7 Promoting Academic Integrity in Your Teaching

 

Why Does it Matter?

Academic integrity is foundational to the credibility of educational qualifications and the ethical development of students. Upholding these principles ensures that students’ work is genuinely reflective of their abilities and learning. It also prepares students for ethical behaviour in their professional lives. By supporting academic integrity, educators play a pivotal role in developing an environment where honesty and fairness are valued and upheld.

What does it look like in practice?

Academic integrity refers to the ethical standards and honesty expected in academic work. It encompasses principles such as honesty, trust, fairness, respect, courage and responsibility (ICAI, 2021). These principles are fundamental to maintaining the credibility and reputation of educational institutions. Common forms of academic misconduct include plagiarism, cheating, collusion, misuse of technology and fabrication of data. Each institution will have its specific definitions and examples of what constitutes a breach of academic integrity, so it is important that you become familiar with principles and practices that are relevant to your teaching context.

In this section:

• Recognise Your Individual Responsibilities
• Understand Institutional Policies
• Know Available Student Support Services
• Support Student Understanding of Academic Integrity

Recognise Your Individual Responsibilities

Understanding and upholding your responsibilities academic integrity as an educator critical for preserving the scholarly foundation and reputation of your institution. These responsibilities can vary depending on your role within the institution. Here, we focus on the common duties of educators who are primarily involved in teaching rather than course design. Some of these duties are to:

• Educate Students About Academic Integrity: One of the primary responsibilities is to ensure that both you and your students understand what academic integrity means. This includes talking about the why honesty in academic work matters, not just about getting into trouble but that it helps them learn and grow. Also discuss the potential consequences of misconduct. You should integrate discussions about academic integrity into your teaching, particularly at the beginning of the course and before major assessments to remind them of the expectations. See below for more on this point.
• Provide Clear Guidelines: Clearly communicate your expectations regarding academic integrity. This can be done through the course outline, assignment instructions, as well as verbal reminders. Explain how to properly reference other people’s work, what counts as plagiarism and when it is okay to work together versus when they need to work alone. If something seems obvious to you, it may not be obvious to the students.
• Monitor for Misconduct:  Stay alert for signs of potential breaches of academic integrity. This might be writing that suddenly sounds very different to their usual style, work that is very advanced, or topics that are not covered in the course. Use tools such as plagiarism detection software to assist with highlighting possible issues student work. Make sure you fully understand these tools’ capabilities and limitations, as their results are only valid when they are interpreted appropriately by knowledgeable users.
• Report Suspected Breaches: If you suspect a breach of academic integrity, it is your responsibility to follow the institution’s procedures for reporting it. This typically involves gathering and documenting evidence and submitting a report to the appropriate person, such as a central academic team or a faculty lead. This is not about getting students into trouble, it is about maintaining fairness for everyone.
• Seek Support:  If you are unsure, know where to find help if you encounter challenges related to academic integrity. Most institutions have dedicated academic integrity officers or support staff who can provide guidance. Additionally, attend training sessions and workshops on academic integrity these can provide insight into effectively managing the issues.

To be able to perform these duties, you will need to have a good understanding of Institutional Policies and Procedures around Academic Integrity; awareness of support services that are available to you and your students; and strategies to support academic integrity in your teaching.

Understand Institutional Policies and Procedures

Familiarise yourself with your institution’s academic integrity policies. This is essential to effectively support and promote ethical behaviour among students and ensure fairness and consistency. Institutions will generally have comprehensive policies detailing the expectations and processes related to academic integrity. These documents typically outline the definitions of academic integrity, principles of academic integrity, acceptable practices, and procedures for handling breaches, including:

• Expectations for Students and Staff: Clear guidelines on what is expected of students and staff concerning academic integrity.
• Reporting Procedures: Steps to follow when a breach is suspected, including how to gather information and report the incident.
• Consequences and Outcomes: Potential penalties for confirmed breaches, which can range from warnings to expulsion, depending on the severity of the misconduct.
• Appeal Processes: Procedures and circumstances for students to appeal decisions or penalties related to academic integrity breaches.

