Can Students Cheat in Online Class during Coronavirus Crisis?: A situation in Thailand

Cite this article as: Arunrangsiwed, P. (2020). Can Students Cheat in Online Class during Coronavirus Crisis?: A situation in Thailand. Retrieved from https://sw-eden.net/2020/04/08/cheat-coronavirus-crisis/

Most students in Animation class that I taught in this semester are honest and responsible. That is what I found at the beginning of the semester, or before the midterm examination. I found only a couple of students in that period that they copied the work of their friend(s). I gave them 0 for that assignment and they promised not to do that again.

Later, two classes after the midterm examination, the government temporarily shut down the educational institutes because of the COVID-19 crisis. I had to record my voice and software window screen to teach my students online. I let them submit the assignment in Google Drive, after watch YouTube video.

I could not evaluate the honesty and the responsibility in this online period. I would raise some questions, (1) how can I know if each student finished the assignment by oneself, (2) how can I know if every student did not hire their friends or the expert in animation industry to complete the work. The answer is that no one knows. The teacher could not be sure about the honesty and responsibility.

Because I asked my students to submit their assignment via Google Drive, I could see the e-mail or account used to submit each file. I found that there were 3 files submitted by the same account. Sometimes, 2 files were submitted from the same account at exactly same time. My best guess is that some students did the assignments for their friends. This is because the government and the university asked all of them to stay at home. I mean, their own home with their parents. However, when I asked them, they wrote to me that they were still with their friends in dormitory. Some told me that he traveled to his friend’s house since he did not have his own laptop. He would need to use his friend’s laptop at his friend’s house. Everything I mentioned sound weird, didn’t it? I think some may told the truth but many of people lied to me.