Institute of Education

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IOE Student among Winners of HSE’s Academicus Modus Research Competition

A student team led by Evgeniia Shmeleva, a doctoral hopeful at the HSE Institute of Education, has claimed the victory in this year’s ‘Academicus Modus’ competition of student research papers. The project entitled ‘Control or trust: dishonest online behaviour,’ which is supervised by Evgeniia, seeks to explore possible triggers of peer pressure in online learning, the circumstances that lead to dishonest behavior online, and the role of physical presence in dishonesty.

HSE has been organizing the student research paper competition for many years. This time, its winners had the opportunity to participate in Academicus Modus, an extramural school which took place in March in Voronovo in the Moscow region. Here, students were able to develop their academic skills, talk to scholars and editors of academic journals, and work on team projects, the best of which were awarded grants by HSE. One of the main requirements for the project was interdisciplinarity.

Four projects were selected as finalists at Academicus Modus. This included projects examining internet metaphors, the future of professions, artificial intelligence, and online learning. A presentation of each project then took place at Shukhov Lab. The project entitled ‘Control or trust: dishonest online behaviour’ by a team supervised by Evgeniia Shmeleva, postgraduate student at HSE’s Institute of Education, was announced the overall winner. 

According to Evgeniia, the project focuses on online students’ behavior. ‘Our team discussed possible mechanisms which trigger peer pressure in online learning, the circumstances that lead to dishonest behavior online, and the role of physical presence in dishonesty: is it easier to cheat on an online platform than it is to cheat in the presence of a real teacher?’, she explained.

The authors received a year-long grant of 300,000 rubles. The jury also awarded a second prize (100,000 rubles) to another interesting project which examines internet metaphors. Here, researchers look at how the perception of the internet impacts the authorities’ policies regarding various online resources.

The results of the projects should be presented within the coming year and are set to become the basis for papers which will eventually be published in academic journals.

One of the competition goals is to attract students into academia. With this purpose in mind, HSE has founded the ΧΣΕ (ChiSigmaEpsilon) Research Club to bring together students involved in research. According to its organizer Valeria Utkina, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Public and Local Service, the Club is going to organize schools, mini courses, workshops, and competitions, as well as create teaching and learning aids, provide consultation for academic work, and support student participation in research projects. The Research Club will also help the participants of the two teams that made it to the finals of Academicus Modus but didn’t win, to complete their research.