SATISFACTION WITH ONLINE EDUCATION AND ISSUES OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: VIEWED FROM THE STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

摘要

As more students are finding that taking courses online isrnboth more convenient and, in some cases, the only way tornaccess required courses, concerns have arisen about thernbest ways to maintain a commitment to academic integrityrnin the online learning environment. Student surveys arernopening additional areas of concern with regard to whatrnconstitutes academic integrity in the online learningrnenvironment. Do students, instructors and institutionsrnshare a common understanding of academic integrity?rnAre instructors effectively communicating theirrnexpectations of student behavior to their students? Thisrnpaper combines the results of two studies which askedrnstudents if they felt that the education they were receivingrnonline was satisfactory and whether they viewedrnmaintaining academic integrity to be the same online as inrna traditional classroom setting. Satisfaction with thernonline education was positive. Results were mixed withrnregard to what constitutes maintaining academic integrityrnonline and in the classroom. What students valued inrnonline instruction and found satisfactory – convenience -rnand what they valued and found unsatisfactory –rninteraction with others - was consistent with other studies.rnHow students viewed what constitutes acceptablernbehavior in the online environment raised questions aboutrnestablishing a common definition of academic integrity.