Turning the Academic Integrity Frown Upside Down: How to Design a Collaborative Process Aimed at Student Success
Concurrent Session 6
Brief Abstract
The challenges of detecting and managing academic integrity violations (AIVs) are constantly evolving especially in online education. This interactive workshop will offer a tool-kit with scalable options for systematically managing student AIVs. Our research reveals how AIV detection can be used for targeted intervention leading to increased student success.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
Handling academic integrity violations (AIV) in higher education can be a frustrating task for faculty or administrators and is generally unpleasant for students as well. Despite our best efforts of including lengthy AIV policy statements in handbooks and syllabi there is a great deal of subjectivity and possible inconsistency when it comes to determining what constitutes an academic integrity violation (AIV) and how to handle it. To further complicate an already complex situation, we have seen a significant increase in online course offerings. The surge of online learning brings new challenges as well as new opportunities. Students who intentionally cheat are finding creative ways to do so that evade plagiarism software. Students who did not intend to plagiarize can feel ashamed and confused. Without a framework for everyone to work within, faculty and administrators can feel frustrated by a lack of comprehensive information about the student. Feeling overwhelmed by all of this? Fear not – help has arrived.
This interactive session will begin with student AIV vignettes to walk through the AIV process and help the attendee build a tool kit of scalable takeaways to implement in a course, program, department, college or institution. We will address definitions of academic integrity and discussing the importance of building a culture of academic integrity that places value on student learning even in the context of violations. Different methods for detecting AIV will be demonstrated, including text-matching software, free on-line services, and manual methods. Heads up: in this session we have several AIV examples that have evaded even the best text-matching software. Once we show you these workarounds you will begin to understand how to watch out for them. We will offer ideas for establishing academic integrity committees to review violation claims, taking the onus off of the faculty and giving the student an opportunity to provide a response. Standards for evaluating the claims and assigning penalties when necessary will be discussed. We also offer suggestions for remediation, an chance for students to revisit the principles of academic integrity based on the notion that an AIV can be a learning opportunity, increasing the odds that students will retain and complete their program.
Beyond managing AIVs, there is a lot we can learn from these violations collectively. We will present findings from our research using a database of over 3,000 AIV claims spanning a 5-year period. These data allow us to explore correlations including the number of violations a student has and outcome decisions, similarity scores, and success in their program. We can also run predictive analyses pointing to relationships between AIV, GPA, at-risk, status, and student attrition or success. When we examine different types of violations we are able to understand where we can best direct our intervention resources. The same goes for listening to student voices, when we include student response in the AIV review process we learn from their perspective where we may potentially be able to provide additional supports to prevent future violations and promote student success.
The issue of AIVs in online education is more pertinent than ever after the rapid growth of online courses resulting from safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As students and universities have attempted to acclimate to the online environment some contend that there is a higher likelihood of plagiarism or cheating in an online course. However, technology also provides an increased ability to detect and intervene when AIVs inevitably occur. The use of technology in the learning process has largely been feared because there are many unknowns. This fear has infiltrated the online learning world where technology is front and center and is often used to create misconceptions that technology advancements with lessened oversight will lead to increased rates of academic integrity. However, it has been found that academic dishonesty rates are in line with and, in some cases, even less than that of the traditional or brick and mortar learning environment. It is because of these misconceptions that we started asking ourselves the question, are our practices fear or strengths-based? We answer that questions in this session by highlighting how to leverage technology to enhance learning around academic integrity issues rather than punish.
Educators and administrators need tools and strategies in place to appropriately address AIVs. It is beneficial to all stakeholders within an institution to learn and enact best practices for not only identifying academic integrity violations but addressing them in an impactful and growth-oriented manner. Students’ experiences during their program of study will contribute to their professional identity and work when they enter the ‘real world,’ therefore their educational experiences should reflect a scaffolding of support around learning to write and present professionally. The systemic emphasis of this workshop will push educators and educational institutions to evaluate how they perceive and intervene in the academic integrity process.
Plan for Interactivity
This engaging session will implement several strategies that will encourage participants to interact with the material, presenters, and peers. As with all learning and training, we want the audience to be active participants in the learning process to the extent they wish to or are able. The presenters will use creative and brief PowerPoint slides to guide the conversation and formulate large group discussions. The emphasis will be on generating a learning environment where audience members are involved frequently. In addition, the presenters will provide a one-page cheat sheet which can be obtained by the audience through the conference website that highlights the main takeaways of the session.
Attendees will be asked to engage in small group discussions where they will apply the materials to their own contexts. Breakout groups will be brief with the intention of provoking social learning across all in attendance. It is recommended that attendees interact with one another in order to promote their understanding of the materials. The goal is to take advantage of the diverse wealth of knowledge and experiences present in the room.
The presenters will utilize academic integrity vignettes and real-world examples to highlight the importance of systematic processes aimed at addressing the complex nature of these issues. The vignettes will garner feedback from the larger audience to elicit strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing the learning of the student and supporting the faculty simultaneously. Furthermore, we will use real-time polling to interact with the audience. Real-time polling will allow us to understand how the audience is thinking about the topics being presented and influence which paths to take them down. Salzer (2018) identified that active learning is the optimal way to engage learners in an educational atmosphere as they interact directly with the material rather than being a passive attendee.
Session Takeaways
Attendees will leave this presentation with three key takeaways related to designing academic integrity strategies aimed at advancing the education of the student.
- How to build a systematic and systemic academic integrity process that supports students, faculty, and the university.
- Treating academic integrity as a learning opportunity versus strictly a punitive approach may lead to better student outcomes such as persistence, retention and completion.
- Creating innovative interventions and leveraging existing resources to build out a comprehensive tool-kit that promotes student learning and faculty support.