Dr. Cecilia Elaine Wilson,

Associate Clinical Professor,

Nursing

NURSING FACULTY AND

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

• Technology, Simulation, Virtual hospitals

• Academic dishonesty in college exists! (McCabe,1992 and

Anderson & Obenshain, 1994)

• Prevalence of cheating, the ways students cheat, and influential factors on the cheating behaviors

• Strategies to promote AI

• Traditional face-to-face course room

• Modifications for online

• Technological tools

BACKGROUND &

CONTEXT

PROBLEM & QUESTIONS THAT LED TO

MY RESEARCH

Maintaining Academic Integrity (AI)

• Issue in Traditional & Online environments

• Faculty Responsibility when assessing student achievements

• C. Rogers (2006): Majority of surveyed faculty agreed important, but inconsistency discovered with implementation of the process in an online environment

Testing Strategies &

Technological Tools Dietz-Uhler & Hurn (2011); Hart & Morgan (2009); Kritzinger and Von Solms (2009); Tippitt et al. (2009); Teo (2009)

• Provide more secure online testing environment

• Acceptance and appropriate implementation

• Important in maintaining AI

• Key to success or failure of strategy or tool

Insufficient Information

• Regarding nursing faculty decision-making process

• Specifically in area of maintaining AI in an online environment

Everett Rogers’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory (1995)

• Manner in which new ideas are dispersed among a group of

people

• The use of new strategies and technological tools

• Preventative innovations

• Communication process leading to adoption and use of

preventative innovations

CONCEPTUAL

FRAMEWORK

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

• explore the experiences and decision-making process of

nursing faculty related to maintaining academic integrity in an

online environment

• Specifically, the manner in which the ideas were diffused

during the decision-making process of nursing faculty when

making choices in maintaining academic integrity

• the use of strategies and technological tools

Primary research question: How do nursing faculty members

describe their experiences with maintaining academic integrity in

an online learning environment?

Sub-question 1. What strategies have nursing faculty members

used to maintain academic integrity with an online examination or

assignment?

Sub-question 2. How do nursing faculty members describe their

experiences in utilizing technological tools to maintain academic

integrity with an online examination or assignment?

Sub-question 3. How do nursing faculty members decide which

strategies and technological tools to use or reject?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Walton (2001) and Corll (2007: -ability to assess correctly a student’s achievements -potential for harm.

• protecting the public

• most trusted professions

• perseverance of integrity

• description of nursing faculty members’ decision-making

process involving the maintenance of academic integrity

• complement and add another dimension to previous research

• development of policies

• identify areas for improvement

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

KEY POWERFUL POINTS FROM THE

RESEARCH

Society expects the profession of nursing to be trustworthy and

honest (J. Jones, 2010).

• McCabe’s (2009) research study revealed nursing students

were no different from their non-nursing peers in relation to

engaging in dishonest behaviors.

• Academic dishonesty translated into professional practice

would mean if a nursing student were dishonest on an exam

and the expected learning did not occur, the learning deficit

could become an issue of life or death for their patients

(Bavier, 2009; Gaberson, 1997; McCabe, 2009; Ridenour,

2007).

AN OVERVIEW OF THE

LITERATURE

• vast area in the literature

• accountability and ethics

• Web-based and online courses

• development of technologies

• prevention and detection

• prevalence and issues

• faculty use of the available technologies

• limited in the area of academic honesty in the online

environment

• research related to faculty further limited

• the online environment remains an open area

• changing paradigm of online education for nursing

• deficit of information

THE NEED FOR

FURTHER RESEARCH

• A basic qualitative research design

• A systematic design approach

• gap in the literature exploring how the diffusion of ideas during the

decision-making process influences choices nursing faculty make in

carrying out activities to maintain academic integrity, specifically in an

online environment.

• description of the process

• themes and patterns

METHODOLOGY

AND DESIGN

SAMPLE

• Current employment at the selected School of Nursing, AND

• Participated in teaching in an online environment in one or more of the following ways:

Target Population:

Nursing Faculty

----------

Homogenous purposeful sampling technique

• traditional face-to-

face course in

which a portion of

the examinations or

assignments were

online

• hybrid online course

• course administered

one hundred percent

online

DATA COLLECTION

DATA COLLECTION:

Twelve open-ended survey questionnaires

seven focus group interviews

Saturation

Member checking

Reliability of the interpretation of data

DATA ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS:

audio-taped interviews

online surveys

Constant comparative analysis

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

Primary Research Question

How do nursing faculty members describe their experiences with maintaining academic

integrity in an online learning environment?

issues of

integrity experiences

involving

technology

emotive &

philosophical

viewpoints

examinations, discussion

boards, written

assignments, faculty

integrity, & policy

changes

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

Sub-Question 1

What strategies have nursing faculty members used to maintain academic

integrity with an online examination or assignment?

strategies for online

examinations

strategies for

online

assignments

design of

exam

administration

of exam

prevent & detect

plagiarism design of

assignments

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

Sub-Question 2

How do nursing faculty members describe their experiences in utilizing technological

tools to maintain academic integrity with an online examination or assignment?

plagiarism

detection

software

non-platform

technological

tools

assessment

options

other available

options such as

Wikis

platform

tools

no

experience

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS

Sub-Question 3

How do nursing faculty members decide which strategies and technological

tools to use or reject?

perceptions

of use and

functionality

perceived

responsibility

ease

problems

existing

state of

affairs past

experiences

channels

of

communication

availability

mistrust

trust in platform

options

trial & error

faculty

educational

evaluation

• Everett Rogers’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory (1995)

