Cheating and Plagiarism : Perceptions and Practice of 1 st Year IT Students

Abstract

A study of cheating and plagiarism using a unique, scenario based format, has provided an insight into attitudes towards questionable work practices of first year information technology students’ within the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSSE) of Monash University, and the School of Information Technology (IT) of Swinburne University. Students at both institutions showed similar responses to a range of cheating behaviours, in line with other literature. Plagiarism and cheating are widely tolerated and commonly practised, at least on the lower end of the spectrum of seriousness. However there were some areas of significant difference between the two student samples that warrant further research to develop strategic approaches for limiting cheating practices