Academic Dishonesty in Online Courses: Considerations for Graduate Preparatory Programs in Higher Education

While there is a perception that violations of academic dishonesty occur more frequently in online courses, a review of the literature has shown this to be a fallacy. In fact, there is evidence that supports the rate is lower in online courses than in face-to-face. There are many factors that affect academic dishonesty, including the demographics of the population of students enrolled in online courses and the cheating culture of the institution. This paper serves as a primer to encourage educators to begin to think about the challenges of academic integrity within the sphere of online learning. Attention is given to graduate preparatory programs in higher education.