How well do students know their writing? A pilot study examining authorship quizzes to promote learning and address contract cheating

Abstract

Contract cheating is a significant concern in higher education, requiring a multifaceted teaching and learning approach to address it. Quizzing students about their writing to promote engagement, confirm authorship and detect cheating has not yet been investigated systematically. Therefore, in this study, our objective was to explore the validity and usability of the quizzing software Auth+ to verify assessment authorship and detect contract cheating. A total of 24 third-year computer science students submitted their assignments to Auth+ and were quizzed, then completed a working memory assessment and a user experience survey. Students reported that Auth+ was easy to use and would discourage cheating but increased anxiety and contributed little to their learning. Quiz scores were correlated with individual differences in working memory capacity but not with other contract cheating indicators. These findings suggest that the quizzing method may have value, but anxiety and memory issues could be barriers to the usefulness of the software. In its current state, the effectiveness of Auth+ in verifying authorship and detecting contract cheating is limited. Further software development is required to increase quiz score validity as an indicator of outsourced academic work before higher education instructors or institutions adopt it as part of an academic integrity framework.

Implications for practice or policy:

• Authorship verification software that quizzes students on the content and style of their assignments show promise for deterring contract cheating and upholding academic integrity.
• Educators and institutions should not, however, rely on a single source of evidence to detect academic misconduct.
• Testing students on their writing using technology is similar to viva voce but it can scale up this learning and assessment process for large class sizes.