[The Montana Professor 23.2, Spring 2013 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]
Laura A. Wankel and Charles Wankel
Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing Group, 2012
444 pp., $71.99 pb
Peg Wherry
Director of Online and Distance Learning
MSU-Bozeman
Margaret Worob
Online Student Support Manager
MSU-Bozeman
Misbehavior Online in Higher Education is a collection of research, essays, and case studies exploring the new and sometimes troubling behaviors that have emerged as faculty and students have moved academic activity online. Given the rapid pace of developments in cyberspace, any book on the subject is likely to have a relatively short shelf life. In this one, however, a wide range of readers from the professoriate and student affairs will find useful information. Contributors represent institutions of all types and sizes from across the United States, Canada, and Australia; most are faculty, though administrators and a few graduate students contribute.
We look first at a set of chapters about online testing. "Misbehavior in Online Testing" by Michael Mays considers the design of online assessments, building a culture of online activities to encourage appropriate behavior, and ways to monitor online assignments. A wide range of sources is consulted but not neatly synthesized under sub-headings, so his text is not easy to navigate. Mays discusses ways to optimize online testing functions to control conditions and randomize questions and responses, makes a case for human proctoring and points out its limitations, identifies both software and hardware available to control and supervise testing, and reminds us that "the same technologies that have enabled cheating have also offered new ways to detect and prevent cheating" (258). The list of references is generous but eclectic rather than representative and skews toward the outdated (more from the 1990s than from 2009-2010).
More satisfying, perhaps because more tightly focused, is Paul M. Goldwater and Timothy J. Fogarty's "Academic Integrity and Shortcuts in an Automated Management Accounting Course Management System." This piece recounts the development of an accounting-specific course management system (P4P or Practice for Performance) developed by one of the authors over 20 years. Because the system is narrow in origin and applied in only one course, one might expect the article to be too specialized to be useful. But it is widely applicable, since the focus is student learning, analyzing a spectrum of student behaviors for either learning or avoiding learning, providing both rationale and tactics for rewarding the former and frustrating the latter. The conclusions are well-earned, concisely argued, and abundantly clear. These authors also remind us that most students don't cheat and that there is a difference between laziness and genuine dishonesty.
Wendy Kraglund-Gauthier and David C. Young explore ways to ensure that the person who receives the credit is the same person who does the academic work in "Will the Real 'John Doe' Stand Up? Verifying the Identity of Online Students." They are not satisfied with human proctoring but also worry (perhaps rightly) about the safety and use of data gathered through technology-based authentication tools such as video recording, keystroke capture, or biometric scans. How are these data to be stored? For how long? Are they then accessible to law enforcement or national security investigators? These are excellent questions, worth the slog through their mostly unremarkable précis of the growth of online education and their rather limited understanding of best practices in human proctoring. They also accept at face value the findings in studies funded by providers of technological monitoring systems. Vendors can provide valuable information—along with their products—but are not exactly disinterested sources for an academic publication.
Since student misconduct is the issue at the crux of this book, it's important to include a discussion and analysis of how the First Amendment applies in the digital age. "Student Conduct in the Digital Age: When Does the First Amendment Protection End and Misconduct Begin?" by Lee Bird et al. explores and analyzes the First Amendment, including its definition and categories of protected and unprotected speech. This chapter is geared more towards university administrators; however, faculty and other university staff could also benefit from the overview of what is and is not protected in the First Amendment. The chapter discusses how current case law is rather murky in this area, as First Amendment cases are still venturing into uncharted territory when it comes to communication via cyberspace. In addition, the chapter provides a case study that demonstrates how university officials should go about taking action when First Amendment issues arise. The takeaway from this chapter is that in the digital age, it's important not to make rash decisions about incidents of misconduct, but rather to review current university policy in light of the First Amendment and, if necessary, consult with university legal counsel before taking action.
