Simple Methods for Maintaining Academic Integrity

Maintaining academic integrity in higher education can seem challenging whether your course is in-person, online, or hybrid, especially for new instructors. However, some simple strategies promote academic integrity and understanding in your class and encourage students to conduct themselves with honesty.

What is Academic Integrity?

Academic integrity refers to a collection of ideals that support academic progress and fidelity in higher education. For both students and researchers, it refers to producing your own work without plagiarizing others, violating copyright and privacy laws, and acknowledging where your information comes from by properly citing sources. Where original research is involved, this also means using ethical practices, including accurate and honest reporting of your findings.

Since you cannot ensure other professors have introduced the concept of academic integrity as part of their courses, make sure you cover the definition in the first week of your class. Using academic integrity and misconduct examples that are relevant to your students and field can help them understand how the concept applies to them and how it can impact them during graduate studies or their careers.

Motivations for Academic Misconduct

Understanding why students engage in academic misconduct can help you structure your course and how you approach students to avoid issues altogether. Below are a few of the chief reasons academic integrity falls by the wayside during the semester:

Lack of understanding

Students who don’t understand the concept of academic integrity and the consequences of misconduct can unknowingly engage in dishonest practices. You can avoid this by reviewing the definition of academic integrity and misconduct at the beginning of the semester.

Desperation for good grades

Many students receive a great deal of pressure from parents and peers to excel academically, and that pressure can drive them to cheat and plagiarize. This is exacerbated by being unavailable for students to ask questions, so make sure you have open lines of communication with students.

Time constraints

Now more than ever, students are taking on extra responsibilities. Whether that means overcommitting to extracurricular activities or taking on extra jobs to pay for school and other expenses, they may find themselves unable to schedule study and work time. Sticking to the syllabus and making any rescheduling clear and available to students can help them plan and avoid poor decisions made in panic.

Life stressors

Students are not exempt from the stresses of life. You may not see a student struggling with their emotional or mental health, but that doesn’t mean it’s not impacting their work. Family issues, health, and personal experiences can affect a student’s performance. Allowing students to ask for extensions when they cannot execute academically can enable them to perform at their best level at a later date.

 

How to Maintain Academic Integrity

By employing several technical and empathetic strategies, you can help guide students away from academic misconduct and encourage honest behavior in your course. These steps are flexible and can be employed in in-person and remote learning courses.

Educate students on academic integrity and misconduct

Reviewing the definition of academic integrity and misconduct is a simple way to introduce students to the concept and ensure they’ve been presented with the information. Review these definitions during the first week of class and ensure they are accessible as part of your syllabus or in a public place for your online course.

Ensure students are familiar with your institution’s misconduct and dishonesty policies and consequences

Every institution has policies for academic misconduct and dishonesty. While it may be tempting to skip reviewing them during the first week of class (as they’re generally required in all syllabuses), your only way to ensure students have reviewed these policies is to build them into your curriculum.

Have transparency about plagiarism checks

While it may seem like a threat to some, ensure your students know all online submissions will be subject to plagiarism checks. This discourages dishonesty and encourages students to check their papers for plagiarism before submission.

“During the first week of class, I always show an example of the plagiarism check on the teacher’s side of our LMS,” explains a former University of Tampa professor. “It shows my students what gets flagged as plagiarism and what doesn’t. Then, I introduce them to some free plagiarism checkers. After that, we immediately review proper citations, so they know how to source and use information ethically.”

Have clear, written expectations for all assignments and assessments

This can include noting whether an exam is open book/note or not, providing citation examples and resources, and explaining guidelines for assessments. In the event of an academic integrity issue, having written expectations ensures you have something to refer to and that your bases are covered.

Avoid memory-based assessments

Depending on your field and the requirements of your course, you may be able to avoid memory-based assessments altogether. However, allowing for open book assessments or longer-term projects will enable students to demonstrate their knowledge without the pressure of trying to memorize a set of textbook chapters for an exam.

 

The best way to ensure your students maintain academic integrity and avoid cheating and plagiarism issues is to make sure they understand the definition of academic integrity and the consequences of misconduct at your institution. Give students the opportunity to excel without high-pressure assessments wherever possible, and approach extensions and student needs with compassion and empathy. Using these strategies, you can help maintain the integrity of your course and encourage students to perform at their highest level.