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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).
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.
Results
Results
Institutional Effectiveness
of Student Authenticati
on and Authenticity
Faculty Awarenes
s
Institutional Policies and
Practices
Professional
Development and
Training
Technology Support Services
Demographic Characteristics
Discussion and Conclusion
This 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 )
