U.K. Considering "Official Guidance" to Stop Cheating Using ChatGPT

Plus, a barrister suggests returning to in-person exams. Plus, The Score has a new episode. Plus, Quick Bites from South Africa and Montana.

Jan 03, 2023

Issue 177

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U.K. Authorities May Issue ChatGPT Integrity Guidance

Just before the New Year, several sources in the U.K. reported that a government education authority was considering issuing official guidance related to the inappropriate use of AI-text generation such as ChatGPT.

According to the reporting, the regulator:

was considering whether it needs to introduce guidance over fears of widespread plagiarism.

And, the article reported:

Schools fear students will be able to use the chatbot and pass off the work as their own.

Will be able to? Are. They are already (see Issue 176 or Issue 174).

Official guidance, I think, would be good. Unless it’s flat awful, I don’t see how it could hurt.

But more importantly, once again the U.K. recognizes a problem and is spinning up action while others do nothing. By others, I mostly mean the United States.

A Return to In-Person Exams

Daniel Sokol is a barrister in the U.K. who represents students in academic integrity cases. He’s also a friend of The Cheat Sheet and an outspoken alarm ringer on the scope, scale and severe consequences of academic misconduct. See Issue 38 or Issue 16 as examples.

This week, Sokol has a new article in The Independent in which he argues:

If we want to maintain the credibility of our universities and the weight of a degree, we must get back to in-person assessments

That assertion aside for the moment, the article is an important read. In it, Sokol writes about the increase in online examinations and assessments:

I have noticed that since this change, the amount of queries I deal with has increased. I am repeatedly told by clients that cheating in universities is rife. Some of my clients, at risk of failure or expulsion, would tell me about the unfairness of their predicament when so many of their peers cheated without getting caught.

Yup.

And, he offers:

Understandably, reputation-conscious universities are reluctant to find out the prevalence of cheating in their institution.

No doubt about it.

Sokol addresses the study he commissioned - see Issue 135. He concludes:

I firmly believe that universities should conduct all important assessments in person. That is the only way to maintain standards and reassure employers and others that a candidate’s degree was obtained honestly. It is now too easy to cheat in online exams and too many students are currently doing so, undetected.

He’s right that it’s too easy to cheat in online exams and that too many students are not being caught. He’s right as well that in-person exams are more secure. It’s kind of the same point.

And I agree that schools and test centers will have to expand the logistics of assessments to better accommodate written material done with supervision, and likely without Internet access. This is coming, if it’s not here already.

But the genie is out of the bottle on online degrees, programs and courses. There are now very large universities with 80%, 90% even 100% online enrollment. They simply cannot conduct in person exams, even if they wanted to. To say nothing of the accessibility issues that mandatory in-person assessments would create.

I mean - I agree. In person is better, from an integrity perspective. But online assignments and exams aren’t going away. And it’s why, when online exams are necessary, they must be as secure as possible.

“The Score” Podcast Dropped Another Episode

The outstanding podcast on academic integrity, The Score, dropped another episode in mid-November. I have not gotten to it yet but this one features an interview with:

Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy is the president of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities or NWCCU.

It ought to be quite interesting. Here’s a link to the episode:

The 74 reports on a finding that there was apparently no evidence of test cheating by inmates in Montana, despite a whistleblower saying there was. I did not know this was happening, though there was a similar situation in Arkansas (see Issue 148).
There is perhaps a “fresh” cheating scandal in South Africa. This one involving matriculation exams in the Eastern Cape district. The article requires a subscription so that’s all I know.
Cirrus Assessment which is, “a SaaS company that has helped awarding bodies, higher education and professional testing organisations create, deliver and mark online exams” has announced a partnership with Turnitin. The press release says the partnership includes “two game-changing integrations that will offer Cirrus customers even more options to promote test taker integrity.”