Glitches and hitches: sessional academic staff viewpoints on academic integrity and academic misconduct

Universities agree that there is a need to educate students about academic integrity and that the quality of the awards they confer on their students is compromised if students gain credit for work where breaches of academic integrity have been overlooked or not dealt with in a consistent matter. This paper describes how one university developed a new institutional framework and accompanying policy document in order to simplify the processes, ensure that students receive educational assistance when required and respond to the dissatisfaction of academic staff with the existing policy and processes. The context for these changes included perceptions in the press that the number of cases of academic misconduct were increasing and that there is an ever-increasing reliance on electronic sources of information. The development of the institutional framework and the related policy are analysed using a policy cycle model and conclusions are drawn about the success of the policy implementation based on practice aligning with policy.

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Responding to the COVID-19 emergency: student and academic staff perceptions of academic integrity in the transition to online exams at three Australian universities

International Journal for Educational Integrity ◽

10.1007/s40979-021-00075-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alison Reedy ◽

Darius Pfitzner ◽

Laura Rook ◽

Leonie Ellis

Keyword(s):

Academic Integrity ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Online Assessment ◽

Staff Perceptions ◽

Digital World ◽

Inform Decision Making ◽

Australian Universities

AbstractThis paper explores the perceptions of academic staff and students to student cheating behaviours in online exams and other online assessment formats. The research took place at three Australian universities in July and August 2020 during the emergency transition to online learning and assessment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sought to inform decision making about the future of online exams at the participating universities. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using online surveys. The findings of the study led to seven key observations, most notably the need to redefine the characteristics of academic misconduct to account for changes wrought to examinations in a digital world. The study concludes with lessons learned in relation to enhancing academic integrity in digital examinations and assessments.

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Academic Integrity Policies of Publicly Funded Universities in Western Canada

Educational Policy ◽

10.1177/0895904820983032 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 089590482098303

Author(s):

Brenda M. Stoesz ◽

Sarah Elaine Eaton

Keyword(s):

Academic Integrity ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Publicly Funded ◽

Contract Cheating ◽

Canadian Universities ◽

Qualitative Research Design ◽

Core Elements ◽

Support Students ◽

Academic Integrity Policy

We examined 45 academic integrity policy documents from 24 publicly-funded universities in Canada’s four western provinces using a qualitative research design. We extracted data related to 5 core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy (i.e., access, detail, responsibility, approach, support). Most documents pointed to punitive approaches for academic misconduct and were based on the notion that academic misconduct results from a lack of morals. One university used the term “contract cheating,” although nearly all categorized the outsourcing of academic work as plagiarism. Details about educational resources and supports to increase student and staff understanding of academic integrity and prevention of academic misconduct were sparse. This study signals the continuing punitive nature of academic integrity policies in western Canadian universities, the reluctance to address contract cheating directly, and the need to revise policies with deeper consideration of educative approaches to academic integrity that support students and academic staff.

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Persepsi dan Perilaku Mahasiswa Keperawatan tentang Integritas Akademik

Jurnal Pendidikan Kedokteran Indonesia The Indonesian Journal of Medical Education ◽

10.22146/jpki.25106 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 200

Author(s):

Lisa Musharyanti ◽

Gandes Retno Rahayu ◽

Yayi Suryo Prabandari

Keyword(s):

Nursing Students ◽

Academic Integrity ◽

Random Sampling ◽

Deviant Behavior ◽

Clinical Skills ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Nursing School ◽

Professional Behavior ◽

The Subject ◽

And Behavior

Background: Besides knowledge and clinical skills, nursing students should have professional behavior as an essential component of competences as a side of knowledge and clinical skills. One aspect of professionalism is academic integrity. Lecturer should know about students’ perception of academic integrity and behavior, to make a good way to detect and prevent the deviant behavior. The objective of this study is to describe nursing students’ perception and behavior on academic integrity.Method: Survey was conducted in a nursing school in Yogyakarta. The subject were 230 nursing students who were taken by proportionate stratified random sampling. The data were analyzed with descriptive analysis.Results: There were many deviant or unacceptable behaviors which were not considered as an academic misconduct (by 5.2%-61.3% students). Peer students’ percentage who had done an academic misconduct with 10 of the highest percentage was 50%-82.2% and the behavior ever done by students was 28.7%-68.7%. The intention to do the behavior in the future was 3-38.7%.Conclusion: Perceptions of nursing students on academic integrity varied widely. Many of the actual behaviors were not considered as academic misconduct. Nursing students had different opinions about the behavior that violated academic integrity. Students’ perceptions about the behavior and the behavior of a peer friend were in accordance with the students’ own behavior. Therefore, there is a need for a shared perception between institutions and students about behaviors that violate academic integrity.

