Are All Of Our Students Completing Their Own Work? Examining Contract Cheating Within The Computing...
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1 #contractcheat ing Are All Of Our Students Completing Their Own Work? Examining Contract Cheating Within The Computing Discipline Dr. Thomas Lancaster London Metropolitan University Seminar Friday 12 February 2016
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Transcript of Are All Of Our Students Completing Their Own Work? Examining Contract Cheating Within The Computing...
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Are All Of Our Students Completing Their Own Work? Examining
Contract Cheating Within The Computing Discipline
Dr. Thomas LancasterLondon Metropolitan University Seminar
Friday 12 February 2016
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Some Key Questions To Be Answered
What does work completed by a third party look like and how can we recognise it?
What methods are students using to outsource their work and what type of assessments are students having completed for them?
What technical solutions to contract cheating are available and how can the Computing discipline support their development?
What should we being doing to reduce contract cheating?
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Open To All!
Although some examples are pulled from the Computing discipline, the ideas are intended to be widely applicable and usefulAssessment and cheating extends far beyond the
traditional “essay”
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Discussion Welcome!
Twitter –@DrLancaster
Live – Feel free to join in and share ideas
#contractcheating
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Dr. Thomas LancasterSenior Lecturer in Computing at Birmingham City UniversityProgramme Leader in Computer ScienceSenior Fellow of the Higher Education AcademyCompleted PhD on plagiarism detection at London South Bank University in 2003Originally focused on contract cheating as a problem for computing studentsResearch now extends across multiple disciplines and the many mechanisms that students can use to gain undocumented assessment help
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Paying Thanks To My Colleague “Detective Bob”
Robert Clarke Educational Consultant and Researcher at SCLCurrent Visiting Lecturer at Birmingham City UniversityFormer Principal Lecturer with 30 years teaching experienceSpend his free time trying to alert academics when students are attempting to solicit other people online to complete work for themHas collected over 30,000 attempts made by students wanting to cheat
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How Easily Can Students Fake Their Way To A Degree?
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From Fake Britain – Shown on BBC1 30 November 2015
Leaflets collected from outside a London university
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Work Produced By A Third Party
From Fake Britain – Shown on BBC1 30 November 2015
2000 word Literature Review for a second year Computing module, designed to prepare students to complete a Final Year Project
Produced by a well-known UK essay writing service in March 2015
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£275 “Buys” A Mark Of 65%(2:1 as promised)
From Fake Britain – Shown on BBC1 30 November 2015
Good work - no real indicators of suspicion
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From Fake Britain – Shown on BBC1 30 November 2015
Students Not Too Impressed With Cheating
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A Few More Essay Writing Quotes(February 2016)
A student using any of these services and handing in the result would be contract cheating
£135.60 £68 (approx)
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Contract Cheating
Contract cheating happens when a student make use of a third party or other service to produce an original piece of assessed work which they then submit as if they had created itthis will not usually be detected as unoriginal through Turnitin
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Can We Do Better?USD $ Bid GBP # Equivalent
70 48
60 41
30 21
83 57
50 34
77 53
23 16
60 41
25 17
Average 53.11 36.44
Request for 2,000 word Literature Review on Freelancer.com – February 2016
9 bids in 3 minutes
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Outsourcing A Programming Homework Using An Agency Site
Request made for a Computer Science assignment (programming) made on vWorker.comRequest received 11 bids in under 1 hour, 38 bids in 2 days.Workers offering to complete the assignment came from around the world, including India,
Vietnam, Ukraine and ArgentinaBidder in the the USA selected to produce the workPrice offered between $10 and $40.
The Guardian – 6 May 2008
"I would have given the program code element of the coursework about 50%”.
Robert Clarke, Birmingham City University.
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Essay on Copyright Law(2005 Study)
Three students (directed by Charles Oppenheim of Loughborough University) used essay writing services to request a 1500 word original essay on copyright lawPrices ranged from £135 to £205.
