This resource is a part of the TLEF-funded project, “Our Cheating Hearts?: Changing the Conversation through Academic Integrity Curriculum in First-Year Programs,” led by Dr. Laurie McNeill (FYP/ENGL), that began in the fall of 2017. The project has been guided by the following goals:
- To shift from a focus on academic misconduct to academic integrity, and changing our language to suit;
- To identify the particular areas of ethical research that students find most challenging in first-year writing courses; and
- To developing explicit integrity curriculum–what we have called ‘pedagogies of integrity‘ in our courses that extended current course content.
In the past year, faculty members on the project’s original working group have worked to develop the materials you see here on this site. As we’re still in evaluation for this project, we welcome (and will likely ask for!) your feedback on your experiences in implementing this curriculum.
|
All of the resources are under Creative Commons License, Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0.
These materials were designed for you to adopt and adapt. In the spirit of academic integrity, we would appreciate that you acknowledge the original contributors in some way (e.g., this exercise has been adapted from XXXX).
In this section, we provide questions you can use as you design your course, to think about when academic integrity should be part of the conversation, how it should be framed, and why it will matter to students.
Classroom Practices of Academic Integrity
- Where and when in your course do you talk about the expectations for ethical research? Are there times for students to ask questions and confirm their understanding of these expectations?
- What language or terminology do you use when you talk about ethical research
- At what points in your course do you anticipate students having questions about ethical research practices? How could the course make explicit space for such questions throughout the semester, so that students know it’s OK not to know and to ask?
- How do you set out expectations about academic integrity in the context of your assignments, when students will be engaging in their own research practices? How do you imagine students’ understanding of these expectations? What resources (e.g., links to citation &/or library sites) do you provide to help them?
- Are there certain situations in your course that might create particular challenges for students in understanding the expectations of ethical research practices and how to meet them (e.g., a group project, an online quiz)? How might you facilitate conversations about academic integrity in these situations to set expectations and brainstorm ways to meet them?
Promoting Disciplinary and Departmental Practices of Academic Integrity
- Does your department have its own policy, statement, resource page (etc.) about academic integrity? How does your course connect explicitly to such materials
- What does academic integrity look like in the discipline(s) of your department or faculty? In other words, what do researchers in this/these fields have to consider as part of their particular research ethics (e.g., research on human subjects, collaborations with community partners, etc.)?
- What does academic integrity look like in the classrooms of your department/Faculty? In other words, what teaching and learning activities will ask students, in the context of your discipline(s), to apply their understanding of ethical research, e.g, writing papers, doing group projects, sitting exams, submitting online work . . .?
Promoting Conceptual Understandings of Academic Integrity: (More) Questions for Class Discussion
- What is the “consequence of error” for researchers in your discipline(s), if they do not uphold the expectations of ethical research? What harms might be done, and to whom?
- What harms are done by student violations of academic integrity, in your course, in your department/Faculty, and at the university as a whole? To whom?
Questions developed by Dr. Laurie McNeill
The following are examples of how to introduce and reinforce academic integrity as a core value of your course and the scholarly community more broadly, and how to invite students to take up ethical research practices (vs. how to avoid cheating).
Sample Learning Outcomes
Author: Dr. Moberley Luger
Learning Outcomes By the end of this course students will have a clear understanding of academic integrity. That is, as they undertake the process of creating new knowledge, they will know how to cite sources honestly, ethically, and transparently. They will clearly understand and acknowledge the ideas that are theirs and not theirs, and make that difference clear to their readers. Students will contribute to the larger research community as they create connections among researchers and themselves, and protect the ideas of others and of ourselves.
For course objectives and learning outcomes, another option is to conduct the definition exercise with students and create that learning objective together as a class definition
Sample Evaluation Criteria – Academic Integrity
Author: Dr. Laurie McNeill
- [The submitted work] Clearly and accurately represents and cites its sources in ways consistent with the ethnical production of knowledge and research; citations & Works Cited are in correct [MLA, APA, etc.] style
- Academic integrity: use of citation, links, and/or reporting expression to clearly attribute ideas; citations & Works Cited are in correct MLA style; images and other media are captioned / properly attributed.
Sample Syllabus Statement on Academic Integrity
Author: Dr. Laurie McNeill
Syllabus Statement on Academic Integrity: We – me, [ASRW/CAP/Arts One], UBC and the scholarly community at large – share an understanding of the ethical ways that we use to produce knowledge. A core practice of this shared value of academic integrity is that we acknowledge the contributions of others to our own work, but it also means we produce our own contributions that add to the scholarly conversation: we don’t buy or copy papers or exams, or have someone else edit them. We also don’t falsify data or sources, or hand in the same work in more than one course.
Because it is so important that research be done ethically, I expect [name of course] students to meet these expectations. Any instance of cheating or taking credit for someone else’s work, whether intentionally or unintentionally, can and often will result in at minimum a grade of zero for the assignment, and these cases will be reported to the First-Year Programs Chair, and the Faculty of Arts Associate Dean, Academic. See the UBC Calendar entries on “Academic Honesty,” “Academic Misconduct,” and “Disciplinary Measures,” and check out the Student Declaration and Responsibility. See “Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism” from the Chapman Learning Commons, and bookmark the OWL website for how to use MLA citation style.
In this section, you will find examples of teaching and learning activities our instructors have developed that will enable you to engage students in learning about and applying the principles and practices of academic integrity. Some activities introduce the concept of ethical research more broadly, while others focus on specific practices of academic integrity, such as paraphrasing, that our instructors have noted that students find particularly challenging.
- Fostering Academic Integrity in Online Learning Environment (.pdf)
- comPAIR Scholarly Paraphrase (.docx)
- Apposition & Definition Workshop(.docx)
- Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality : Two Accounts (.docx)
- Orchestrating, Spot the Host (.docx)
- Orchestrating voices (.docx)
- Academic Integrity Quiz (.pptx)
- Defining Academic Integrity (.docx)
- Intro to Academic Integrity Slides and Brainstorm Activity (.pptx)
- Patchwriting Definition (.docx)
- Structuring Academic Integrity into Assessments (.pdf)
The “Introduction to Academic Integrity” Canvas module discusses academic integrity in the context of why it matters — as a core element of how we as scholars and professionals do our work (and live our professional lives) at UBC and beyond. The module features 4 videos with UBC faculty, librarians, and students (see 1 example below), as well as pre- and post-reflection questions for students, and takes no more than 30 minutes to complete. Once they submit their responses, students can download a certificate of completion.
The module is open to all UBC students, and all instructors can use it in their courses by sharing the link with their classes. (Instructors can review the module by enrolling in the course.)
Use this direct link: https://canvas.ubc.ca/enroll/8NTBXX
Our instructors have developed introductory resources that help students apply the principles and practices of academic integrity in their own work.
If you have questions, feedback, or suggestions about our materials or the Cheating Hearts project, please contact Dr. Laurie McNeill.
