Online classes full of positives, pratfalls for ASU athletes

Although he spent his summer 2,300 miles away from Arizona State University, Ryan Sontag was able to continue pursuing a kinesiology degree through the close confines of cyberspace.

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Sontag, an outfielder playing summer baseball in Winchester, Va., utilized a laptop computer to complete and receive credits for one of the 5,000 classes ASU offers via the Internet.

“I was trying to get ahead toward my degree during the down time when there wasn’t a game,” said Sontag, a senior and first-team Academic All-Pac-10 choice in 2007. “It was good to be away from campus and still get a class in. …

“Even during the (ASU) season, with as much traveling as (the baseball team) does, it can be beneficial to be in an Internet class and have that flexibility to do the work on your own schedule.”

If convenience is a defining characteristic of online courses, so is the potential for fraud in a setting where the integrity of a student and proctor can factor into a grade as much as knowledge does.

ASU’s baseball program knows the potential pitfalls of cyberspace education.

In March, star reliever Jason Jarvis was declared academically ineligible after the school ruled that he did not follow proper procedures while taking an exam for an Internet music class.

Academic fraud, possibly involving online classes, has been a focus of an internal investigation of the baseball program. The probe was launched in January after allegations were made by a former graduate assistant coach.

Online academic dishonesty is a campus issue not limited to athletics, but the digital information age has opened the door to a new kind of cheating in college sports.

“The athletes, when they come in for orientation, we talk about academic dishonesty and the code of conduct — from (the consequences) of plagiarizing a paper to cheating an online course,” said Jean Boyd, ASU associate athletics director for student-athlete development.

“A lot of it is educating and talking about having pride in themselves as a student and not putting themselves at risk. It happens to a lot of students, but when it involves athletes, it’s magnified because of their status on campus.”

Some recent examples:

• In 2005, Nicholls State was placed on four years’ probation after the NCAA found that an academic adviser and assistant football coach did correspondence work for 23 football players and two basketball players.

• In 2005-06, Brigham Young discovered cases of fraud in which proctors took correspondence exams for athletes or provided them with answers.

• Thirty-six Florida State football players were suspended for the 2007 Music City Bowl for misconduct occurring when athletes and tutors convened in computer labs for tests. In one instance, a tutor shouted answers to the entire room.

• In January, Shauna Moffitt, the estranged wife of South Florida standout linebacker Ben Moffitt, told the Tampa Tribune she wrote papers and took two online courses for him during his five years at the school.

“There’s no foolproof way to prevent fraud,” Mernoy Harrison, vice president and executive vice provost of ASU’s Online and Extended Campus, wrote in an e-mail to the Tribune. “All students, including online students, are expected to abide by ASU policies regarding integrity.”

ASU’s online program, which began a decade ago, currently has 23,824 online course registrations. (Students can enroll in more than one online course.)

There are 962 students enrolled in an online degree program, taking classes exclusively via the Internet.

“When I was in college in the early ’90s, I don’t recall being able to take any classes online,” Boyd said. “Now, if a student wanted to, they could take their entire schedule online, including the core classes like math and English. As the technology evolves, universities are using that to their advantage.”

Online courses enable ASU — the nation’s third-largest university, with an undergraduate enrollment of 51,311 during the fall — a mechanism to add classes and collect tuition revenue without building new facilities.

While such high-tech security options as fingerprints or retinal scans have been explored by some schools, ASU relies on an honor code.

Proctors and authentication sign-ons are utilized for exams. Boyd said computer labs for athletes inside ASU’s Carson Center are always supervised, and there are limitations on collaborating on assignments.

“Academic fraud — regardless of the class format — is the responsibility of the individual institution to prevent,” NCAA spokesperson Jennifer Kearns said. “The school, or someone else aware of the situation, would have to report it to the NCAA for investigation.”

Although Jarvis was not found to have committed fraud, ASU’s ruling that he failed to follow procedures resulted in an “F” grade for the course.

Acting on what he said was incorrect information from an academic adviser, Jarvis improperly used notes during the test.

“Jason was not found guilty of academic dishonesty,” baseball coach Pat Murphy said at the time. “When you look at the entire situation, the conclusion you reach is at best, this is unfortunate. At worst, it’s unfair.”

Jarvis applied for and received early entry for the June major league draft and is currently playing for the Lincoln (Neb.) Saltdogs, an independent team.

Although students have access to online class instructors via office hours and e-mail, students do not have the level of communication and accountability that comes with a classroom environment.

“You have to really be on top of things in an online course,” said Troy Nolan, a safety on the ASU football team. “It’s different not having that teacher there to remind you when assignments are due.”

Boyd said that, as technology keeps developing, athletic departments will likely face new issues regarding online education.

“We have a high sense of responsibility to ensure that (Internet) classes, or anything academically, is conducted with integrity,” Boyd said. “You hear stories regularly about NCAA institutions having issues in this area.”