Oppenheim marked the essays at 42%, 55% and 58%.One essay contained elements plagiarised from a paper in
an academic journal.
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Ofqual Study
Purchased 2,000 word ‘A’ Level essays from three UK essay writing servicesHistory essay, price £120-£220, awarded B, C/D, EEnglish language essay, price £70-£138, awarded C/D, D/E, U/E
Mystery shopping exercise of web-sites that offer a range of ‘support services’ to students, LE London Economics, September 2014http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20141031163546/http://ofqual.gov.uk/documents/mystery-shopping-exercise-support-services-students
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Computer Code Submitted For Marking
(2006 Study)
Jenkins and Helmore from the University of Leeds used agency (auction style) web sites, including RentACoder and GetACoder, to purchase multiple solutions to first year programming assignmentsAssignments were cheapFirst assignment cost £8.91 and £16.12Final task cost just £4.74
The student presented their work for marking in class (sometimes twice in the same session, using simple disguises!)The student was not caught, and was given good marks
Jenkins, T. and Helmore, S. (2006), Coursework for cash: the threat from on-line plagiarism, in Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference for Information and Computer Science, Dublin. Higher Education Academy pp121-126
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Who Writes These Assignments?
“I spoke to somebody who admitted to writing essays for students over the internet as far back as the year 2000. Now a MailOnline journalist, they asked to remain anonymous. He was 17 at the time, earning £300 per thousand words for a defunct agency called ‘Essays-R-Us.’
‘They’d give you an essay, you’d Google the information, write up the essay then send it back. It was something I did in the school holidays – looking back it does seem a little unethical.’”
Why Hired Essay Cheats Will Make Your Degree Worthless – 1 February 2016http://dorms.campussociety.com/why-hired-essay-cheats-will-make-your-degree-worthless
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“Student Cheating Crisis”
The Times – Saturday January 2, 2016
50,000 students from 129 UK universities caught cheating in the past three years, according to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The top 5 institutions for 2012-2015 were:1. Kent2. Westminster3. East London4. Sheffield Hallam5. Oxford Brookes
(London Metropolitan outside Top 10)
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Aside – Has Cheating Decreased?
The Independent on Sunday 11 March 2012 found that 45,000 students at 80 institutions had been found to have cheated in the previous three years(188 per institution per year then, 129 per institution per year now).
The top 5 institutions for 2010-2011 were:1. Greenwich2. London Metropolitan3. Sheffield Hallam4. Leeds Metropolitan5. Wolverhampton
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Comparative Subjects On An Essay Writing Service
R European Langs, Lit & related
P Mass Comms and Documentation
W Creative Arts & Design
F Physical Sciences
K Architecture,Build & Plan
H Engineering
M Law
G Mathematical & Comp Sci
Q Linguistics, Classics & related
C Biological Sciences
X Education
B Subjects allied to Medicine
V Hist & Philosophical studies
L Social Studies
N Business & Admin studies
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2012), Dealing with Contract Cheating: A Question of Attribution, 1 st HEA STEM Conference April 2012, London, United Kingdom
Sample of 627 “all subject” cases collected on EssayBay over 5 months in 2010, and manually classified by UCAS Subject Category
EssayBay no longer operational, but this is an example of an agency site exclusively set up for student assignments
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University Level Work Seen In An Essay Mill Using US Writers
1 Business=2 Health (including nursing and psychology)=2 IT4 History5 Anthropology6 Sociology7 English language and literature8 Law(blue subjects dominate the requests)
80% of work university level, 20% of work high school level(occasional MA/doctoral level pieces of work in regular queue, but most goes into private queue)
Personal Communication From A Essay Company Writer(Used With Permission)
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The Variety Of Computing Assignments Observed
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2007), Assessing Contract Cheating Through Auction Sites – A Computing Perspective, 8th Annual Conference of the Higher Education Academy for Information and Computer Sciences, Southampton, United Kingdom
(Sample of 910 Computing cases collected on RentACoder from Mar 04 to Dec 06)
Site used primarily for computer contracting, so assignments dominated by Computing academic discipline
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Some Examples Of Requests Observed On Freelancer.com
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Database Systems DevelopmentCC6001 Advanced Database Systems DevelopmentCoursework Assignment 2015-16The coursework assignment is an individual assessment weighted 40% of the marks for the module. It is designed mainly to assess students‘ practical problem-solving skills and critical thinking evaluation on the design and development of database systems. It requires the student to analyse, design and implement a web-based database application based on a given business case study.
