Hanover, N.H.-based Dartmouth is dismissing an investigation into whether some students at its medical school cheated while taking online exams, The New York Times reported June 10.
The allegations surfaced earlier this year that students used their online coursework management system, Canvas, during remote closed-book exams.
According to the Times, Dartmouth charged 17 students with cheating after a review of Canvas data, and seven of the cases were dropped after some students argued that administrators were incorrectly associating automated activity on Canvas for human cheating. Allegations against the remaining 10 students have now also been dropped.
"I have decided to dismiss all the honor code charges," Geisel School of Medicine Dean Duane Compton, PhD, said in an email to the Geisel community June 9, according to the Times, adding that the issue would not affect students' academic records. "I have apologized to the students for what they have been through."
After the cheating allegations surfaced, some of the accused students faced expulsion, suspension course failures and misconduct marks on their records, and the Times also did a software review, which showed Canvas activity data could be automatically generated from students' devices when students weren't using them, according to the report.
The allegations also led to protests on campus, as well as outcry from the student government, faculty members and technology experts.
In his email, Dr. Compton said, "We will learn from this, and we will do better."
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