International Perspectives On Contract Cheating - Staffordshire University Staff Research Conference - 23 May 2017

International Perspectives on #contractcheating
Staffordshire University Staff Research Conference 2017 1
International Perspectives
on Contract Cheating
Staffordshire University Staff Research Conference 2017
Dr. Thomas Lancaster
School of Computing and Digital Technologies
Staffordshire University
Tuesday, 23 May 2017
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk

http://thomaslancaster.co.uk2
Introduction

Overview
A brief overview of what contract cheating is and my role within international
contract cheating research work
Some key current international findings regarding contract cheating, including
highlights from the South East European Project on Policies for Academic
Integrity (SEEPPAI) project
The opportunities for research that exist within the contract cheating and
academic integrity fields

About Dr. Thomas Lancaster
Academic with Computer
Science Background
Contract Cheating
Researcher
International Speaker Academic Integrity Media
Contributor
Associate Dean – Recruitment
School of Computing and Digital
Technologies, Staffordshire University
Operates a website and blog at:
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
Tweets using:
@DrLancaster and #contractcheating
Answers emails at:
thomas.lancaster@staffs.ac.uk
thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk
Archives slides on SlideShare at:
https://www.slideshare.net/thomaslan
caster

Has worked closely with me since we first introduced
the term contract cheating in a 2006 study
A devoted advocate of academic integrity
Now largely retired – for many years a senior
Computing academic for Birmingham City University
Has identified more than 30,000 cheating attempts
worldwide from students posting their assignment
requests online for help from a third party
With Thanks To Robert Clarke

A Rapid Introduction To
Contract Cheating

A student pays one
of their peers to
complete an extra
version of the
assignment for them
A student asks a family member to review their assignment –
and substantial “corrections” are made to this document
A student posts a
request on an online
agency site to hire a
third party to
complete their
assignment
Contract Cheating Defined In A
Student Context
Just a few indicative
examples – there are
many more scenarios

International Providers Of Contract
Cheating Servics
Company
advertising
on
Facebook
Found inside an Australian bathroom cubicle
Business
card used
in the
United
States
Sample
online
writing
company Flyer distributed at a
university in Greece

International Users Of Contract
Cheating Services ?
“Many of our clients are non-native
speakers, often from China”
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5v7wvg/we_are_the_owner_and_one_of_the_professors_from
Unemployed
Professors
“I don’t think I’ve had an Australian
client at all, they are mostly Chinese.”
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/students-are-paying-people-to-write-their-
assignments-for-them/news-story/816f2da3bdeec5c231f2c8ec3377d9d0
“Kayne” – Australian
student advertising
writing services on
Gumtree

Some Useful International Findings
Essays sold in Australia - 2016
Essays purchased online may be worthy of distinctions (3 out of 26), but they
may also be below pass quality (8 out of 26)
Lines, L., 2016. Ghostwriters guaranteeing grades? The quality of online ghostwriting services available to tertiary
students in Australia. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(8), pp.889-914.
Ghost writers working from developing countries - 2016
10 writers from developing countries interviewed. All had degrees from Western
universities – and had returned to their home countries to work as “academic writers”
Sivasubramaniam, S., Kostelidou, K. and Ramachandran, S., 2016. A Close Encounter with Ghost-writers: An Initial Exploration Study
on Background, Strategies and Attitudes of Independent Essay Providers. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 12(1).
Students in Australia - 2017
Students less likely to outsource reflections on practical work, individualised
assignments, work completed in class, spoken presentations
(from survey of 15,047 students at 8 Australian universities)
Preliminary findings from a survey of students and staff in Australian higher education, shared at University of South
Australia symposium on 13 April 2017, https://cheatingandassessment.edu.au.

What Does Recent Contract
Cheating Research Conducted
Within SE Europe Tell Us?

