someone I worked with stated that he and his friends FaceTimed during their exams and shared answers, and that for a maths exam, they split up the questions, so each guy only did 20 per cent of the exam themselves”.

Industry watchdog the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency has issued several sector alerts this year about a possible increase in cheating, particularly regarding professional cheating services targeting students.

Last month TEQSA issued an alert that students were receiving email and social media promotions offering the chance to win up to $10,000 if they uploaded assignments or course materials to file sharing websites.

“TEQSA’s Higher Education Integrity Unit is concerned by the integrity risk posed by sharing course content and assessment material on these platforms,” the alert read.

“All staff and students at Australian institutions are reminded that commercial academic cheating undermines the integrity of higher education.”

Studiosity founder Jack Goodman said it was “unfortunate” to see students turn to cheating, and said there were “ethical” ways to get help studying if they were struggling.

“Part of our mission at Studiosity is to provide a lifeline to those students who are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and out of their depth, and help them build up their confidence in their own knowledge and academic abilities,” Mr Goodman said.