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It seems that cheating and plagiarism is still on the minds of many educators. I have rarely had this issue with students (at least to my knowledge). There was the time when I assigned a book review, and received one that had been “lifted” from Amazon.com. That experience taught me a lot about how some students understand academic integrity particularly with regards to the use of digital content resources. Here are a few ideas for managing academic integrity concerns, sorted into three categories: general class management, refocusing student work, and using quizzes and exams.
General class management
- Reference the university’s policies (as well as your own policies) on academic integrity, and clearly state the ramifications of not following these policies. However, do so in a way that doesn’t read as if you already assume students will not uphold academic integrity — for example:
I will adhere to the policies published by the University with respect to academic integrity: “The students, faculty, administrators, and staff of the University are committed to a culture of honesty in which members of the community accept responsibility to uphold academic integrity in all they say, write, and create.” I recommend you familiarize yourself with these policies. You will find them in the catalog under Academic Policies and Regulations. You will find it very helpful to understand what the University means by academic integrity, and conduct yourself accordingly. More information is available from Student Judicial Affairs. When in doubt, please contact me — I am happy to help you process these policies in the context of your own learning experience.
- If you suspect plagiarism, look carefully at the paper and gently confront the student with your concerns. Sometimes, the student may not realize the infraction, and needs some instruction on the topic (see next bullet).
- Provide students with some instruction on how to uphold academic integrity and avoid cheating and plagiarism. If your institution uses a plagiarism-detection service such as Turnitin, show students how to use it themselves. Besides the instructional benefit for students, they will realize that you know how to detect problems and will be less likely to cheat or plagiarize. Plagiarism.org — an informational blog sponsored by Turnitin — provides access to helpful materials for instructing students on this topic.
Refocusing student work
- Use a variety of assessments throughout course – projects, quizzes, papers, products, and so on.
- If using papers or reports, focus on the process of writing. Require a project/paper proposal, an annotated bibliography, an outline, an abstract, drafts, and so on.
- Avoid “choose any topic” papers. Tie the topic to the goals of the course.
- Require students to use material from class lectures, presentations, discussions, and other class activities in their graded assignments.
- Require students to use original data/information in their papers/reports. For example, have them conduct an original survey or interview as part of the assignment. The survey or transcripts of the interview are included as an appendix.
- Require a description of the project/research process with the final draft.
- Get to know your students. Require a writing sample during the first week of class. Have the students do this in their “best written style” and make it personalized and customized to them. Keep these samples on record for comparison purposes as the semester progresses.
Using quizzes and exams
- Use problems and case studies rather than questions that require memorization only.
- Change quiz and exam questions each semester.
- Give different questions to different students.
- Limit the amount of time the test is available.
- Use proctored exams.
- Follow-up exams with random synchronous discussions with individual students to verify their understanding of the content.
- Consider using quizzes and exams for student self-assessment purposes instead of points towards final grade.
What strategies have you used to better support students in the area of academic integrity? Please share your strategies here. 🙂