In the Australian context, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) plays a crucial role in maintaining academic integrity across higher education institutions and offers resources to support educators in this area. The Higher Education Standards Framework requires institutions to have mechanisms in place to promote and uphold academic integrity. These include:

• Policy Development: Institutions must develop and implement policies and procedures that define academic integrity and outline the management of academic misconduct (5.2.1).
• Education and Training: Providing education and training for both students and staff on academic integrity principles and practices and what constitutes a breach of academic misconduct (5.2.3).
• Detection and Management: Implementing systems to detect and manage academic misconduct, ensuring consistent and fair handling of breaches (6.2.1(j)).
• Reporting: Regularly reviewing and reporting on academic integrity breaches and the effectiveness of policies and procedures (6.2.2 (d).

If you teach in an Australian institution, understanding TEQSA requirements helps ensure that your practices align with national standards and contribute to the broader effort to uphold academic integrity within the Australian higher education sector.

Know Available Student Support Services

Understanding the support services available to students at your institution is an important aspect of your teaching, as discussed in Navigating Your First Teaching Role. These services provide resources that help students develop the skills necessary to uphold academic integrity as they balance personal and academic challenges they may face. Services that may be offered by your institution include the following:

Academic Skills Support

Most institutions offer a range of services aimed at improving students’ academic skills, which are essential for maintaining academic integrity. These services often include:

• Student Learning or Writing Centres: Student Learning or Writing centres provide one-on-one tutoring and workshops focused on various aspects of academic learning and writing, including structuring essays, developing arguments, and proper referencing. Students can receive personalised feedback on their work, helping them avoid unintentional plagiarism.
• Library Services: University libraries often offer resources and training on research skills, including how to find reliable sources and properly cite them. Librarians can assist students in navigating databases and using reference management tools like EndNote or Zotero.
• Online Resources: Many institutions provide online modules and tutorials on academic skills, often through their Libraries. These resources are accessible anytime and cover topics such as paraphrasing, summarising, and avoiding plagiarism.

Academic Integrity Education

In addition to general academic skills support, institutions often have specific resources dedicated to educating students about academic integrity. These can include:

• Workshops and Seminars: Regularly scheduled workshops that focus on academic integrity principles, such as understanding plagiarism, proper citation practices, and ethical collaboration. These sessions can be particularly beneficial at the start of the academic year or before major assessment periods.
• Online Modules: Interactive online modules that educate students on the importance of academic integrity and how to uphold it. These modules often include quizzes and scenarios that help students apply their knowledge in practical contexts.
• Declaration on originality: Some institutions encourage students to confirm that the work is their own at the beginning of their studies or whenever they submit an assessment for grading. This declaration confirms that the student agrees to uphold the principles of academic integrity throughout their educational journey.

Support for ESL Students

Students for whom English is a second language (ESL) may face additional challenges in understanding and adhering to academic integrity standards. Institutions often provide tailored support for these students, such as:

• Language Support Programs: These programs offer specialised workshops and tutoring to help ESL students improve their academic English skills, including reading, writing, and understanding academic conventions.
• Peer Mentoring: Peer mentoring programs pair ESL students with more experienced students who can provide guidance on navigating the academic expectations of the institution.

Counselling and Wellbeing Services

Stress, time management issues, and personal problems can sometimes lead students to feeling overwhelmed, which may result in academic misconduct as a coping mechanism. And when students are reported for an academic breach, this is also a stressful time. To address these underlying issues, many institutions offer counselling and wellbeing services. These services can include:

• Counselling Services: Professional counsellors provide confidential support to students dealing with stress, anxiety, or other personal issues that may impact their academic performance.
• Workshops on Time Management and Study Skills: Workshops that teach effective time management, study strategies, and stress reduction techniques can help students manage their workload more effectively and reduce the temptation to procrastinate and engage in misconduct practices to meet impeding deadlines.

Referring Students to Relevant Services

As an educator, it is important that you know how to refer students to these support services. Here are some steps you can take:

• Provide Information Early: Include information about available support services in your course outline and discuss these resources during your first lecture. Ensure students know where to find help if they need it.
• Regular Reminders: Periodically throughout the semester, remind students about the various support services, particularly before major assessments.
• Individual Referrals: If a student is struggling, consider making a personal referral to a specific service. For example, you might suggest a student visit academic support services provided by your institution, if you notice repeated issues with referencing or paraphrasing in their work.
• Collaborate with Support Staff: Connect with staff in the student learning centre, library, and counselling services. They can provide valuable insights and assistance in supporting your students.