• time to adopt

• acquisition of new skills

• knowledge deficit

• lacking the training and skills necessary for successful implementation

• influences and decisions of other members of the system

• Observations, word of mouth, and experiences of others

• the perceived level of advantage and the complexity of the innovation

• perceptions of ease of use and functionality

• Uncertainty

• discomfort, frustration, and mistrust

RELATIONSHIP OF FINDINGS

AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

• description of the process, not a theory

• faculty from the selected school

• institution to institution

• from state to state

• disciplines

• employed at the same institution as the participants

• not all faculty members

• primarily of women

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• education

• training

• support

• address issues involving the school’s selected platform

• description

• nursing faculty members’ decision-making process

• complement and add another dimension

• development of policies

• help identify areas for improvement

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

• different types of programs

• other geographic locations

• online university

• expanding the sample demographics

• potential faculty integrity issues

• unexpected findings

• encouraging academic dishonesty

• no experience

• reasons and potential solutions

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR

FUTURE STUDY

Anderson, R. & Obenshain, S. (1994). Cheating by students: Findings, reflections, and remedies. Academic

Medicine, 69(5), 323-332.

Baron, J. & Crooks, S. (2005). Academic integrity in web based distance education. Tech Trends, 49(2), 40-45.

Bavier, A. R. (2009). Guest editorial. Holding students accountable when integrity is challenged. Nursing

Education Perspectives, 30(1), 5-5.

Cordova, J. & Thornhill, P. (2007). Academic honesty and electronic assessment: tools to prevent students from

cheating online-Tutorial presentation. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 22(5), 52-54.

Corll, V. (2007). Cheating, plagiarizing, and false excuse making: A study in student ethics . Ph.D. dissertation, Capella

University, United States, Minnesota. Retrieved March 11, 2010, from Dissertations & Theses @ Capella.

(Publication No. AAT 3278286).

Cuellar, N. (2002). The transition from classroom to online teaching. Nursing Forum, 37(3), 5-13. doi:

10.1111/j.1744-6198.2002.tb01005.x

Dietz-Uhler, B. & Hurn, J. (2011). Academic dishonesty in online courses. Proceedings of the Association of Small

Computer Users in Education, 44, 71-77. Retrieved from

http://www.ascue.org/files/proceedings/2011/2011-final.pdf#page=72

Ercegovac, Z., & Richardson, J. (2004). Academic dishonesty, plagiarism included, in the digital age: A literature

review. College & Research Libraries, 65(4), 301-318.

REFERENCES

Gaberson, K. (1997). Academic dishonesty among nursing students. Nursing Forum,

32(3), 14-20.

Harmon, O., & Lambrinos, J. (2008). Are online exams an invitation to cheat? The

Journal of Economic Education, 39(2), 116-125. doi: 10.3200/JECE.39.2.116125

Hart, L., & Morgan, L. (2009). Strategies for online test security. Nurse Educator, 34(6),

249-253. doi: 10.1097/NNE.0b013e3181bc743b

Jones, J. (2010). Nurses top honesty and ethics list for 11th year. Gallup, Inc.

Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/145043/Nurses-Top- Honesty-

Ethics-List-11-Year.aspx

Jones, K., Reid, J., & Bartlett, R. (2006). E-learning and e-cheating. 3rd E-Learning

Conference, Coimbra, Portugal. Retrieved from

http://elconf06.dei.uc.pt/pdfs/paper2.pdf

Jung, I., & Yeom, H. (2009). Enhanced security for online exams. Using group

cryptography, IEEE Transactions on Education, 52(3), 340-349. doi:

10.1109/TE.2008.928909

REFERENCES

Kritzinger, E. & Von Solms, S. (2009). Information security in an e-learning environment. In M.

Gupta, & Sharman, R. (Eds.), Handbook of research on social and organizational liabilities in

information security (pp 346-362). doi:10.4018/978-1-60566-132-2.ch021

McCabe, D. (1992). The influence of situational ethics on cheating among college students.

Sociological Inquiry, 62(3), 365-374.

McCabe, D. (2009). Academic dishonesty in nursing schools: An empirical investigation. Journal of

Nursing Education, 48(11), 614-623. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20090716-07

Patnaude, K. (2008). Faculty perceptions regarding the extent to which the online course environment affects

academic honesty. University of Houston. Proquest Dissertations and Theses, Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/304602304?accountid=27965

Ridenour, J. (2007). Cheating is profoundly unfair to patients. Arizona State Board of Nursing

Regulatory Journal, 2(1), 4-5. Retrieved from

http://www.azbn.gov/Documents/newsletters/2007/Journal%202nd%20Quarter

%20May%202007.pdf

Rogers, C. (2006). Faculty perceptions about e-cheating during online testing. Journal of

Computing Sciences in Colleges, 22(2), 206-212.

Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.

REFERENCES

Stuber-McEwan, D., Wiseley, P., Hoggatt, S.(2009). Point, click, and cheat: Frequency and

type of academic dishonesty in the virtual classroom. Online Journal of Distance Learning

Administration, 12(3). Retrieved from

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall123/stuber123.html

Tallent-Runnels, M., Thomas, J., Lan, W., Cooper, S. Ahern, T., Shaw, S. et al. (2006).

Teaching courses online: A review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 93-

135. doi: 10.3102/00346543076001093

Teo, T. (2009). Modeling technology acceptance in education: A study of pre-service teachers.

Computers & Education, 52(2), 302-312. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2008.08.006

Tippitt, M., Ard, N., Kline, J., Tilghman, J., Chamberlain, B., & Meagher, P. (2009). Creating

environments that foster academic integrity. Nursing Education Perspectives, 30(4), 239-244.

doi:10.1043/1536-5026-030.004.0239

Walton, C. (2001). An investigation of academic dishonesty among undergraduates at Kansas State

University. Dissertation, Kansas State University. Retrieved from

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REFERENCES