Measures when cheating is suspected - especially at-home exams

In order to contribute to efforts to control the spread of COVID-19, the University of Gothenburg transitioned from on-campus to distance education for both lessons and exams for the spring 2020 term, and will continue so for much of the autumn term 2020. Given these circumstances, both teachers and students now have a common responsibility to make this situation work while also maintaining high quality lessons and fair and legitimate examination procedures.

Unfortunately, the University has discovered multiple cases of attempted deception (cheating) on several at-home exams.

Due to these circumstances, the University reminds all students that disciplinary measures will be taken against any student who, by use of unauthorized aids or any other means, attempts deception (cheats) on an examination.

• By “these circumstances”, we mean the increase in cases regarding suspected deception since the transition to remote exams that the University is currently handling. Many cases concern students who are suspected of unauthorized cooperation on exams that were to be taken and answered individually.
• "Unauthorized aids" are those aids which, prior to an examination, have not been explicitly stated as allowed.
• "Deception" is when a student intentionally tries to give the examiner a false perception of his or her academic performance.
• “Examination” refers to all occasions where the student's performance is to be assessed, for example through Canvas home exams, digital exams in Disa, or at-home exams via Zoom.
• The disciplinary measures that may be implemented are warnings or up to six months’ suspension.

With at-home exams, plagiarism and unauthorized collaborations are the most common forms of deception.

All texts are processed through Urkund, so both plagiarism and text responses coordinated between students will be detected.