Support Students’ Understanding of Academic Integrity

Supporting students’ understanding of academic integrity involves clear communication, practical guidance, and ongoing reinforcement. As an educator, you play a critical role in helping students grasp the importance of academic integrity and how to apply it in their work. Here are some strategies to effectively support your students in this area.

Integrate Academic Integrity into Your Teaching

• Early and Consistent Messaging: Begin discussing academic integrity from the first day of class. Include statements about academic integrity in your course outline and review these policies during your introductory lecture. Reinforce these messages regularly throughout the course, especially before major assessments or exams.
• Explicit Instruction: Provide explicit instruction on what constitutes academic integrity and academic misconduct. Explain terms like plagiarism, collusion, and fabrication, misuse of artificial intelligence and give concrete examples relevant to your discipline. Use real-life scenarios or case studies to illustrate these concepts and engage students in discussions about ethical decision-making.
• Resource Sharing: Share resources that can help students understand and adhere to academic integrity standards. This could include links to your institution’s academic integrity policy, guides on proper citation practices, and tools for managing references.

Contextualise Academic Integrity within Assessments

• Assessment-Specific Guidance: Tailor your discussions of academic integrity to the types of assessments in your course. For example, if your course involves essay writing, focus on proper citation techniques, paraphrasing, and summarising. If your course includes group projects, discuss the meaning and importance of individual contributions and collusion.
• Assessment Design: Careful assessment design can help promote academic integrity and minimise the risk of misconduct. For a detailed discussion on this topic, refer to the separate Chapter, Assessment Design for Academic Integrity.
• Ethical Practice in Professional Contexts: Emphasise the relevance of academic integrity beyond the classroom. Discuss how ethical behaviour in academic work translates to professional integrity in students’ future careers. Highlight the potential consequences of unethical behaviour in their chosen fields and the value of maintaining a reputation for honesty and reliability.

Scaffold Students’ Academic Skills

• Skill Development Workshops: Advertise workshops on academic skills offered by your institution and encourage students to attend them. These workshops can cover topics like effective research strategies, time management, and writing techniques, all of which contribute to better academic integrity practices.
• Provide Examples and Templates: Offer students examples of properly cited work and templates for common assignments. This can serve as a reference point and help them understand the expectations for academic writing. Annotated examples showing both correct and incorrect citation practices can be particularly instructive.
• Practice Opportunities: Create opportunities for students to practice applying academic integrity principles in low-stakes settings. For example, assign short practice essays or quizzes on citation rules early in the semester. Provide feedback on these practice tasks to help students improve before they tackle higher-stakes assessments.

Build an environment of Integrity

• Positive Reinforcement: Recognise and reward students who demonstrate a commitment to academic integrity. This could involve verbal praise, positive feedback on assignments, or even small incentives. Highlighting good examples can motivate other students to uphold similar standards.
• Open Dialogue: Encourage an open dialogue about academic integrity. Create a classroom environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and discussing challenges they face in maintaining academic integrity. Address any misconceptions or concerns promptly and thoughtfully.
• Role Modelling: Lead by example by demonstrating integrity in your teaching and interactions with students. Show transparency in your grading practices, acknowledge sources in your lectures, and handle suspected breaches of integrity with fairness and consistency.

Knowledge Check – What Did You Learn?

What Does it All Mean for Me?

Reflect on how you currently address academic integrity in your courses:

• Consider any gaps in your knowledge of institutional policies or available support services.
• Develop a plan to integrate discussions of academic integrity into your teaching, tailored to the types of assessments in your courses.
• Identify any additional support or training you might need to enhance your effectiveness in this area.

References

Bretag, T. (2019). Handbook of Academic Integrity. Springer.

Carroll, J. (2014). Academic Integrity: A Handbook for Educators. Routledge.

International Centre for Academic Integrity [ICAI]. (2021). The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity – (3rd ed.). Delaware: ICAI.

Tertiary Education Quality Standards and Framework (2024) Protecting academic integrity. Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). (2021). Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards). Retrieved from TEQSA Website.

University of South Australia. (2023). Academic Integrity Policy. Retrieved from UniSA Website