Prevention is Better than Cure: Addressing Cheating and Plagiarism Based on the IT Student Perspective

Abstract

This chapter adopts a four aspect model to address cheating and plagiarism in universities – education, prevention, detection and consequence. The research focussed on the two aspects of education and prevention as the authors feel that this area has not been considered in detail by the research. Building on past research, a series of eight focus groups (72 students) were conducted with students from information technology degrees at an Australian university. The students were asked to comment and discuss the phenomenon of cheating from their perspective. The chapter presents in detail the responses of the students as analysed by the researchers and then builds a set of guidelines for educators to use in the areas of education and prevention in relation to student cheating.