Weekly Insights: Ethics

From students’ ethics to their views on the COVID-19 vaccines, here are this week’s top college student insights.

Global Ethics Day

Reports of academic misconduct increased dramatically when classes abruptly moved online during the pandemic, and a new College Pulse survey of 400 undergraduates finds that nearly three-quarters (73%) of students say they have cheated on a quiz or exam. Students not on financial aid are more likely than students who are on financial aid to say they’ve cheated (86% vs. 74%). 

Half (49%) of students say it’s OK to cheat when taking a quiz or exam from home during a global pandemic, and almost 6 in 10 (57%) believe it’s OK to cheat on a quiz or exam if you have a bad professor. Despite being more likely to admit to cheating, students not on financial aid are less likely than students who are to say it’s OK to cheat when taking an exam from home during a pandemic (44% vs. 51%).

Though COVID-19 changed how classes were run and monitored, online proctoring wasn’t ubiquitous. One-quarter (24%) of students say most or all of their online courses have used online proctoring, compared to 44% who say some have and 23% who say none have been proctored. Students at private universities are more likely than those at public universities to say none of their online classes have used online proctoring (41% vs. 18%).

How many of your online courses have used online proctoring?

COVID-19 Vaccine

A recent College Pulse survey of 556 undergraduates finds that a majority (55%) of college Republicans believe their choices about the COVID-19 vaccine affect no one but themselves, compared to just 12% of college Democrats. Overall, about one-quarter (23%) of students believe their vaccine decision doesn’t affect anyone else.

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Methodology: All surveys were designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted among a sample of full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.