Digital Technology use and Academic Dishonesty among Students at Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri

Abstract

The study examined digital technology use and academic dishonesty among students of Alvan Ikoku Federal 
University of Education (AIFUE), Owerri. As a contextual replication, it was motivated by growing evidence that 
digital technologies facilitated academic dishonesties. The study therefore, identified the technologies most 
frequently used for academic purposes, the forms of dishonest practices associated with them, and their effects on 
students’ academic outcomes. A descriptive survey design was adopted, with a population of 5,223 undergraduate 
students in the 2024/2025 academic session. A sample of 320 respondents was selected using proportionate stratified 
random sampling. Data were collected using the “Digital Technologies and Student Academic Dishonesties 
(DTechSAD)” instrument, comprising three clusters with Cronbach reliability coefficients of 0.88, 0.86, and 0.89. 
The instrument employed four-point Likert scales, tailored to each research question. Mean and frequency counts 
were used to answer the research questions, while Chi-square statistics; tested significance at the 0.05 level. Findings 
revealed that ChatGPT (mean: 3.6) was the most frequently used digital tool for academic activities; the students 
engaged in various dishonest practices including plagiarism (mean: 3.5) and sharing assignment answers (mean: 3.6) 
through the digital platforms, and the practice had high negative effect on their academic outcome (mean: 2.8). The 
study therefore concluded that digital technologies significantly contributed to academic dishonesties among 
undergraduate students at AIFUE, Owerri. Actionable recommendations were made among which were for the 
introduction of orientation programmes that framed academic dishonesties as serious moral issues and the promotion 
of interactive strategies tailored towards reducing students’ overreliance on digital technologies for dishonest 
practices.