An exploration of instructors' perceptions about online proctoring and its value in ensuring academic integrity

As universities moved to remotely taught courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of maintaining academic integrity in online environments intensified. In response, this study explores instructors' perceptions about the role of online proctoring as a tool for their courses with the intent of enhancing the understanding of online proctoring's usefulness in ensuring academic integrity and the factors that may be swaying instructors' adoption decisions. An online survey was completed by 158 instructors at a variety of higher education institutions with 118 responding to an open-ended question that allowed respondents to share any additional thoughts about or experiences with using online proctoring. A thematic review of the qualitative comments illustrates the multifaceted impact of online proctoring on instructors and students. Results identified instructors' perceived benefits and challenges of online proctoring to them, their students and the learning process. In addition, instructors voiced numerous legal, ethical and social concerns about the use of online proctoring, including concerns related to students' privacy. Despite these concerns, some instructors identified strong use cases for online proctoring while others provided alternative strategies for ensuring academic integrity in online courses. As institutions consider the role of online proctoring in ensuring academic integrity, a holistic approach that balances instructional design best practices, student-friendly policies and proctoring tools is recommended to serve the complex needs and concerns of instructors, students and their institutions.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Prior research findings are mixed as to whether proctoring is valuable for ensuring academic integrity in online courses.
• Studies investigating grade performance in proctored versus unproctored exam settings have conflicting results; however, studies have found that students completing proctored formative exams perform better on summative exams than students completing non-proctored formative exams.

What this paper adds

• Qualitative data were collected to provide an overview of instructors' perceptions about and experiences with online proctoring.
• Analysis suggests that online proctoring is beneficial to some instructors, students and the overall learning process. At the same time, its use is also concerning to other instructors and students. Among the issues raised by instructors are concerns for student privacy, increases in student test anxiety and discriminatory proctoring practices.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Institutions must be proactive in ensuring that the use of online proctoring aligns with their institutional values and the changing legal landscape.
• Institutional policies should strive to find a balance between ensuring academic integrity and promoting a positive experience for students and instructors. Since there are strong use cases for online proctoring, these policies should include flexibility whenever possible.

     

国外学术出版道德建设最新进展及其启示

通过简要梳理近年来国外学术出版道德建设相关的进展和经验,以及科学共同体所面临的科研不端行为、发表论文的质量参差不齐和掠夺性期刊等方面挑战,可以发现我国虽然面临许多同样的问题,但科技社团和期刊等有关方面采取的对策相对比较有限.通过参考和分析国外相关实践活动的主要特点和影响,探讨我国科技期刊如何通过编辑政策和流程的改革创新...     

论先秦时期的廉政思想

中国古代廉政思想起源于春秋时期，战国时期"廉"的含义由锋利、严峻扩展到俭素、清廉、公正等。为适应中央集权强化的需要，廉政思想中刻廉、刚正的一面逐步被弱化，转而以廉谨、廉洁等道德修养与政治伦理为统治阶层所接受并推行。廉政政治伦理的实现路径可以称之为垂范式履行和推予式渐进。战国后期，法家认识到施行廉政除了要发扬德性，还要不断完善制度设置、严明律法，这是先秦廉政思想建设的重要成果。     

学术生态视域下高校科研诚信行为的影响因素分析

针对目前高校科研诚信相关研究缺少实证数据支持的问题，基于学术生态视角，通过设计和发放调查问卷采集数据，应用多元统计分析的方法，从生态主体、校内生态环境、校外生态环境3个维度对影响高校科研诚信行为的因素进行分析，以期为高校科研诚信建设提供理论依据。结果发现：科研人员的性别、身份对高校科研诚信行为具有显著影响，其中性别与科研诚信行为呈正相关，身份与科研诚信行为呈负相关；科研人员对科研评价体系的认可、学校查处科研失信行为的透明度、整体科研环境以及学术规范程度与高校科研诚信行为呈显著正相关。因此，从高校层面来讲，应当保证科研评价体系的合理公正、处置科研不端行为过程的公开透明以及及时向社会通报有关信息；从社会层面来讲，应当加强学术规范建设、培育良好的社会整体科研环境，共同促进高校科研诚信建设。     

Navigating privacy tensions when responding to online aggression at postsecondary institutions

Postsecondary institutions have a legal responsibility to ensure that students have access to a safe learning environment. While institutions adopt policies and hire administrators to protect students from harm, many are underprepared to support students when these harmful incidents happen online. This is of increased concern now that online aggression is pervasive across universities worldwide. While faculty, administrators and students agree that online aggression is a significant issue and that institutions ought to provide prevention and response services, there is concern that these efforts might violate privacy norms. We used the theory of privacy as contextual integrity (CI) to explore the tensions that postsecondary students and staff perceive regarding student privacy when responding to incidents of online aggression. To do so, we conducted focus groups with undergraduate students and student affairs administrators from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic USA. Our analysis surfaced three considerations that inform students' and staff's decision to report an incident of online aggression: their closeness to the person making the post, their perception of the online post content as a real threat and their knowledge of an authority figure who could help resolve the situation. We used CI theory to explain how these considerations can inform institutional policy, practice and future research.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Online aggression is a pervasive issue at postsecondary institutions worldwide that can contribute to psychological, academic and developmental issues.
• Postsecondary students and staff are unsure of how to respond to incidents of online aggression.
• There is a gap in policies and procedures for responding to online aggression at postsecondary institutions.

What this paper adds

• A novel use of Nissenbaum's (2010) theory of contextual integrity to understand students' and staff's perceptions of privacy.
• Students' and staff's decisions to intervene or report an online aggression incident are determined by their relationship to the perpetrator, the severity of the social media post and their knowledge of who to tell on campus.
• Students and staff are reluctant to inform the police out of fear of violence against the perpetrator.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Raise awareness about responding to online aggression incidents.
• Implement online bystander intervention training programs to increase awareness and self-efficacy to intervene in unclear situations.
• Develop clear policies regarding online aggression, as well as a trustworthy procedure for how to respond.