First of all, let me clearly state that I am a propenent of ensuring academic integrity whether in the traditional or virtual classroom. Part of my responsibilities as an adjunct instructor in Liberty University’s Distance Learning Program is to ensure that my students are aware of the serious consequences of cheating and plagiarism. Does it happen in the virtual classroom? The answer is “yes” just as it happens in the traditional classroom.
There is an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that tells of a 1,200-page bill now in Congress that includes a small paragraph that could lead online institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.
As crazy as it sounds — part of legislation renewing the Higher Education Act — is all but assured of becoming law by the fall. The wording is actually about clamping down on cheating. It says that an institution that offers an online program must prove that an enrolled student is the same person who does the work.
Again, I am all for ways of ensuring academic honesty and integrity within the virtual classroom, but this bill goes too far and places an inordinate burden on online institutions. Each of my children have been in traditional college classrooms with hundreds of other students. How can the professor in those classrooms guarantee that each student is who they say they are and academic dishonesty is not taking place at some level? And the next question is how far does an institution take it? Are those in the online space needing to look at fingerprint technology, eyeball scanning …?