Academic Integrity & Academic Dishonesty

Academic Integrity & Academic Dishonesty

CLAS Student Advisory Committee Views

9-30-10

Questions Prepared for Discussion

1.How serious of a problem do you think academic dishonesty is at GVSU? Why do you think this?

2.What do you consider to be some (3-5) of the most serious violations of academic dishonesty that occur at GVSU?

3.What do you consider to be some (3-5) of the least serious violations of academic dishonesty that occur at GVSU?

4.Under what conditions do you think academic dishonesty is justifiable?

5.What methods do students at GVSU use to engage in academic dishonesty?

6.Are you aware of instances of academic dishonesty that have occurred at GVSU and how faculty have dealt with these instances? If so, how do you feel about how faculty have dealt with instances of academic dishonesty?

7.How have faculty effectively encouraged academic integrity in courses at GVSU?

8.What could be done to better promote a climate of academic integrity at GVSU?

Areas Where Aware of Academic Dishonesty Occurring & Suggestions for How to Address

1.Plagiarism – intentional and unintentional, on papers

a.Faculty should take time in classes at all levels to address how to properly cite work.

b.Faculty at all levels and in all disciplines should encourage students to take advantage of the Writing Center. The Writing Center is often erroneously viewed as a remedial source.

c.Overall faculty should have zero tolerance for plagiarism but may need to treat unintentional plagiarism differently than intentional plagiarism.

d.Faculty need to explicitly address the expectation for academic integrity at the beginning of the course and emphasize its importance rather than simply telling students to read a statement in the course syllabus.

e.Faculty should require all papers to be submitted on-line and tell students beforehand the maximum percentage of computer identified plagiarized content that is acceptable.

2.Exams & Testing

a.Faculty should actively proctor exams.

b.Faculty should give two or more versions of a test and mix the order of questions on tests.

c.Faculty should use more short answer essay than multiple choice questions on exams.

3.Working with Others (Group Work)

a.When students are given an out-of-class assignment, quiz, test, students think faculty realize they will work with others even though the faculty member asked them to work alone on the task.

b.Students pass lab notes and class notes from one class to another so others do not need to attend lab/class and do the required work.

c.It is difficult to police that all contributed equally to a project or assignment that required group work.

d.The Wiki program on Blackboard could be used by faculty to monitor group members’ work on projects.

e.Faculty should help students understand the purpose of required group work –whether it is for helping students learn to work in a group or whether it is for accomplishing a project.