Issues of academic entitlement and teacher misbehaviors are investigated in "What Do They Expect? Academically Entitled Students and Perceptions of Teacher Misbehaviors in the Online Classroom" by Heather M. Crandall and her colleagues. Although these issues are nothing new for instructors of face-to-face courses, this chapter focuses on how these issues can crop up in online courses. Not surprisingly, the authors conclude that "academically entitled" (AE) students are apt to judge instructors more harshly and expect quicker turnaround times from instructors. The value in this chapter lies in the discussion of strategies to effectively deal with AE students, such as clear expectations in the syllabus and in discussions. The authors recommend creating a discussion space that is specifically dedicated to teacher-student expectations as a way to appropriately manage expectations. While the authors provide useful suggestions for dealing with AE students and minimizing teacher misbehaviors, the article only focuses on the dimension of instructor response time, and leaves out other issues that might occur when dealing with this difficult student population.
For a more in-depth look into dealing with difficult students, readers should focus their attention on "Flaming the Faculty: Exploring Root Causes, Consequences, and Potential remedies to the Problem of Instructor-Focused Uncivil Online Student Discourse in Higher Education." Susan Wildermuth and Corey B. Davis provide a broad and insightful discussion of instructor-focused uncivil behavior. While the title suggests that the discussion is focused on student incivility solely in online settings, the analysis is also applicable to instructors of face-to-face courses, especially as more student-instructor communication has gone digital. This chapter discusses the types of uncivil discourse, explores reasons uncivil discourse occurs, identifies its effects on both students and faculty, and proposes solutions for faculty and administrators to resolve situations of uncivil discourse. The authors also craft an interesting discussion of factors that influence the likelihood of online incivility; however, they argue that the primary student offenders are traditionally aged college students, or "millennials," and do not mention that non-traditionally aged students can also engage in uncivil online behavior. (Curiously, the opening paragraph in this chapter is an excerpt from an actual email by a 32-year-old veteran.) Faculty may find the authors' solutions to dealing with uncivil online discourse at the close of the chapter particularly useful. Though the references listed are generally recent and reputable, at least one "study" cited is actually anecdotes from a student journalism course website.
As cyberbullying is a "hot topic" in the popular media today, it is not surprising that several other chapters are devoted to this issue. "Cyberbullying: Perceptions of Bullies and Victims" investigates the issue of cyberbullying specifically among players of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). While some participants were recruited from college classes for this study, it's not clear how many were non-college students, which further distances this article from the main intent of this book—examining misbehavior online in higher education. The focus of "Cyberbullying? Voices of College Students" is a qualitative research study in which the authors conducted focus groups with college students to get their impressions of cyberbullying perpetrators, victims and audience members. "Cyberbullying in the University Classroom: A Multiplicity of Issues" focuses on cyberbullying in the context of a university classroom at a Canadian university, and the authors provide a real-life example of a case of cyberbullying among members of a class group project. "Cyberbullying: It Doesn't Stop after High School Graduation" presents the results of a survey conducted among traditional aged undergraduate students at Ohio University.
In "Cyber Bullying Among College Students: Evidence from Multiple Domains of College Life," Robin M. Kowalski and her colleagues conducted two studies to explore the issue of cyberbullying among college students; note that most research to date explores cyberbullying among middle and high school students. While both studies examined cyberbullying among primarily traditionally aged college students—the average respondent age was 19—the second study is noteworthy because it explores the issue of cyberbullying amongst college student workers and is particularly troubling in its suggestion that some college student workers could be experiencing cyberbullying in their capacity as university student employees. However, since the authors did not ask where the college students worked, it's difficult to discern how large an issue cyberbullying amongst student employees really is.
Another chapter on cyberbullying is "The Ripple Effect of Positive Change: Raising Awareness of Cyberbullying through a Community-Based Service-Learning Project," by Amy Kenworthy et al. After defining cyberbullying, establishing its prevalence, and worrying about the paucity of effective ways to address it, these authors describe a service learning project they hope will be the "ripple of change" in their title. As a project for a course on negotiation, university students teach primary and secondary school students about cyberbullying and make presentations on their work to yet other university students. The effort was extended even further through student-designed homework for primary and secondary students to do with their parents.
