Page 42 - How not to cheat

Educational institutions are, like companies, selling a
product but if their orientation is simply sales orientation

(bums on seats) then brand image will suffer, and

perceived product value will diminish. The purchasers of
degrees are not just the students but the employers who

hire them.

It is vital that the education sector work together to
address this in a consistent and robust way that cultivates

students’ engagement in their learning and helps them

recognise the imperative of good academic practice. The

failure to do so will ultimately adversely impact on
educational brand equity at both institutional and

national level.

The QAA (7) concluded that universities should try

“to ‘design out’ opportunities for plagiarism in their

assessments, and to detect and penalise academic

misconduct.”

In light of this perhaps, for those that use case studies, a

return to unsighted open-book examination may be
called for. Moreover, using new case studies developed

in-house, or accessing case study providers who restrict

teaching guides, is an obvious re-learning step in

developing an approach to formative and summative
assessment. To this end perhaps a return to case study

assessment based on: