It has been challenging for students at Indiana University to focus on their online Zoom courses due to the coronavirus pandemic. As we all know, all IU courses have converted to online teaching and that includes exams. Some students may not take the classes as seriously and others may plagiarize. Some say it has been easy for students to sneak away in class or during class time because there is no one to regulate the students as there is on campus.

Some educators say the switch to online Zoom classes can also increase the chance of students cheating on their quizzes and exams. Professors can not confirm that students will take the test honestly without anyone else or they will not find the answers to the quizzes and exams online.

According to the IU policy, the disciplinary consequences of plagiarism at Indiana University can be serious. As a student, you may receive a failing grade or be expelled from the university. In extreme cases, if plagiarism is found after graduation, your degree may be revoked.

How do IU professors prevent students from cheating during the exams and how do they ensure fairness? To combat this, many professors have already changed final exams to final papers or projects. These works would avoid plagiarism in-person or online to measure knowledge students learned as well.

However, it is trickier for some courses like marketing, political science, finance, and accounting. These courses always have quizzes and exams to test students’ learning achievements. IU political science professor Vanessa Cruz Nichols weighs in.

“There is a little bit more cheating risk if you have multiple choice exams that students are taking home. So, how I was using to reduce the cheating risk and lack of learning that would happen I cut off the multiple-choice,” Cruz-Nichols says.

She uses multiple-choice quizzes for every week’s reading exercises. For multiple-choice exercises, she generally allows multiple attempts to ensure the students learn the material rather than feel pressure to get the highest score. She believes that these quizzes will not only reduce or avoid cheating but also help students understand the readings well. She also mentioned that Zoom may reduce the quality of students’ learning because it is difficult to monitor whether each student listens carefully to the class and completes the reading assignments.

IU points out that the risks of plagiarism remain the same whether in class or online. Therefore, in this special period, students should be more responsible for their courses, self-supervision, and avoid cheating.