A Conceptual Framework for Mitigating Cheating Behaviours in Online Assessments

Abstract

The coronavirus outbreak in 2020 has expedited the proliferation of online assessments globally in lieu of face-to-face assessments. However, this has led to concerns regarding the compromise of academic integrity in the absence of supervision. Many strategies have been proposed to circumvent cheating behaviours, although each approach may differ in its effectiveness and contextual applicability. By adapting the well-established framework for hazard management, I attempt to categorise these strategies into different levels of control measures that are synonymous to the measures of elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative, and personal protection. It is hoped that such stratification can motivate a self-directed profiling of different proposed measures to help the assessor appraise and arrive at a strategy that is effective in upholding assessment integrity. To add granularity for the assessor’s consideration, the advantages, and disadvantages of each of these strategies are outlined. Ultimately, it is envisaged that this conceptual framework can help examiners make objective decisions that are relevant to their assessment tasks, and to inspire approaches to be used in combination wherever appropriate.