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According to a recent poll of Mercer Country Community College students, 64% said they felt more inclined to cheat since moving online. Even though the MCCC uses the Honorlock software that can detect nearby device searches, recognize verbal keywords, and track the students’ movement, the college’s Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) found 45 cases of cheating.

The assistant dean of students reported 292 cases of academic dishonesty on the Atlanta campus for the academic year 2019/20. For the current year, from July 1 through, 268 more cases through November 5. With the increased use of technology and apps like GroupMe, universities all over the country had to integrate cheating via GroupMe into their academic honesty policies.

Six officials at the Apex School of Theology orchestrated a scam to fraudulently claim $12 million in Federal student aid. The scheme involved recruiting fake students, forging fake applications for financial aid, as well as plagiarizing schoolwork and diplomas. FBI called the conspiracy a “blatant abuse of a Federally funded program” and “an insult to all taxpayers.

UC Berkeley’s Center for Student Conduct has received over 300 reports of alleged academic misconduct during the fall semester and as a result, professors have updated their misconduct policies. The chair of UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate recommended that faculty members use online programs to catch cases of misconduct, register on sites to observe collaboration during exams and use frequent, lower-stakes assessments.

With many students forced to trade in-person lectures for online learning during the pandemic and the rising cases of academic misconduct, students, as well as professors, are concerned about the software being used to assess them. The vice-president of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UMSU) says black students have had problems where the application doesn't recognize their faces. Other students with disabilities reported that they rely on specific screen-reader software that is incompatible with remote proctoring software. Although professors recognize that some courses may require e-proctored exams, they want them to be implemented correctly.

While the Academic Integrity Policy has not changed since the transition to remote learning at Rutgers faculty, departments have implemented new measures in an effort to prevent cheating. The Office of Student Conduct has created tutorial videos on completing work honestly, and on exams and major assignments, students should write and sign an honour pledge. The policy includes seven types of violations: plagiarism, cheating, and fabrication, facilitation of dishonesty, academic sabotage, violation of research or professional ethics and violations involving potentially criminal activity.

Cheating at universities has increased since the coronavirus forced classes to go online. In the North Carolina State, more than 200 of the 800 students in a single Statistics 311 have been disciplined for cheating. The University of Missouri discovered three separate cases of cheating, and each incident involved about 50 students who used the GroupMe app to share answers to exam questions. Also, 330 students were charged for breaking safety rules and would face penalties such as one-semester suspension.

There has been an increase in academic misconduct at Mount Royal University from 62 cases between March and August in 2019 to 130 cases this year. They include cheating, sharing answers or work, plagiarism, and misrepresenting facts or information that gives a person an unfair academic advantage over other students. The university is also looking at programs for e-proctoring and student integrity that would lend to preventing misconduct.

64 candidates were unfairly enrolled at the University of California between 2013 and 2019 because of their personal or family ties to donors and academic staff. The state auditor reports that the university has undermined the fairness and integrity of its admissions process and has denied more qualified students the opportunity to be enrolled.

A federal lawsuit accuses New York City and thousands of other school districts of defrauding special needs students by depriving them of hands-on therapies during the pandemic. According to a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Education, city educators obtained the consent from special needs parents before swapping distance learning for hands-on therapies. Nevertheless, many parents have not received any services whatsoever, not even remote services.