What are the Students' Favorite Modus of Cheating?

Advocating to the highest level of policymakers makes for excellent research utilization. This is the case of University of Mindanao’s research on cheating in online classes starting in the pandemic, which started as a published Scopus journal in 2020 and became a published book in 2024. The book now titled, Pedagogy of Fraud, was the first of its kind in the Philippines patterned after the online surveys on the same topic in the US and Europe. It was a seminal research project by Dr. Ronnie V. Amorado, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Dr. Ramcis N. Vilchez, Dean of the College of Computing Education. One chapter in the book is dedicated to the 5-6 month conversations with ChatGPT, as the book also dwelt on the abuse and misuse of artificial intelligence.

Last February 8, 2025, the book was launched in Manila, hosted by the University of Santo Tomas under the auspices of the Philippine Fulbright Commission and the Hubert H. Humphrey Alumni Association. During the launch, Dr. Amorado presented his findings and recommendations to Sen. Sherwin ‘Win’ Gatchalian as the Keynote Speaker and Reactor to Dr. Amorado’s presentation. Sen. Gatchalian is the Co-Chairperson of the Executive-Legislative Education Commission (EDCOM), which consolidates all education reform issues and recommendations for executive and legislative agenda.

The study revealed that the students’ favorite modus of cheating are: copying internet resources (39%); Googling during quizzes and examinations (23%); copying from someone else’s assignment (12%); and calling a friend during examinations (10%). With the rise of AI, students have found it easier to cheat on their assignments. Data indicates that the types of activities most susceptible to cheating include multiple-choice questions (55%), true or false questions (37%), and matching type (25%). Essay type of exercises have the highest rating at 100% vulnerable type of activity to cheat.

These data showed how alarming it is to let students be used to this way of answering activities, examinations, or assessments, as it may foster a lack of critical thinking, and ultimately undermine their long-term academic growth and preparedness for real-world challenges.

Dr. Amorado wrote the book to strengthen academic integrity as well as to address the misuse and abuse use of different online technologies and Artificial Intelligence.