South East European Project on Policies for
Academic Integrity (SEEPPAI)
Regional academic integrity study, funded by Council of Europe as part of the Ethics,
Transparency and Integrity in Education (ETINED) platform
The countries included in the study were:
Research conducted through international collaboration (United Kingdom and Czech Republic)
Data collected in late 2016, first findings published in April 2017
(1) Albania
(2) Bosnia and Herzegovina
(3) Croatia
(4) Montenegro
(5) The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(6) Serbia

Results Released So Far Have Identified
Contract Cheating As An Issue
Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond
Conference Paper
(24 - 26 May 2017, Brno, Czech Republic)
https://plagiarism.pefka.mendelu.cz
Supported by the European Network for Academic
Integrity (ENAI)
https://www.academicintegrity.eu
Final Report for SEEPPAI
http://www.plagiarism.cz/seeppai
(a paper looking
specifically at
contract cheating in
the SE Europe
region is planned -
this presentation
provides a “sneak
peak” at some early
observations)

Contract cheating is a
known problem in SE
Europe
In Croatia, 6 out of 10 students in a focus group told the SEEPPAI
researchers that they knew someone who had purchased an assignment

The Contract Cheating Issues In SE
Europe Mirror Those In The UK
“You can find adverts [for
contract cheating services]
around the university. You can
find them in the Facebook
group for the department.”
Quote from a student focus group

Some commentators in
the UK have claimed that
contract cheating is the
results of student fees
Countries with no fees – and those with student grants – still
experience the same challenges

Institutions in the region lack
comparable statistics relating
to academic misconduct
Even in the UK, when statistics do exist few institutions have the data to
break these down by type of misconduct and/or academic discipline

Students in SE Europe seem
to operate within a wider
culture that allows financial
corruption in education
There is good practice across the region and many excellent
dedicated lecturers – but also examples of students reportedly
paying for results, or being expected to make purchases
helping their lecturers to succeed with the course

What Should We Do About
Contract Cheating?

Opportunities For Contract Cheating
Research
How do we ensure consistent
and effective contract
cheating policies and
processes?
Can we evidence groups “at
risk” from contract cheating
services? What mechanisms
can be used to support those
“at risk”?
What is known about the
labour market for contract
cheating services and how
can this inform proactive
academic integrity
developments?
What role do other
stakeholders in higher
education have to take in the
governance of contract
cheating?
How can research in
stylometrics, linguistics and
artificial intelligence be used
to confirm the identity of
student writers?
How successful are student-
led partnerships in reducing
contract cheating and
improving academic integrity?

International Awareness Of
Contract Cheating
A movement towards academic integrity?
#defeatthecheat #excelwithintegrity

More Information

A Few Of Our Contract Cheating Papers
(for those of you with a preference for the formal academic approach)
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2017). Rethinking Assessment By Examination In The Age Of Contract Cheating, to be published at Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond 2017, Brno, Czech
Republic, May 2017.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2016). Contract Cheating – The Outsourcing Of Assessed Student Work, in Handbook of Academic Integrity, Bretag, T. (editor): SpringerReference.
Hersey, C. and Lancaster, T. (2015). The Online Industry of Paper Mills, Contract Cheating Services, and Auction Sites, Clute Institute International Education Conference, London, UK, June
2015.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014). An Observational Analysis Of The Range And Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online Courses Found On Agency Websites; 8th International Conference
on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS 2014), Birmingham, UK, July 2014.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014). An Initial Analysis Of The Contextual Information Available Within Auction Posts On Contract Cheating Agency Websites, 28th IEEE International
Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, Victoria, Canada, May 2014.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014). Using Turnitin As A Tool For Attribution In Cases Of Contract Cheating; 3rd Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics, Edinburgh, UK, April 2014.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2013). Commercial Aspects Of Contract Cheating; 8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, University of Kent,
Canterbury, UK, July 2013.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2012). Dealing With Contract Cheating: A Question Of Attribution; 1st Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics, Imperial College, London, UK, April 2012.
Clarke, R, and Lancaster, T (2007). Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating; The Second International Conference on Pervasive Computing and
Applications, Birmingham, UK, July 2007.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007). Assessing Contract Cheating Through Auction Sites – A Computing Perspective; 8th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and
Computer Sciences, Southampton, UK, August 2007.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007). The Phenomena of Contract Cheating, in Student Plagiarism in an Online World: Problems and Solutions, Roberts, T. S. (editor), Idea Group Inc.
Clarke, R and Lancaster, T (2006). Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism? Identifying The Usage Of Contract Cheating Sites; 2nd Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference,
Newcastle, UK, June 2006.

Further Resources
Slides available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/thomaslancaster
Video version of the presentation available at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrThomasLancaster
Contact details for workshop arrangement,
media enquiries, research supervision:
thomas.lancaster@staffs.ac.uk
thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk

International Perspectives On Contract Cheating - Staffordshire University Staff Research Conference - 23 May 2017

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International Perspectives On Contract Cheating - Staffordshire University Staff Research Conference - 23 May 2017