In extraordinary cases, an Army officer could supervise a test for a subordinate, or a priest could keep watch while a parishioner takes a midterm exam. It's up to the professor to be realistic about students' behavior and not get mired in denial when evidence suggests that a student might be cheating, Mr. Stallings adds. Darcy W. Hardy, director of the University of Texas's distance-education component, called Telecampus, says the key to catching cheaters is to know the students in the class. But instructors can't do that if a course has a large enrollment, whether in the classroom or on line. One way of getting a jump on plagiarizers is to ask every student to write a 500-word essay at the beginning of the semester that can serve as a kind of fingerprint of writing style.
Professors can also use on-line chats and discussion boards to get to know students better.
Chats and discussions generate text that is recorded, so an instructor can refer back to it after assignments are turned in. If you can keep that up for a whole semester, you're doing pretty good. Whether a ringer or Grover, Ms. Hardy agrees that it's a little tougher to catch cheaters on line. But if professors remain vigilant and take reasonable precautions, they'll probably be able to nab the offender, she says. Luis Nazario, a composition professor at Pueblo Community College in Colorado, says that during his six years of teaching on line, he has had three instances of students trying to cheat.