The Effectiveness of Student Authentication and Student Authenticity in

Online Learning at Community Colleges

Mitra HoshiarLos Angeles Pierce College

Introduction Authentication and authenticity are integral to academic

honesty criteria policies of every community college. To Protect the integrity of online educational system: --Authentication: educational institutions to authenticate students (the process at institutional level) --Authenticity: faculty members need to be aware of the existence of substitute course takers and the importance of online course design to uphold the quality of online education (the quality at classroom level)

Introduction

The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (Federal Legislation) mandates that institutions offering online courses include language in their policies that define how students enrolled in online classes are identified.

This study will: 1) Identify institutional responses (existing policies and

practices, professional development and training, and technology support services) to regulations enacted as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008.

2) Examine the level of faculty awareness of these federal regulations based on “importance” ratings and “satisfaction” ratings.

Research Questions

1) Is there a significant difference between faculty

“importance” ratings and “satisfaction” ratings of

--Institutional policies and practices --Professional development and training --Technology support services

regarding student authentication and authenticity in online learning?

Research Questions

2) To what extent are online faculty members aware of the importance of student authentication and authenticity in online learning?3) How well does the combination of faculty background characteristics, institutional policies and practices, professional development and training, and technology support services predict faculty awareness of the importance of student authentication and authenticity in online learning?

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

1) Albert Bandura’s (1991) theoretical framework of Social

Cognitive Theory (the role of faculty in encouraging and deterring deviant behavior, i.e. academic dishonesty)

2) James Rest's (1986) theoretical framework of Moral

Development Model (moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral focus, and moral character)

Effectiveness of Student

Authentication and Student Authenticity

InstitutionalPolicies and

Practices

Faculty Awareness of

Student Authentication

and Student Authenticity

Professional Development and

TrainingTechnology

Support Servicesmm

Literature Review

It is important for cyber educators to realize the importance of authentication and authenticity. If the institution has a weak authentication method, the chances of security breaches increase” (Baggio & Belderrain, 2011, p. 214)

Literature Review

Even if the reasons for cheating in online classes are the same as the reasons for cheating in onsite classes, for example, ignorance of class policies, compensation for poor planning and time management skills, poor study skills, competition from classmates, and aggressive parents, faculty and administrators have to be creative and innovative to protect the integrity of courses conducted in an online setting (Lagier & McEfee, 2011).

Literature Review

The relationship between the adoption of more updated student identity verification techniques and the perceptions of faculty regarding improvements in academic honesty and institutional creditability should be studied more comprehensively, despite the fact that, no system will fully eliminate the issue of student dishonesty (Schaefer, Barta, & Pavone, 2009).

Literature Review The results of McNabb and Olmstead

(2009) suggested “levels and types of academic dishonesty are similar in an online environment to that found on-campus, and that successful efforts to encourage integrity are similar regardless of whether the course is online or on-campus” (p. 218).

Methodology A quantitative research design Data was collected through an online survey

that was completed by 100 California community college online faculty members.

The methodology includes a discussion of: (a) Research Design (b) Population and Sample(c) Instruments and Procedures(d) Data Collection Procedures(e) Data Analysis

MethodologyResearch DesignA cross-sectional survey design Population and Sample

--The CCC system is comprised of 72 districts and 112 campuses.--The sample was composed of 100 online faculty members from

CCC system. --The prospective respondents were identified and contacted by

1) the snowball sampling; 2) the colleges’ online education websites; 3) the Etudes’ faculty website; and 4) the LinkedIn’s professional website.

MethodologyInstruments and Procedures Survey Instrument (45 closed-ended/1open-ended) 45 closed-ended questions: 1) Faculty awareness (9 questions, Importance);2) Institutional policies and practices (20 questions, Importance/Satisfaction); 3) Faculty professional development (8 questions, Importance/Satisfaction); 4) Technology support services (4 questions Importance/Satisfaction); and 5) Online faculty demographics (4 questions)

A five-point Likert-Type Scale was used for 1, 2, 3, and 4. “Very Important=5” to “Not Important At All=1” “Very Satisfied=5” to “Very Dissatisfied=1”

1 open-ended question: The last question was created as an open-ended question, so the respondents could have an opportunity to state their general comments about authentication and authenticity

MethodologyData Collection

Once faculty email addresses were obtained, the researcher sent

the purpose of the study the respondent’s choice for participation the link to the online surveyData Analysis 1) Descriptive Statistics2) Paired t tests 3) Multiple Regression

Variables: a) The number of years teaching online courses, b) teaching classification, c) current percentage of online teaching load, d) discipline area, and e) faculty awareness of student authentication/authenticity

ResultsDescriptive Statistics: Summarizes the participants’ demographic characteristics

ResultsReliability: Measures the consistency of the survey instrument

This study fell within the range of .75 to .92, which is moderate to good reliability across all the domains.

Resultst tests: A statistical examination of two population means

Results

Results

Institutional Effectiveness

of Student Authenticati

on and Authenticity

Faculty Awarenes

sInstitutional Policies and

Practices

Professional

Development and

Training

Technology Support Services

Demographic Characteristics

Discussion and ConclusionThis study provides evidence that: Institutional policies and procedures,

professional development and training, and technology support services are fundamental to the effectiveness of student authentication and authenticity in online learning.

There were significant gaps between what were considered by faculty as important in the three areas and what were in place in reality. In other words, there is a lack of adequacy in the three key areas at community colleges.

Discussion and Conclusion Community college faculty in general were

fairly aware of the importance of the student authentication and authenticity

Professional development and training,

and institutional policies and procedures had a positive effect on the increase of faculty’s awareness.

Discussion and Conclusion Implications for Policy and Practice

Promoting Academic Honesty (culture of trust, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect)

Course Design to Promote Academic Honesty (change their online course assignments)

Promoting Ethical Responsibilities (use of a code of ethical conduct)

Developing Adequate Policies and Practices (based on federal, state, and local regulations, develop clear policy, inform campus community, and practice from the top down )

Recommendations for Future Research

1. Research needs to be conducted to understand the student perceptions of student authentication in an online environment, so faculty and students’ perspectives can be compared.

2. Through multi-college collaborations with other researchers, the researchers need to compare various approaches to student authentication and authenticity and establish effective solutions.

3. As newer technologies are used for online offerings, research needs to be conducted to determine the impact of technology in the online environment.

4. Conduct a comparative study to understand the issue of student authentication and authenticity in online and on-campus learning environments.

5. Replicate the study, drawing a sample from more than one state and not limiting the study only to community college faculty (4year/private institutions). By expanding the breadth of the research, the results will be more applicable to various types of colleges and universities.

References

Baggio, B. & Belderrain, Y. (2011), Anonymity and Learning in Digitally Mediated

Communications: Authenticity and Trust in Cyber Education, IGI Global, Hershey, PA.Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In W. Kurtines & J. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development (pp. 1-46). Lagier, J., & McEfee, P. (2011). Cyber Cheating: Strategies for Detecting and

Preventing Plagiarism [Powerpoint]. McNabb, L. & Olmstead, A. (2009). Communities of integrity in online courses: Faculty member beliefs and strategies. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching 5(10), 208-221.Rest, J. R. (1986). The defining issues test (3rd ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Center for

the Study of Ethical Development.Schaefer, T., Barta, M. & Pavone, T. (2009). Student Identity Verification and the Higher

Education Opportunity Act: A Faculty Perspective. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 6(8), 51-58.

Contact Information: Mitra Hoshiar, Ed.D.

hoshiam@piercecollege.edu

Questions?