Cheating in online courses: Evidence from online proctoring

• Published in: Computers in human behavior reports Vol. 2; p. 100033
• Main Authors: Dendir, Seife, Maxwell, R. Stockton
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: Academic dishonesty; Cheating; Online courses; Online proctoring; Webcam proctoring; Academic dishonesty; Online courses; Cheating; Online proctoring; Webcam proctoring
• ISSN: 2451-9588; 2451-9588
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chbr.2020.100033

This study revives the unsettled debate on the extent of academic dishonesty in online courses. It takes advantage of a quasi experiment in which online proctoring using a webcam recording software was introduced for high-stakes exams in two online courses. Each course remained the same in its structure, content and assessments before and after the introduction of online proctoring. Analysis of exam scores shows that online proctoring was associated with a decrease in average performance in both courses. Furthermore, the decrease in scores persists when accounting for potential confounding factors in a regression framework. Finally, in separate regressions of exam performance on student characteristics, the regression explanatory power was higher for scores under proctoring. We interpret these results as evidence that cheating took place in the online courses prior to proctoring. The results also imply that online proctoring is an effective tool to mitigate academic dishonesty in online courses. •We assess the prevalence of academic dishonesty in online courses.•We compare student performance before and after the introduction of online proctoring through a webcam recording software.•Our analysis shows that cheating must have been quite prevalent in the absence of proctoring.•An important implication of the study is that relatively simple, technology-based tools can be used to significantly mitigate cheating in online courses.