In 2014, the market research firm Global Industry
Analyst projected online education would be a $100 billion business by 2015.
That value will only grow if the public begins to see online degrees as carrying
the same weight as the ones earned in a traditional college classroom.
It’s also the kind of money that can bring out the
cheater in some. Businesses are already cropping up that will assume students’ identities
and do their coursework for them, for a fee.
“If a goal of online education proponents is to
convince the public and employers that an online education is as official and
prestigious as a traditional one earned in brick-and-mortar and Ivy classrooms,
it’s hard to imagine anything more damaging than identity-fraud schemes in
which students literally pay for grades but do no work whatsoever,” wrote Derek
Newton in his report in The Atlantic. “At least with a traditional degree, the assumption is the
recipient actually went to class personally.”
Newton also suspects there may be more to online
cheating than Internet firms making money off people who want college credit
without doing the work. He suggested that the low cost of production and the
high number of students an online course can reach could be an incentive for
institutions to concern themselves less with online cheating.
“In at least this way, it seems both the schools and
the cheating providers have a similar economic incentive: They may both profit
by having more online students,” he wrote.
Newton noted there are steps available to cut down on
online impersonation. Using video technology for more direct engagement between
the students and teacher is one avenue. Another would be to encourage more interaction
between students themselves.
“If online college programs are ever going to compete
with traditional ones, the advocates and providers should at least acknowledge
the threat of online cheating and take steps to stop it—even if that means
increasing costs and slowing the growth of online options,” he wrote.