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Academic integrity in the Muslim world: a conceptual map of challenges of culture

International Journal for Educational Integrity ◽

10.1007/s40979-020-00060-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Akbar Akbar ◽

Michelle Picard

Keyword(s):

International Students ◽

National Culture ◽

Academic Integrity ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Academic Culture ◽

Cultural Factors ◽

Western World ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

National Cultures ◽

Muslim Majority

AbstractThe literature suggests that a whole-institution culture of academic integrity is needed in order to prevent academic integrity breaches. It is also suggested that the national cultures and individual backgrounds of academic staff and students can impact on their propensity to breach academic integrity policies and on their uptake of initiatives aimed at enhancing academic culture. Much research has been conducted on academic integrity related to culture in the western world including the behaviours of international students, and some work has been conducted in various Asian contexts. However, little is known about how national culture and religion affect academic integrity in eastern countries with a Muslim majority. This paper presents a synthesis of the literature related to academic integrity and culture in regions where Muslims are the majority. An integrative literature review was carried out. Keywords were used to search and to collect academic integrity related research published from 2010 to 2020. The literature reviewed revealed that academics in countries with a Muslim majority faced challenges related to their local cultures, which included social and religious perceptions and practices. However, they were also able to draw upon some national and religious practices that supported and enhanced academic integrity. This paper concludes with recommendations for incorporating these positive cultural factors into an academic integrity framework for policy and practice appropriate for Muslim contexts.

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Assessing and Addressing Academic Integrity at a Doctoral Extensive Institution

NASPA Journal ◽

10.2202/0027-6014.1415 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Carrie L Zelna ◽

Marilee J Bresciani

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Academic Integrity ◽

Educational Interventions ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Self Report ◽

Campus Community ◽

Current Trends ◽

Research I Institution ◽

The University

Based on concerns regarding current trends in higher education, one Research I institution set out to measure knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and perceptions related to academic misconduct. Through a self-report survey, trends specific to the universitys community as well as educational interventions were identified to further educate the campus community about academic integrity in order to reduce academic misconduct.

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A Case Study on Research Postgraduate Students’ Understanding of Academic Integrity at a Hong Kong University

Frontiers in Education ◽

10.3389/feduc.2021.647626 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Lau

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Academic Integrity ◽

Mobile Application ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Teaching Skills ◽

Abstract Concepts ◽

Postgraduate Students ◽

Before And After ◽

Fundamental Values

This case study aims to understand how research postgraduate (RPg) students at a Hong Kong university perceive academic integrity before and after participating in the Trail of Integrity and Ethics on the general issues of academic misconduct (TIE-General learning trail), which makes use of Augmented Reality (AR) technology and mobile application to help students acquire abstract concepts (Wong et al., 2018). A total of 33 RPg students, who had completed the mandatory courses on research ethics and teaching skills, successfully completed the TIE-General learning trail. The participants were required to demonstrate their levels of understanding of academic integrity and ethics before and after going through the learning trail. Results of the thematic analysis on the participants’ responses indicated that the RPg students were generally able to show some understanding of the six fundamental values of academic integrity defined by the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), namely honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. Among these six values, the findings suggested that honesty and respect might be the most familiar values to the participants. However, the other four values seemed to be less familiar to them. On top of the above six values, empathy and mindfulness were considered as two other important attributes of academic integrity from the participants’ perspectives. This article analyses the possible impacts of empathy and mindfulness on the academic integrity development of university students.

