Researchers at Harvard University and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology have identified a way students are
cheating to earn credit in MOOCs. The method is the subject of a working paper,
“Detecting and Preventing ‘Multiple-Account’ Cheating in Massive Open Online
Courses,” published online on Monday.
According to the researchers, some students
are creating at least two accounts in a MOOC — one or more with which to
purposely fail assignments in order to discover the correct answers, which they
use to ace the assignments in their primary account. The researchers analyzed
data from nearly two million course participants in 115 MOOCs offered by MITx
and Harvardx, and found that more than 1 percent of the certificates earned
appeared to result from this kind of cheating. And among those students who
have earned 20 or more certificates, 25 percent had used this strategy to
cheat.
To combat the cheating, the researchers
recommend that solutions not be given out until an assignment is past due and
that questions be randomized so they’re not identical among all students.
Link for the Research Paper | http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1508/1508.05699.pdf
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