Wondering if using Chegg is considered cheating? Well, a lot of the time, yes it is. If it is used for homework, answering quizzes, or answering exams, it is without a doubt cheating.
However, understanding what is considered cheating on Chegg, and how an investigation into cheating via Chegg is conducted is important for both students and learning institutes to be aware of.
Chegg can be a great tool for students and tutors alike to use, however, it has been a large part of the issue of students cheating in their studies. So, it is worth investigating just how this is being dealt with. How long does a Chegg investigation take?
What Is Chegg?
So, let us start by introducing you to Chegg if you are not yet familiar with it. The answer to what it is has changed a lot since its inception.
At the core, however, Chegg is an educational technology company that makes money through the use of technology in offering students various services.
It launched in 2000, and it offered online scholarship searching tools, matching for internships, and advice to assist in getting into college. At this point, Chegg was a startup launched by students at Iowa State.
However, they became inspired and started renting out textbooks, and this helped them strike gold, making them reach nationwide success.
The premise of a textbook rentals service was at the very core of their growth and success. Chegg first began renting out textbooks back in 2007 and then by 2013, they were listed on the New York Stock Exchange as a publicly owned corporation.
This, as you can see, has nothing to do with cheating. If you had wondered a decade ago if Chegg was helping students cheat, people would look at you as if you had three heads.
However, the accusations around cheating have only recently become prominent, this is a focus on one very different but specific area of what Chegg launched later on, which was a subscription service known as Chegg Study.
Chegg Study is a subscription service with learning support tools helping students with college, it is divided into textbook answers and answers to students’ questions. The textbook side of it is exactly how it sounds, you browse Chegg to look up textbooks and find the question and read the answer.
The student questions and answers side is different, subscribers ask a question and can get an answer at any time between 15 minutes to 24 hours.
Subscribers can also see questions and answers from all other subscribers, so there is now a database of answered questions.
Is It Cheating To Use Chegg?
When someone asks if using Chegg is cheating they typically refer to Chegg Study. But let’s look at what is considered cheating with Chegg Study.
Yes, For Checking Homework
This is the tamest cheating form, this is when a student does the homework themselves and then uses Chegg to check their answers. In this case, a student is still learning the material, but they are also cheating. (See also ‘Can You Copy And Paste On Chegg?‘)
As doing this improves a student’s grades it is considered cheating and if caught, students can face disciplinary action from their learning institution.
Yes, For Doing Homework
Another level of cheating can include using it to do the homework, in this case, the student does not learn the content through a regular learning process and often ends up decimated by quizzes and exams, and it becomes clear they are cheating.
Yes, For Submitting Homework Questions To Chegg Study
Should a professor suspect a student of cheating they can contact Chegg, and Chegg can provide evidence such as the IP addresses of accounts asking particular questions.
Submitting homework questions can increase the risk of disciplinary action.
Yes, If You Convince Other Students To Use Chegg
Students will not be prosecuted for cheating with Chegg, however, students can be prosecuted in cases of bribery or fraud where it is clear it has impacted the institution.
So, if you were to convince others to cheat it is a more serious offense than cheating alone.
Yes, To Answer Quiz Or Exam Questions With Chegg Study
There have been reports of students using Chegg to answer quiz questions and exam questions, most of which relate to virtual exams or quizzes with varying levels of remote proctoring.
As the technology around proctoring improves it is becoming harder for students to cheat, with Chegg, or with anything else.
Some students have even tried using Chegg in exam bathroom breaks too!
As you could imagine copying answers found online is a more serious problem than the previous ones, and it can result in severe disciplinary action from universities and professors.
Chegg Honor Code
So, how do students get caught? Firstly, it takes the professor or educational institute to believe that cheating is occurring, then they can contact Chegg, who takes this very seriously due to their Honor Code.
Let’s look at their ‘Honor Code’.
Chegg views the use of any service on their platform including the use of materials, answers, solutions, or other content being used to cheat on graded work or an exam as a violation of their Honor Code.
This can include the use of services to ask questions that are part of an exam or other graded work.
This can also include passing along any materials, solutions, and so forth from the Chegg services as one’s work without any attribution to Chegg.
Chegg notes that they take swift action against any persons found to be in violation of their Honor Code and if they are presented with evidence that their services are being used in a way that goes against their Honor Code they can remove the content or terminate the Chegg account of users involved.
Honor Code Investigations
Any professors or official representatives of a university or college can request an honor code investigation if they suspect cheating. (Check out ‘What Information Does Chegg Give To Universities?’ho)
Upon this request being verified, Chegg can then provide the professor or official representative with information such as the following:
- Time and date stamps of a posted question.
- A time and date stamp when a solution was posted.
In order to ensure that the student privacy of Chegg’s user details is protected, Chegg report details, however, do not share the personal student information of users as a part of honor code investigations.
In order for an honor code investigation to be conducted, a professor or official representative of a college or university needs to complete a form and provide an official letter of request on the affiliated letterhead of the school which has been signed by the Dean or an Academic Integrity officer from said institution.
This step is critical and is a part of the commitment by Chegg to ensure privacy for students.
Overall
Chegg is very thorough and serious about any cases of cheating via their site. However, they remain thorough in privacy for the students, and the process for an investigation is thorough and complex.
An educational institute must first fill out a form and send an official letter before an investigation into cheating via Chegg is conducted. However, Chegg is very serious about maintaining its Honor Code and punishing violations.
