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‘ A race to the bottom ’
The purpose of our study is not to catch particular students , but to identify solutions
CDU study says pandemic has made contract cheating worse .
By Wade Zaglas
Charles Darwin University researchers recently completed a study exploring the extent and impact of contract cheating across the global academic community during COVID-19 .
Written by Associate Professor in Education Dr Jon Mason and Senior Business Law Lecturer Dr Guzyal Hill , the research was published in the journal , Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning .
Simply put , contract cheating involves students paying for a third party to complete their assessments , which can include essays , tests and even exams . The findings show contract cheating is becoming increasingly challenging for academics and their institutions , as well as a transition occurring from “ ghost-writing ” to “ ghost-studying ”.
Although this may be surprising to some , ghost-writing services have been around for a time in academia .
“ As early as 1960 , ghost-writers were reproached for writing speeches . In 2008 , ghost-writing by researchers was litigated against . Academics and universities are aware of the existence of commercial contract cheating services for domestic and international students ,” the academics state in their article .
“ The most notorious website , MyMaster , is renowned for causing an international scandal ; some students who used it were expelled or suspended . The website is
no longer operational , but many other websites offer the same or similar services ; many of which are owned by the same illegal enterprises but presented through different shopfronts .
“ Indeed , the business models of contract cheating individuals are becoming increasingly sophisticated , now extending from self-employed freelancers through to the sale of off-the-shelf web applications that incorporate all aspects of a contract cheating business .”
The CDU researchers adopted a novel type of action research , with one of them masquerading as a student to search webbased services that could link them with contract cheating providers .
The method allowed them to “ analyse some of the most popular providers and to identify the scope of contract cheating services made easily accessible to university students ,” they said .
“ For example , a Google search of the term ‘ assignment help ’ returns more than 300 million results in 2021 .”
The researchers found contract cheating services were using reward techniques such as “ referrals , discounts , gamification , artificial intelligence and other functions that universities , in some cases , are only beginning to introduce ”.
“ Furthermore , we used to think it would be difficult for students to use these services . However , to the contrary , the service providers removed all possible friction points . They were approachable , user-friendly , included discounts and testimonials and were eager to disburse any doubts regarding the legitimacy and quality of their services ,” the study states . Alerting academics and universities to the prominence and diversity of this dangerous global practice was another of the researchers ’ key aims . According to Mason , the pandemic has worsened the problem as more students were tempted to “ cheat the online system ” while learning digitally .
“ COVID has led to a whole lot of new services made available to people . It has been a catalyst for so many changes in formal education , creating new experiences for teaching and learning online at universities and schools ,” he said .
“ But it has also become a trigger for new players in the space . It ’ s an open frontier and a new marketplace for contract cheating .
“ We are interested in knowing what ’ s happening in terms of online behaviour and what the online environment allows to happen .”
Study co-author Hill said no-one wins in contract cheating , calling it “ a race to the bottom ”.
“ Once the students get into the profession , they cannot perform tasks because they missed out on learning the knowledge and skills , so the professional community is also suffering ,” she said .
“ There are also many cases where students were promised a plagiarism-free assignment by ghost writers , but that did not deliver . They could not complain due to fear of being reported to the university .
“ The purpose of our study is not to catch particular students , but to identify solutions to the issue .”
For Hill , the study supports the idea that contract cheating is a global issue , and that “ multi-level ” strategies involving universities , academics and the global community at large will be required to stem its nefarious effects .
“ It ’ s not a single university ’ s fault or sole responsibility . Lecturers and academics often rely on plagiarism detection tools , but research finds there are smarter devices that can outsmart these tools ,” she said .
“ So there needs to be a model of collaboration to address this problem . We all have a responsibility to try to identify and help solve the issue .” ■
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