Barbara Ritter's "Say That to My Face: Factors Inherent to the Online Environment that Increase the Likelihood of Harassing and Prejudicial Behavior" is not nearly so useful. To begin with, her concept of the "online environment" is overly general and has very little to do with education (her examples are from corporate workplaces). Also, she treats learning as a behavioral psychologist would rather than as might be assumed in a book about higher education, and she focuses almost exclusively on sexual harassment. In Ritter's view, "the underlying masculine culture found online" creates "a space where men can reassert their greater social status in even a stronger…version" than face-to-face (29), a conclusion that seems outdated. Not surprisingly, in the three-page list of works cited, only ten have been published since 2006 and many date from the 1990s. The two from 2011 are Facebook's community standards and her own unpublished manuscript, which is one of the works most frequently cited. Yet this chapter does have value in reminding faculty of the need to characterize online learning spaces as civil and professional rather than anonymous and untamed.
Ritter's heavy use of her own previous work is doubly interesting, given the arguments made in Tracey Bretag's provocative "Publish or Perish: Ramifications for Online Academic Publishing." She notes that "despite the fact that most university Web sites provide clear warnings to students regarding self-plagiarism, there is no similar framework to ensure that academics do not use their own previously published material inappropriately" (15). The "online" dimension to this issue is seen in the claim that "redundant publication" is easier than ever because of electronic publishing (14). She outlines research evaluation efforts by governments in the UK and Australia among pressures leading to research misconduct and concludes: "Researchers need to take a politicized stand. We need to reclaim our passion and pride in academic work and not be dictated to by shifting higher education policy" (21-22).
Perhaps the freshest chapters deal with social media. "Facing Off: Facebook and Higher Education" by Debra Bateman and Julie Willems is especially effective. They present several thumbnail case studies on use of Facebook—some that ended well and others that ended badly. They are particularly clear about the differences between Learning Management Systems (such as Desire2Learn and Moodle) and social media, which they do not find to be interchangeable. Social presence, so highly desired in online teaching and learning, is not the same as social interaction, which can be distracting or worse. The other Facebook study is a solid piece of research but has less to do with education, however much it treats behavior. "Picture Perfect? College Students' Experiences and Attitudes Regarding Their Photo-related Behaviors on Facebook" by Angela Paradise capably combines social theory, studies of Facebook usage, and a survey of college students about their use of photos. It is likely to be of greatest interest to scholars of new media and social scientists but also rewarding for those curious about the current vagaries of youth. "Establishing Guidelines for the Use of Social Media in Higher Education" by Andrew Lenartz may be the most administratively oriented chapter, with its orderly treatment of policies or guidelines for an institution's use of social media. He sets out the categories of policies needed (acceptable use, compliance, objectionable content, etc.) and cites examples from schools ranging from Cornell College to the University of Texas.
The chapters in this book, then, are suggestive, even stimulating, though it would be a mistake to think of the volume as comprehensive. Chapters are not grouped in sections focusing on a common theme, and there seems to have been no effort toward balanced coverage. Mental health issues and students of concern, spamming, using university computing resources for commercial and other inappropriate uses—to name a few problems that we have encountered in our own daily work—are not addressed. Since the quality of the prose is rather uneven, it seems mere linguistic convention to refer to the book as having been edited. There are many instances of imperfect word processing, with words omitted or parts of sentences pasted together without regard for normal English syntax.
Nonetheless, Misbehavior Online in Higher Education is a good introduction to vexing new issues, and the references cited may lead readers into the already extensive scholarship of online teaching and learning. Every campus should have a copy or two, and nearly every reader will find valuable insights and useful information. For individual professors, however, this is a better book to borrow than to own.
[The Montana Professor 23.2, Spring 2013 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]