University department head: Students who cheated on exams may have been punished too severely during the pandemic

According to a head of a department at the University College of Western Norway, students who have cheated may have been punished too severely during the pandemic. 

“I am worried that some students may have been punished too harshly, and we should consider whether any decisions should be changed in favor of the students,” head of the Department of Economics and Administration Tom Skauge at the University College of Western Norway told Khrono.

Together with law professor Johan Giertsen at the University of Bergen, they are now asking the Ministry of Education to assess whether the regulations in exam cheating cases are good enough. Due to the pandemic, the educational institutions had to go from written exams to home exams at short notice.

“Many teachers had to reschedule exams without much experience with this. Therefore, there is reason to believe that some sets of tasks are not as good as they should be,” Skauge said.

Furthermore, Skauge and Giertsen question whether the students who have been sanctioned for cheating have received good enough information about ethical requirements for academic writing.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayEducation

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