Open Access Peer-reviewed Research Article

Lessons Learned from Online Cheating during COVID-19: Implications for Nepali Higher Education Institutions

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Submitted   Jul 15, 2025
Published   Nov 6, 2025
Issue    Vol 6 No 1 (2026)
DOI   10.25082/AMLER.2026.01.002

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Raj K. Baral
Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
Som Nath Ghimire corresponding author
Mahendra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Dharan, Nepal

Abstract

This article examines Nepali higher education (HE) teachers' and students' experiences and perceptions of online exams and students' cheating on online assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic, when HE course cycles--including assessments--were conducted online.The study data were collected using semi-structured interviews with HE teachers and students.The study findings illustrate that while both teachers and students expressed positive perceptions of online exams, the increasing prevalence of cheating on online assessments imposed an added layer of challenges to academic integrity and assessment validity for Nepali HEIs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.The findings offer new insights into the existing body of knowledge on academic dishonesty in Nepal and reveal significant differences between teachers' and students' attitudes towards proctored online exams, as well as the underlying reasons behind students' academic misconduct.We argue that the validity of assessments during the pandemic was more questionable than cheating on online exams itself.

Keywords
COVID-19, online cheating, academic dishonesty, higher education, Nepal

Article Details

How to Cite
Baral, R. K., & Ghimire, S. N. (2025). Lessons Learned from Online Cheating during COVID-19: Implications for Nepali Higher Education Institutions. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 6(1), 1668-1680. https://doi.org/10.25082/AMLER.2026.01.002
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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