Freelancer 8850447Nov 2015 “Sri Lanka”
$30 - $250Budget range
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Transport Policy and Travel in Society
Transport Policy and Travel in SocietyModule Code LT 6010This is an individual case study assessing the effectiveness of transport provision for tourists in a specific location, selected from four option areas of (i) a medium sized historic city; (ii) the historic part of a major city of over 250,00 population; (iii) a coastal resort, or (iv) a largely rural area. The case study is presented in the form of a consultant’s report examining transport policies and concepts with practical application and brings together key themes of the module with a practitioner focus.
Freelancer 6712389Nov 2014 “Ukraine”
$35
known "third-party subcontractor"
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Digital MarketingMC7045 Digital Marketing AssessmentsThe group project requires students to work in groups of 2-3 to analyse the digital marketing presence of a selected organisation in men’s clothing or wine industry. The project requires the group to present a 20 minute analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of all the different online tools and services, the costs and potential benefits of engaging with them. The task also calls for the group to identify examples of good practice (beyond their selected organisation) and to consider how they might adopt that approach
Freelancer 6131135June 2014 UK
Individual Brand Analysis Presentation and Supporting Material (1500word limit).
DIGITAL MARKETING- NEEDED REPORT OF 1500-2200 WORDS.company chosen- BURTON'S MENSWEAR UK
Also posted
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Essential Psychology for Managers
MN5054 Essential Psychology for ManagersAssignment 2 (2000 words):Your individual poster book needs to be based on one of the case studies distributed in the sessionsLinks to articles (choose one of these two):Chrisafis, A. (2009) France: stress and worker suicides mean the future’s not bright at Orange, Guardian, 18 September
Freelancer 5299751Jan 2014 UK
MN5002 Entrepreneurship, Innovation and LeadershipAssessment 3: Individual Research
BA5001: Business Decision MakingYear 2013-14Coursework 1
Also posted
£42
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Distributed and Internet SystemsDistributed and Internet SystemsDistributed ApplicationIt requires developing a prototype distributed system of choice that consists of clients, servers and/or peers for exchanging information via a developed message protocol. As well as submitting the completed application a written report will also need to be submitted by the deadline and a formal demonstration of the completed software given.
$30 - $250
Budget range
Freelancer 5077037Oct 2013 UK
known "third-party subcontractor"
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EconometricsEC5007 COURSEWORK 2012-13This coursework is an empirical economics and finance report that applies econometric methods to a particular economic model using dedicated statistical/econometric software such as Excel and Eviews. It consists of THREE Sections. In part A and B you will use hypothetical data and in part C real data. You are required to apply economic models using regression analysis and present findings in a reportFreelancer 4417485
April 2013 UK ???closed
" 1. a) Specify a linear econometric model for SALARY (semi-log) as a function of EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE. What would be a possible consequence of ignoring the EXPERIENCE variable?
