Collusion: The New Norm?

This chapter explores the evolving nature of collusion in academic integrity, and the academic library’s role in helping academics and students understand what proper collaboration looks like. The chapter examines the increasing opportunities to collude in the light of digital tools and online assessment while the original issues still remain. Research has identified the impact of COVID-19 on student behaviour—the sudden shift to online learning was a very different way of learning and being assessed, and one for which students had not been prepared. For some it created a certain amount of stress and anxiety and this is acknowledged as a factor that increases the risk of cheating. The change in situation caused by lockdown meant that many students returned home to an environment that was not ideal for sitting assessment, sometimes involving a different time zone, and this had an impact on their mindset, resulting in a decrease in engagement, motivation and accountability. In addition, the ease of sharing information presented more opportunities for collusion, specifically inappropriate sharing of information. We examine examples of collusion in student assessment that reveal relaxed attitudes and a lack of regard for the implications of their behaviour in terms of academic integrity. We recommend that universities revisit their definition of collusion and we offer the University of Leeds’ definition as an example; we suggest how to better educate students so that they understand the need for academic integrity and encourage their peers not to collude in assessment. We make the case that collusion must be included in academic integrity training and we look specifically at the role of libraries in this regard.