Students' Perspectives of the Influence of Web-Enhanced Coursework on Incidences of Cheating

Online course management systems, such as WebCT and Blackboard, provide instructors and students with new opportunities for academic freedom. With this freedom comes the potential for abuse, which many instructors believe will manifest itself as increased levels of cheating. This paper investigates what students define as cheating, why students cheat, and their perceptions of a course management system's effect on the level of cheating in a first-year chemistry program. Our results suggest that students define cheating primarily as copying or receiving answers from another student. The primary reasons for cheating include lack of motivation, desperation, and the pressure to obtain good grades. Statistical analyses show that although students with a grade-point average in the range of 2.4–3.0 were more likely to cheat on assignments, students do not believe a course management system will have any significant impact on the level of cheating that occurs in a Web-enhanced course.