Survey: 56% of Canadian College "Personally Witnessed" Cheating Last Year

Plus, Universities in UK hold foreign applicants after cheating in English exam surfaces. Plus, NCTA and me on TV. Plus, news from UNESCO.

Issue 232

To join the 3,503 smart people who subscribe to “The Cheat Sheet,” enter your e-mail address below. New Issues every Tuesday and Thursday. It’s free:

If you enjoy “The Cheat Sheet,” please consider joining the 14 amazing people who are chipping in a few bucks a month via Patreon. Or joining the 17 outstanding citizens who are now paid subscribers. Thank you!

---

Survey: 56% of Canadian College Students “Personally Witnessed” Cheating

In the recently released 2023 edition of a national survey of college students in Canada, the topline finding is largely unchanged - a solid majority (56%) said they “personally witnessed” their student peers cheating. In the 2022 survey, that number was 54% (see Issue 130).

Since “personally witnessed” is a decent proxy for actual cheating, unchanged does not mean good.

It may also be a problem that the share of “Yes, I see it all the time” went from 15% last year to 18% this year. Not a big jump, but not a great trend.

It’s also interesting that, according to the survey:

38% of grad students say they personally witness cheating all the time, significantly more than the proportion of students in undergraduate (14%) or diploma/associate programs (11%)

Not sure what to make of that.

The results also indicate that part-time students are more likely to consider cheating (38%) than full-time students (24%). Those working full time (36%), versus those not employed (22%), were also more likely. Both of those make sense to me.

Asked whether they were more likely to consider cheating now, in the age of AI and essay mills (I’m paraphrasing), 36% of students with household incomes above $50,000 said they were. Just 20% of “lower income” households said the same.

Again, interesting.

And new this year, the survey asked whether students had seen cheating with AI software. A solid 40% said they had - 16% said they saw it “all the time.”

If you care about academic integrity, fairness, equity, and the value of education credentials, nothing in those numbers is good news.

Still, it is good news that Studiosity Canada, which sponsored the survey, thought enough to ask the questions and share the answers.

U.K. Schools Withdraw Offers to Foreign Applicants After Cheating Issues Surface

I’m not sure why this was not bigger news.

But according to reports, apparent cheating on the PTE Academic Online Test, a test of English, has caused the test provider to cancel some scores, in turn causing some U.K. universities to hold or delay acceptance offers to foreign applicants.

According to the coverage, cheating was limited to the online versions of the test, delivered in China, by test provider Pearson. After an inquiry, the scores were canceled and some schools removed the test as proof of English competency.

So, two things.

The cheating was during the online test. The news coverage says:

The organisation’s in-person tests are unaffected.

Surprise, surprise.

And, though this is not exceptionally clear in the reporting, it does appear that the cheating was uncovered by the schools - not the test provider. The schools, the paper says, noticed a high number of prospects, “applying with full or very high marks.”

So, again - I just do not understand what test providers are doing if they’re not safeguarding their own exams.

But this is a good example of what happens when you don’t. First, people cheat. Second, it becomes public. Third, people stop using your test. Really pretty simple.

Now, apply that to any credential - especially a college degree. If you offer an educational credential and you do not protect it, people will cheat. The public will find out. And it will become irrelevant.

Before we move on, this issue apparently impacted hundreds of students. Hundreds. So much so that the coverage says:

Pearson has now stopped delivering the online test in China

Boy, there’s a show of confidence.

And finally, admissions advisors and brokers in China who had clients caught up in the score revocations may have a back up plan. One said:

she would also divert some of her students to Australian institutions for the spring intake. 

“This way our students have more time to improve their English and still stand a chance to get into a world recognised top university,” she said. 

Cool.

UNESCO Says Less than 10% of Education Institutions Have Policies on AI

Meanwhile, UNESCO reported recently that it surveyed 450 schools and universities around the world and found that:

fewer than 10% have developed institutional policies and/or formal guidance concerning the use of generative AI applications.

But no need to panic. It’s actually worse than that.

UNESCO goes on to report that:

some 40% of the educational institutions that reported having guidance, said the guidance was not written and had only been communicated orally

Awesome.

Further, the short UNESCO report deadpanned:

schools and universities appear to be taking their time to make recommendations and lay down rules

Me, TV, and NCTA

As you may have noticed, there were no Issues of “The Cheat Sheet” last week as I was in Sin City for the National College Testing Association (NCTA) annual conference.

As the conference keynote, it was my highest honor to talk with the more than 350 attendees about academic integrity, industrial cheating, and the deep threat that misconduct represents.

I don’t think the session was recorded, but have no fear. I was amazing.

And it was fun.

There were also several great speakers and presentations on academic integrity, which I will share as I can.

Before heading to Vegas, I was fortunate to be interviewed for a TV segment on the use of ChatGPT in academic misconduct. It’s a short, two-minute piece but it’s here, in case your boredom has reached dangerous proportions.

I am delighted when people want to talk about academic integrity, be it in a ballroom in Las Vegas or for two minutes on TV.

Class Note

There is a ton of academic integrity and testing and cheating news to cover, including a backlog of research. I’ll get there. But my travel and preparation for the NCTA Conference have put me behind.

Thank you to everyone who’s sending in notes, news, and comments. I really do read them and really do learn and share many things from readers. A reply e-mail reaches me.

And thank you, as always, for reading and sharing.