Also posted
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Improve Attribution With A Database Of Assignment Briefs
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 (ICPCA07), Birmingham City University, United Kingdom
Upload all assignment Specifications to TurnitinThere is scope for an intelligent system to automatically find and classify requests for assignment outsourcing
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Use Individualised Assignments
Individualisedset of data
Individualisedset of questions
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R.(2010), Staff Led Individualised Assessment – A Case Study, 1th Annual Conference of the Higher Education Academy for Information and Computer Sciences, Durham University, United Kingdom
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Doctupus – Track Interactions With Submitted Documents
Khan, W. (2015). Plagiarism detection 2.0: detection of contract cheating. International Conference – Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond, Brno, Czech Republic.
https://vimeo.com/130263579
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Analyse Document Properties
Extracted from an early draft version of this presentation
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Investigate The Use Of Stylometrics
“If routinely, every single piece of output of every single student in an institution was retained and analysed, then you’d have the statistical basis to say that the stylometric differences between this piece of writing by this student compared with their previous bits of writing is so extreme that it starts to become evidential.”
PC Pro – How Schools Beat The Net Cheats, Feb 2010http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/355597/how-schools-beat-the-net-cheats/4#ixzz2ivUq6nef
Professor Fintan Culwin
Freestyler software developed by Thomas Lancaster and Fintan CulwinCulwin, F. (2008), Inverse Authorship Attribution – At Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R., Contract Cheating Workshop, Birmingham City University, 7 March 2008
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Use Detection Software To Act As A Deterrent
To many students, plagiarism detection software is a black boxThe risk of being caught is a valid preventative measureUse appropriate technologiesTurnitin for written workMOSS and JPlag for source code
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Encourage Students To Act As Professionals
Help students to understand why they are assessed and how completing this assessment will help them in the future (for instance, through their employability)Educate students about professionalism, ethics, contract cheating and plagiarismInterest students in the wider application of their subject
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Consider The Appropriateness of Assessments
Original assignment briefs (deterrent)Industrial simulationsTeamworkVendor style testsViva sessionsStudent designed assessmentsPeer reviewTests linked to coursework
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8000 word (AMEER) DISS BY WEDNESDAY
Dissertation title: The diplomatic relationship between the UAE and the UK and how it impacts the aviation industry in both countries.
Freelancer 7545306April 2015UK
$100
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The Same Team Also Posted…
PLEASE DELIVER THIS AUGUST 12TH
3k is already done by the way of the proposal attached, use it BUT tidy it up somewhat as its too loose. I suggest you do anoter 10k yourself to get it to 13k in total
USE LOTS of graphs and tables
conduct interviews and results etc..... made up obviously !!
DO A GOOD JOB PLEASE !!
The main book to use is by JAMES DOUGLAS called BUILDING ADAPTATIONS.
I attach some ebooks to help you. The proposal is the first doc attached
$145
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https://twitter.com/SimonHeath1
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Selected References For Our Contract Cheating Work
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015), Contract Cheating – The Outsourcing Of Assessed Student Work, in Handbook of Academic Integrity, Bretag, T. (editor): SpringerReference.Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015),The Implications of Plagiarism and Contract Cheating for the Assessment of Database Modules. 13th International Workshop on Teaching,
Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2015), Birmingham, UK, July 2015.Hersey, C. and Lancaster, T. (2015), The Online Industry of Paper Mills, Contract Cheating Services, and Auction Sites, Clute Institute International Education Conference, London,
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 City University, 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, University of Victoria, May 2014Lancaster, 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, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, 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, April 2012.Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2010). Staff-Led Individualised Assessment – A Case Study; 11th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and Computer Sciences,
Durham University, August 2010.Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2008). How to Succeed at Cheating Without Really Trying: Five Top Tips for Successful Cheating; 9th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in
Information and Computer Sciences, Liverpool Hope University, August 2008.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 City University, 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, University of Southampton, 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), Hershey,
Pennsylvania, USA: 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 2006 - Newcastle, UK, June 2006.
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My Contact Details
Thomas Lancaster
Email: [email protected]: http://thomaslancaster.co.ukBlog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blogLinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster Twitter: @DrLancaster
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Contract Cheating Resources
General Resources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_cheatinghttp://contractcheating.com
Contract Cheating Special Interest Group (originally supported by the Higher Education Academy):https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=CONTRACTCHEATING
Slides Available At:http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
