Academic Dishonesty in Traditional and Online Classrooms: Does the 'Media Equation' Hold True?

Limited empirical research exists regarding the prevalence of academic dishonesty in the online classroom. This limited evidence supports the notion that factors contributing to academic dishonesty in the traditional classroom also apply to online courses. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between factors known to contribute to academic dishonesty in traditional courses with undergraduate students' perceptions of cheating in online courses. 1068 undergraduates enrolled in online courses completed a survey exploring factors known to contribute to academic dishonesty in face-to-face classes and their perception of their peers' level of cheating in online courses. Researchers employed bivariate correlations and multiple regression on data obtained from these students. Results suggest factors known to contribute to academic dishonesty in face-to-face classes have little influence in online courses, and results suggest that future research needs to consider whether students who engage in online learning have different ideas about what constitutes cheating. (Contains 5 tables.)