Students’ Attitude Toward the Unethical Use of Information Technology

Abstract

Nowadays, the phenomenon of plagiarism, unfortunately, is constantly growing. The chapter aims to analyze the attitude of students toward the unethical use of information technology as educational actors benefit from increasingly sophisticated technology. The issue of unethical use of information technology by students has attracted the attention of many researchers. In the educational field, the unethical use of IT refers to plagiarism, inappropriate use of programs, or piracy of software and others. The author initiated a quantitative sociological research, based on a questionnaire, among students. The questionnaire referred to various issues such as reading time and the Internet, the main sources of information and inspiration when they have to carry out a project for university, the reasons why students turn to the Internet for academic tasks, the issue of plagiarism and intellectual fraud through information technology as well as several one-off situations regarding the software. Information technology is present in students’ lives, and they use various sources and resources online rather than using books or going to the library, and finally, convenience, lack of time, and lack of reading, in general, contribute to the development of a culture of plagiarism. In this context, teachers can play an important role in combating academic dishonesty by paying attention, detecting, and reporting incidents of deception and plagiarism.