Susan M. Montgomery

The current state of research on academic dishonesty among engineering students

Academic dishonesty, or cheating, has become a serious problem at colleges and universities. This is particularly true of engineering students who, are among the most likely to cheat in college. The present paper reviews the literature as a basis of broadly understanding academic dishonesty. This discussion focuses on three primary issues: (1) perceptions of and attitudes towards cheating, (2) reasons for student cheating, and (3) methods of promoting academic integrity. A current research project being developed by the authors is also discussed. The premise of this research is that students are constantly making ethical judgements between the pressure to cheat and their own moral beliefs and social norms. The goal then is to uncover the reasons for and frequency of student cheating and to develop best practices for helping engineering students avoid this pressure. Particular topics of discussion include a rationale for the research methodology, an outline of the questions we hope the survey will answer and a discussion of the ethical implications of conducting research of this type.

Student preceptions of institutional and instructor based techniques for dealing with academic dishonesty

Research suggests that a large percentage of engineering students engage in some form of academic dishonesty. To investigate this very serious concern, the authors have undertaken a research project on the Perceptions and Attitudes toward Cheating among Engineering Students (PACES). The premise of this research is that a combination of pressures, rather than malicious motivations, account for most student cheating. This paper focuses on a portion of the PACES survey; student opinions on what actions might prevent cheating. The authors examined data collected from approximately 350 engineering and pre-engineering undergraduate students at 5 institutions. In the survey, the students were presented with 23 institutional and instructor based actions and asked to comment on whether itch actions would prevent them from cheating if they might have been inclined to cheat under other circumstances. Student responses to those actions along with subsequent statistical analysis are reported. Practical implementations of several student-identified techniques are then discussed.

Multimedia materials for chemical engineering: Module development and lessons learned

In this article we summarize the multimedia materials for chemical engineering instruction developed in our laboratory during the last 3 years. We also share what we have learned about the presentation of materials and the development process itself.