Academic Integrity

The courage to be honest, respectful, responsible, fair and trustworthy, even when it is difficult to do so.

Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity is “the courage to be honest, respectful, responsible, fair and trustworthy, even when it is difficult to do so”

https://www.academicintegrity.org/fundamental-values/

‘Moral obligation supply chain’

  1. Instructors – Design fair and honest assessments
  2. Students – Fairly and honestly demonstrate learning
  3. Instructors – Fairly and honestly assess student learning
  4. Institution – Certify student’s knowledge and abilities

Students are more likely to cheat when:

  • There are opportunities
  • They are in a heightened state of stress and pressure
  • The class or assessment rewards performance, not mastery
  • The class or assessment reinforces extrinsic, not intrinsic, goals
  • Instruction is (perceived to be) poor
  • When it’s less likely that there will be costs to cheating

Tricia Bertram Gallant (2017) Academic Integrity as a Teaching & Learning Issue: From Theory to Practice, Theory Into Practice, 56:2, 88-94, DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2017.1308173

Use the following three methods to encourage academic integrity in remote and online courses:

  • Inform & Educate
    • Make information about academic integrity useful and easy to find
    • Have students affirm academic integrity
    • Assess students’ understanding of academic integrity
    • Engage students in discussion and reflection about academic integrity
  • Prevent & Protect
    • Make assessment meaningful and authentic to real applications
    • Have formative quizzes / exams as a warm up to summative versions (to develop mastery)
    • In exams, randomize question sequence and question answers
    • Look at CluskeyJr., G.R., Ehlen, C.R., & Raiborn, M.H. (2011). Thwarting online exam cheating without proctor supervision. Journal of Academic and Business Ethics, 4, 1-7. for more
    • Use a similarity-detection tool for any submitted written work
  • Practice & Support
    • Model integrity to your students (inc. citing your sources and thinking about assessment design
    • Follow proper process for reporting academic misconduct

Journal Articles