HEA Contract Cheating Special Interest Group Meeting Led by Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke Birmingham City University © Clarke & Lancaster 2013 SIG_Bham 13 1
May 20, 2015
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HEA Contract Cheating Special Interest Group
MeetingLed by
Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke Birmingham City University
© Clarke & Lancaster 2013SIG_Bham 13
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Meeting Format
• Introduce the HEA Contract Cheating Special Interest Group and associated resources
• Overview contract cheating and how it is different from plagiarism
• Provide some research statistics on contract cheating
• Present the latest challenges of contract cheating• Open up to the floor for discussion of issues of
interest to the SIG
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Special Interest Group
• Initially funded by the HEA, launched at a workshop at Birmingham City University on Friday 22 June 2012(Resources available)
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/previous-events/contract-cheating
• Communicates mostly through a JISCMail discussion list (opportunities for live discussions are welcome)
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=CONTRACTCHEATING
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Categories of “Cheating” In assessed coursework we can characterise 3 main categories:-
Collusioncopying from students
in same cohort
ContractCheating
work is produced by an external agent
Plagiarismcopying from books
or internet
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Contract Cheating
• Contract Cheating occurs when a student uses the services of a third party to produce assessed work for them
• (Some) examples of how contract cheating is undertaken include:– Online auction sites (Freelancer.com,
RentACoder.com)– Friends and family– Online essay mills– Private tutors
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What’s Going On Right Now?
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As of 16 April 2013, 23:30
Found using search “essay”
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Who Is Bidding?
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Who Is Requesting?
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What Are The Challenges?• Contract cheating happens continually – often
behind closed doors• Contract cheating appears to many to be a
“victimless crime” – but is it?• Auction site work can be cheap (competitive
bid process) and at a high academic level
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And The Biggest Challenge?• Contract Cheating is original (“work to order”)
– not detected by TurnItIn– requires a (labour intensive) detective role
• Projects on auction sites are often only live for a limited time, so any detective success is subject to human limitations
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Some Statistics
• The “average student” posts between 4 and 7 assignments (March 04 to October 06)
• Most common subjects on non-Computing sites (EssayBay):– Business and Admin Studies– Social Studies– History and Philosophical Studies– Medicine
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More About EssayBay
• First study of a web-site dedicating to enabling contract cheating– Rentacoder (now vWorker) 85% legitimate work– Site ceased fully functioning in Aug 2010
• Shows wide range of subjects involved– Maths & Computing only 5%– Business Studies main category (25%)– Everything from “anthropology to theology”
• Range of levels of work– Difficult to verify (mostly self-reported by student)– Significant number at Masters level (21%)– Some PhD requests – mostly research proposals
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Students Aren’t All Getting Caught (By Us)…
AssignmentsPosted
SourceAttributed
StudentIdentified
1 in 3 postings detected
1 in 3attributed
1 in 3students found
1 in 27 cheaters
dealt with
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A New Success? - Assignment Briefs on Turnitin
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Small %ages can be significant
matches occurs when student paper
contains parts of assignment brief
We recommend that staff upload assignment briefs to Turnitin as soon as the assignment is released to students
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Outsourcing Web Sites (7 Years)• Freelancer + vWorker
– main sites we examine– easy to search– give most details of users– tracking sub-contractors– two sites now merged
• Kasamba (Liveperson)– “tutorial” site
• Student Of Fortune + Transtutors– sells HW solutions
TRANSTUTORS
ODESK
OTHER
KASAMBA
SCRIPTLANCE
ESSAYBAY
GETACODER
VWORKER
FREELANCER
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
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25
103
216
291
721
1178
5432
6455
Postings by source 2005-2012Total of 14,438 detected items
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(stats of July 2012)
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Detection is not enough• No magic bullet
– A multi-faceted approach is needed
• Fear of detection is the best deterrent– must improve attribution rate (post assignment specs on Turnitin)– increase use of individualised assignments– watermarking assignment specifications
• Increase awareness amongst staff– Common to hear “didn’t know this type of thing happened”– Need to look out for idiosyncratic elements in coursework
• Ensure regulations are robust enough– Level of “proof” available not same as for plagiarism– Attempt to cheat (as in an exam) should be an offence
• Increase awareness amongst students– Cheating is not a victim-less crime– Problem with a new intake each year
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The future?
• More students see “buying” a solution as an option• Staff have less time to design and administer
assignments• Increased use of on-line/distance learning activities• Increased use of franchising of courses• Increased number of contractors providing solutions• Increased use of Private Tutors outside the
classroom• Difficulty in progressing cases of cheating
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Discussion Areas…
• What do you feel that the HEA Contract Cheating SIG should be delivering?
• What pressing issues, concerns and solutions do you have for Contract Cheating?
• Are you interested in attending more in-depth workshops on (preventing and detecting) contract cheating?
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Upcoming Event
• Outsourcing Assignments? Exposing The Threat Posed By Contract Cheating To The Computing Industry– Wolverhampton Branch, British Computer Society– Wednesday 24 April, 2013, 6:30pm to 8:00pm
http://www.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/50179
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Upcoming Research
• Commercial Aspects of Contract Cheating– Analyses the monetary value of contract cheating
to the different parties involved in the process– ITiCSE 2013, University of Kent– Monday 1 July, 2013 to Wednesday 3 July, 2013
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/events/iticse2013
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