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Understanding Academic Misconduct

Canadian Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.47678/cjhe.v36i1.183525 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 49-63 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Julia M. Christensen Hughes ◽

Donald L. McCabe

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Academic Integrity ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Educational Opportunities ◽

Assessment Practice ◽

Knowing That ◽

Canadian Higher Education ◽

Institutional Strategies ◽

The University

Research suggests that the majority of U.S. undergraduate students have engaged in some form of misconduct while completing their academic work, despite knowing that such behaviour is ethically or morally wrong. U.S.-based studies have also identified myriad personal and institutional factors associated with academic misconduct. Implicit in some of these factors are several institutional strategies that may be implemented to support academic integrity: revisiting the values and goals of higher education, recommitting to quality in teaching and assessment practice, establishing effective policies and invigilation practices, providing educational opportunities and support for all members of the university community, and using (modified) academic honour codes. There is a dearth of similar research in Canada despite growing recognition that academic misconduct is a problem on Canadian campuses. This paper suggests that Canadian higher education can learn much from the U.S. experience and calls for both a recommitment to academic integrity and research on academic misconduct in Canadian higher education institutions.

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Plagiarism Management: Challenges, Procedure, and Workflow Automation

Interdisciplinary Journal of e-Skills and Lifelong Learning ◽

10.28945/4147 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 159-175 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Angelos Rodafinos

Keyword(s):

Best Practices ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Future Research ◽

Empirical Comparison ◽

Student Misconduct ◽

Workflow Automation ◽

The People ◽

Policies And Procedures

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents some of the issues that academia faces in both the detection of plagiarism and the aftermath. The focus is on the latter, how academics and educational institutions around the world can address the challenges that follow the identification of an incident. The scope is to identify the need for and describe specific strategies to efficiently manage plagiarism incidents. Background: Plagiarism is possibly one of the major academic misconduct offences. Yet, only a portion of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) appear to have well developed policies and procedures aimed at dealing with this issue or to follow these when required. Students who plagiarize and are not caught pose challenges for academia. Students who are caught pose equal challenges. Methodology: Following a literature review that identifies and describes the extent and the seriousness of the problem, procedures and strategies to address the issue are recommended, based on the literature and best practices. Contribution: The paper alerts academics regarding the need for the establishment of rigorous and standardized procedures to address the challenges that follow the identification of a plagiarism incident. It then describes how to streamline the process to improve consistency and reduce the errors and the effort required by academic staff. Recommendations for Practitioners: To ensure that what is expected to happen takes place, HEIs should structure the process of managing suspected plagiarism cases. Operationalization, workflow automation, diagrams that map the processes involved, clear in-formation and examples to support and help academics make informed and consistent decisions, templates to communicate with the offenders, and data-bases to record incidents for future reference are strongly recommended. Future research: This paper provides a good basis for further research that will examine the plagiarism policy, the procedures, and the outcome of employing the procedures within the faculties of a single HEI, or an empirical comparison of these across a group of HEIs. Impact on Society: Considering its potential consequences, educational institutions should strive to prevent, detect, and deter plagiarism – and any type of student misconduct. Inaction can be harmful, as it is likely that some students will not gain the appropriate knowledge that their chosen profession requires, which could put in danger both their wellbeing and the people they will later serve in their careers.

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Punishment or Policy Change: A Case of Plagiarism in a Dissertation

Journal of Educational Research and Practice ◽

10.5590/jerap.2018.08.1.08 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Patricia Deubel

Keyword(s):

Academic Integrity ◽

Doctoral Degree ◽

Academic Misconduct ◽

Legal Issues ◽

Prevention Strategies ◽

Plagiarism Detection ◽

Manual Analysis ◽

The University ◽

Dissertation Committee

This article examines a case of plagiarism in a dissertation, which was found after the doctoral degree had been awarded. Plagiarism detection is discussed in relation to the methodology, which included manual analysis, Google searches, and originality reports from Turnitin. Questions on the role of the dissertation committee, processes used to complete the dissertation, and consequences of plagiarism are addressed, as well as factors influencing a decision to report the case. Procedures for reporting plagiarism allegations and those the university used to investigate are included. Because this case illustrates that revoking a degree is not necessarily a sanction when plagiarism is proven, the article delves into legal issues surrounding policies for adjudicating allegations of academic misconduct and revoking degrees. Plagiarism prevention strategies are provided to illustrate the joint responsibility of a university, faculty, and students to prevent cases such as this one from ever happening. Universities are prompted to examine and uphold existing academic integrity and plagiarism policies and to develop appropriate policies for dealing with plagiarism if they do not exist.

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