Academic integrity

Learning lessons and exploring tensions

Erica Morris BA MSc PhD – Academic Lead

• Background and context

• Perspectives

• Embedding policy

• Assessment

• Lessons and tensions

2

Overview

• Student plagiarism ‘as a complex

issue’ (Macdonald and Carroll,

2006)

• Institutional approaches

– Policy, procedures and penalties

– Educating students

– Staff development

– Assessment strategies

– Text-matching tools

• Good practice resources

– ASKe CETL

– Higher Education Academy

– JISC

– Plagiarismadvice.org 3

Background and context

• An interdisciplinary field

– International Journal of Educational

Integrity

– International Plagiarism Conference

• International Centre for Academic

Integrity (ICAI)

• Asia Pacific Forum on Educational

Integrity (ASPFEI)

• Plagiarismadvice.org

• Academy JISC Academic Integrity

Service

4

Background and context

• Initiative funded by the HEA and

JISC (2009-2011)

• Enhance understanding of academic

integrity issues

• Highlight cross disciplinary and

subject-specific issues

• Promote institutional approaches

• Produce guidance

– Synthesising work from last decade

– Recommendations

– Case studies

5

Academic Integrity Service

Perspectives in an emerging field

6

Perspectives

Implications

Research

• Terminology

• Staff and student engagement

• Reviewing policy

• Developing practice

• Incidence of plagiarism

• International students, disciplines

• Process and procedure

• Plagiarism prevention,

avoidance and

minimising risk

• Plagiarism, misconduct

and ‘cheating’

• Case, offence

• Penalty, punishment

• Academic dishonesty

• Code of conduct

• Promoting academic

integrity, culture and

values

• Unacceptable academic

practice

• Good academic practice

• Outcomes

• Academic honesty

Re-thinking terminology

7

‘The Centre for Academic Integrity

(CAI) defines academic integrity as a

commitment, even in the face of

adversity, to five fundamental values:

honesty, trust, fairness, respect,

and responsibility. From these

values flow principles of behavior

that enable academic communities to

translate ideals into action’ (my

emphasis, The Centre for Academic

Integrity, 1999, p4)

8

The concept of academic integrity

• Holistic approach

(Macdonald and Carroll,

2006)

• ‘Robust’ policy and

procedures

• Student and staff

engagement

• Staff development

• Aligning teaching, learning

and assessment strategies

• Enacting policy

– Policy as practice 9

Integrating policy and practice

Connecting policy and practice

10

Culture of academic integrity

Policy

Teaching and learning

strategies

Review of policies and

process

Academic integrity decisions

(Adapted from Bretag et al,

2011; based on East, 2009)

Five core elements

– access – approach

– responsibility – detail

– support

• Changing assessment practices

• Promoting learning, minimising

plagiarism

– Drawing on original scenarios or

case studies

– Linked tasks, with stages and

milestones

– Evidencing process

• Assessment for learning

– Authentic assessments

11

Critical role of assessment

See Bloxham and Boyd (2007); Carroll (2007)

Categorising strategies

What Changing questions, question focus, assessing

process

How Creative posters, in-class activities, annotated

bibliographies

When Linked tasks, care in schedules for assessments

12

Assessment strategies

Hrasky and Kronenberg (2011, pp25-6)

Survey identifying which strategies faculty perceive as effective

• Raising awareness and enhancing

understanding

– Induction opportunities and guidance

– Avoid plagiarism or develop good

academic practice?

– Learning and assessing through

relevant activity in discipline context

‘Every student in [the] study knew that the

plagiarism policy could be found in the

student handbook. However, not 1of the 31

students had read it’ (Power, 2009, p655)

13

Lessons and tensions

• Adopting authentic assessments for

enhancing student employability

• Lack of guidance on acceptable

collaboration and unacceptable collusion

• Student strategies for sharing information

• Promoting dialogue within small group

tutorials

‘Students emphasised the need to learn about

… collusion and plagiarism through actually

completing tasks and getting feedback, rather

than by being handed a booklet about it’

(Sutton and Taylor, 2011, p839)

14

Lessons and tensions

• Implications of perspectives

– Institutional policy and practice

– Framing research

• Policy development frameworks

– Exemplary academic integrity project

(Bretag et al, 2013)

• Evaluating assessment strategies

– Promoting assessment for learning?

• Student learning and collaboration

– Investigate emerging study practices

15

Lessons and tensions

Academic integrity

Learning lessons and exploring tensions

Erica Morris BA MSc PhD – Academic Lead

References

17

Bloxham, S. and Boyd, P. (2007) Developing Effective Assessment in Higher Education: a practical guide. Maidenhead,

UK: Open University Press, McGraw-Hill Education.

Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., James, C., Green, M, East, J., McGowan, U., and Partridge, L. (2011)

Core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy in Australian higher education. International Journal of

Educational Integrity, 7 (2), 3-12.

Hrasky, S. and Kronenberg, D. (2011) Curriculum redesign as a faculty-centred approach to plagiarism

reduction. International Journal of Educational Integrity, 7 (2), 23-36.

East, J. (2009) Aligning policy and practice: An approach to integrating academic integrity. Journal of Academic

Language & Learning, 3 (1), A38-A51.

Macdonald, R. and Carroll, J. (2006) Plagiarism – a complex issue requiring a holistic institutional approach.

Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31 (2), 233-245.

Morris, E. et al (2010) Supporting academic integrity: approaches and resources for higher education. The Academy

JISC Academic Integrity Service, The Higher Education Academy. Available from:

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/academic-integrity

Morris, E. with Carroll, J. (2011) Policy works: recommendations for reviewing policy to manage unacceptable

academic practice in higher education. The Academy JISC Academic Integrity Service, The Higher Education

Academy. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/academic-integrity

Power, L. G. (2009) University Students’ Perceptions of Plagiarism. The Journal of Higher Education, 80 (6), 643-

662.

Sutton, A. and Taylor, D. (2011) Confusion about collusion: working together and academic integrity. Assessment

& Evaluation in Higher Education, 36 (7), 831-841.

The Center for Academic Integrity (1999) The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity. Des Plaines, IL: Office of

College Relations at Oakton Community College. Available from:

http://www.academicintegrity.org/fundamental_values_project/pdf/FVProject.pdf.