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Discussions around assessment integrity often focus on the exam conditions and the motivations and values of those who cheated in comparison with those who did not. We argue that discourse needs to move away from a binary representation of cheating. Instead, we propose that the conversation may be more productive and more impactful by focusing on those who do not cheat, but who are tempted to do so. We conceptualise this group as being at risk of future cheating behaviour and potentially more receptive of targeted strategies to support their integrity decisions. In this paper we report on a large-scale survey of university students (n = 7,511) who had just completed one or more end of semester online exams. In doing so we explore students' reported temptation to cheat. Analysis surrounding this "at risk" group reveals students who were Tempted (n = 1379) had significant differences from those who Cheated (n = 216) as well as those who were Not tempted (n = 5916). We focus on four research questions exploring whether there are specific online exam conditions, security settings, student attitudes or perceptions which are more strongly associated with the temptation to cheat. The paper offers insights to help institutions to minimise factors that might lead to breaches of assessment integrity, by focusing on the temptation to cheat during assessment.

Online examinations are a common experience in higher education. Their security is a key concern for education communities, and has resulted in a variety of cheating countermeasures. There is broad consensus in the literature that there is no one measure, including proctoring, which eradicates cheating behaviours. As a result, this study is exploratory, seeking to add to our understanding of the range of factors that may interact with frequency of cheating behaviour in online examinations. This large-scale study (N = 7839) is based in one Australian university which pivoted to online examinations during the 2021 COVID-19 lockdowns. Students who reported cheating (n = 216) revealed a wide range of factors that may have influenced their behaviours. A key observation is that cheating, although less frequent than reported elsewhere, occurred regardless of the security measure, assessment design, examination condition, and across the spectrum of student demographic variables. However, there were statistically significant differences in relation to frequency of cheating according to certain demographics, examination conditions, motivations, attitudes and perceptions. Although some forms of proctoring did demonstrate reduced frequencies in self-reported cheating, they are demonstrably incomplete solutions due to the complexity of other variables.

Due to recent conceptual shifts towards learner-centred feedback, there is a potential gap between research and practice. Indeed, few models or studies have sought to identify or evaluate which semantic messages, or feedback components, teachers should include in learner-centred feedback comments. Instead, teacher practices are likely to be primarily shaped by 'old paradigm' conceptualisations of feedback. In response, the current study develops a taxonomy of learner-centred feedback components based on a rapid systematic review of the literature. The face, content and construct validity of the taxonomy are then established through an empirical study with teachers and students at two Australian universities. The outcome of this study is a conceptual model featuring eight learner-centred feedback components. This model will help teachers design effective feedback processes and support learners to make sense of and use feedback information to improve their future work and learning strategies.

Current conceptualisations of feedback contend that it should be a learner-centred process. In practice, however, text-based feedback comments from teachers are a convenient and common source of feedback information, despite appearing to be contra-indicative of learner-centred models. This raises the question of how teachers can tackle the design of text-based learner-centred feedback, but at present there is limited empirical evidence available to answer this question. In response, we conducted a rapid review and qualitative synthesis of 95 peer-reviewed scholarly publications on feedback, and appraised the results through the lens of four diverse conceptualisations of learner-centred feedback. This process led to the development of a framework of 12 learner-centred design attributes for text-based feedback, which were organised around three layers of design: contexts, characteristics and components. Each of these design attributes are discussed and practical recommendations are synthesised from the literature. Areas in need of additional empirical research are also highlighted.

Research indicates that effective learner-centred feedback requires learner agency, impact and sensemaking. While scholars are focusing on supporting agency and impact, limited research has addressed sensemaking. This is problematic, because if learners fail to understand feedback, impact is likely to be reduced. In response, this study examines (non) alignment between teacher intent and student sensemaking of authentic feedback comments. The sample included four teachers and eighteen students from two Australian universities. Data were collected via stimulated recall interviews and a feedback coding task. The results suggest that sensemaking of strength-based comments, critiques and actionable information was aided when the comments were clear and specific. On the other hand, sensemaking was limited when comments were designed to mitigate against negative affect, overloaded with multiple intentions, or overly brief. This study informs theory around learner-centred feedback design which, in turn, improves the likelihood that teacher comments will be interpreted accurately by learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online examinations are a common experience in higher education. Their security is a key concern for education communities, and has resulted in a variety of cheating countermeasures. There is broad consensus in the literature that there is no one measure, including proctoring, which eradicates cheating behaviours. As a result, this study is exploratory, seeking to add to our understanding of the range of factors that may interact with frequency of cheating behaviour in online examinations. This large-scale study (N = 7839) is based in one Australian university which pivoted to online examinations during the 2021 Covid-19 lockdowns. Students who reported cheating (n = 216) revealed a wide range of factors that may have influenced their behaviours. A key observation is that cheating, although less frequent than reported elsewhere, occurred regardless of the security measure, assessment design, examination condition, and across the spectrum of student demographic variables. However, there were statistically significant differences in relation to frequency of cheating according to certain demographics, examination conditions, motivations, attitudes and perceptions. Although some forms of proctoring did demonstrate reduced frequencies in self-reported cheating, they are demonstrably incomplete solutions due to the complexity of other variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to recent conceptual shifts towards learner-centred feedback, there is a potential gap between research and practice. Indeed, few models or studies have sought to identify or evaluate which semantic messages, or feedback components, teachers should include in learner-centred feedback comments. Instead, teacher practices are likely to be primarily shaped by 'old paradigm' conceptualisations of feedback. In response, the current study develops a taxonomy of learner-centred feedback components based on a rapid systematic review of the literature. The face, content and construct validity of the taxonomy are then established through an empirical study with teachers and students at two Australian universities. The outcome of this study is a conceptual model featuring eight learner-centred feedback components. This model will help teachers design effective feedback processes and support learners to make sense of and use feedback information to improve their future work and learning strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current conceptualisations of feedback contend that it should be a learner-centred process. In practice, however, text-based feedback comments from teachers are a convenient and common source of feedback information, despite appearing to be contra-indicative of learner-centred models. This raises the question of how teachers can tackle the design of text-based learner-centred feedback, but at present there is limited empirical evidence available to answer this question. In response, we conducted a rapid review and qualitative synthesis of 95 peer-reviewed scholarly publications on feedback, and appraised the results through the lens of four diverse conceptualisations of learner-centred feedback. This process led to the development of a framework of 12 learner-centred design attributes for text-based feedback, which were organised around three layers of design: contexts, characteristics and components. Each of these design attributes are discussed and practical recommendations are synthesised from the literature. Areas in need of additional empirical research are also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Nicholas Boustead, Kris Ryan, Gregory J. Sheard The growth of short-wave elliptical instabilities in a Lamb-Oseen vortex pair subject to non-uniform strain fields at close vortex spacing is considered using direct numerical simulation at a Reynolds number Re = 20000. A linear stability analysis demonstrates that with reduced vortex spacing the growth rate of all axial wave-numbers is enhanced relative to that of the fastest-growing mode. A coupling of vortices is observed at close vortex spacing, which may lead to improved non-linear instability growth, and the development of fluid cross-over regions. These fluid cross-over regions are shown to be products of a linear growth regime.