Student Academic Integrity

Please use this instructor toolkit to discuss academic integrity with your students the first day of class! This toolkit is a PowerPoint, which includes a video for your students, slides you can edit to reflect your class rules, and case studies to encourage student discussion and questions.

Many students are unsure about what they can and can't use when doing their homework and taking tests. Different instructors have different rules about using calculators, notes, collaboration, text generated by artificial intelligence, etc. What is encouraged in one class is prohibited in another, which can confuse students.

To facilitate academic integrity in your classroom, your syllabus should have two things:

1. A statement about academic integrity (see the university's Course Syllabus Information Guide for text).
2. What students are allowed/not allowed to use when completing course assignments and tests. As per Policy 216, it is your responsibility to make it clear to your students what they are allowed to do/use when completing course assignments and tests. It's in everyone's best interest if you put those guidelines in the syllabus and in each assignment prompt.

If you do not have written guidelines about what students can and cannot use during tests and assignments, it will be difficult to charge students with a violation. Do not rely on verbal directions because you may forget to give them, or students may miss or misinterpret them.

For example, if you suspect your student used text generated by artificial intelligence, your first reaction may be to report them for an academic integrity violation. However, if your syllabus and/or assignment prompt does not clearly state that students cannot use text generated by artificial intelligence, your student did not break any guidelines.

If you would like the AIO to review your syllabus for academic integrity issues or gaps, email your syllabus to AIO@tntech.edu. 

In each class each semester, create a classroom culture of academic integrity. Doing so emphasizes that you value academic integrity and expect your students to complete their coursework with integrity.

Here are some ways to facilitate a classroom culture of academic integrity:

• • describe academic integrity and why it's important (be sure to mention this academic integrity website and Policy 216)
  • encourage them to ask questions about academic integrity
  • assign the Academic Integrity Student Quiz as a homework grade (they enter your email address when they take the quiz, and you get an email with the student's grade); students typically take it more seriously if you only accept the first quiz score and do not allow them repeated quiz submissions
  • facilitate a class discussion about the ethical implications of AI systems like ChatGPT; you can frame the discussion within your course, the university, or the discipline
  • assign academic integrity case studies to students as part of a class discussion or assignment and ask them to report their thoughts
  • ask them to sign an academic integrity pledge (see below)
  • remind them of the importance of academic integrity before each assignment and exam
  • create a class code of ethics with your students that focuses on academic integrity
    • explain that you're creating the code to ensure everyone is on the same page with integrity, especially as artificial intelligence and technology continues to advance; it's not because you think all students cheat 
    • make the language positive instead of negative
    • involve all students to increase buy-in
    • your class code of ethics must align with Policy 216: Student Academic Integrity and not contradict it; Policy 216 takes precedence if there is a conflict

Research demonstrates that reminding people of their integrity and values reduces the temptation to cheat. Therefore, asking your students to pledge their integrity in your class may reduce academic integrity violations.

You could ask your students to sign a pledge at the beginning of your class. The point of the pledge is to remind students to act with integrity. It is not to be used against them later if there is an academic integrity violation. Students are obligated to follow Policy 216: Student Academic Integrity, whether or not they sign a pledge in your class.

Here is some example text inspired by UCSD's pledge:

I pledge to be fair to my classmates and instructor by completing all of my classwork with integrity. This means that I will follow the guidelines set by the instructor and follow Policy 216: Student Academic Integrity. I will be responsible for the consequences of my choices and honestly represent my knowledge and abilities. 

You can also ask students to sign a statement on each assignment (see examples in the Assignments section below) or on each test (see an example in the Tests/Exams section below).

As per Policy 216: Student Academic Integrity, it is your responsibility to make it clear to your students what they are allowed to do/use when completing course assignments and tests. It's in everyone's best interest if you put those guidelines in writing. Write up guidelines for each assignment and put them in iLearn or hand them out. It should also be on the syllabus if it is the same for all assignments. 

Please consider using the First-Day Toolkit in your class (the first option at the top of this page) to clarify your assignment and test rules.

See Instructor Responsibilities for more detailed information.

Research demonstrates students are more likely to cheat in classes that emphasize performance (test scores and grades) over mastery (learning the content). Students feel pressure when a class is structured to value performance instead of mastery, and that pressure leads to more frequent cheating.

Performance	Mastery
requiring students to memorize content	allowing open-book, open-note tests
offering only one type of assessment (ex: only tests and quizzes)	requiring a variety of assessments (ex: tests, quizzes, group work, papers, presentations, discussions, reflections, etc.)
giving students one chance to perform with no opportunity for a do-over	allowing multiple submissions for an assessment with little to no penalty for resubmission
prohibiting student choice in topic or assessment type	letting students choose their topic and/or assessment type (presentation vs. paper)

Cognitive offloading = using external tools to reduce your mental effort.

Everyday examples:

• • writing down your grocery list or to-do list
  • using a calculator 
  • setting calendar/clock reminders for appointments
  • storing contacts in your phone
  • using spellcheck to check your writing

Consider cognitive offloading related to your learning objectives, assignments, and exams. Ask yourself:

• • What do you really want to assess? (ex: content knowledge, content mastery, writing ability, speaking skills, creativity, technology skills, etc.)
  • What will your students cognitively offload once they graduate? Should you let them cognitively offload it now?
  • Should students use a calculator, notes, a formula sheet, etc. during their exams?
  • How can you help students offload the easy things to make room in your class assessments for higher-level skills like application, analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and creation?

Many students violate academic integrity because they run out of time to study or complete assignments. Review your class schedule and workload to see if you can help students avoid taking shortcuts and violating academic integrity. Here are some suggestions: 

• • break big projects/papers into smaller assignments
  • incorporate draft reviews (by you or other classmates) on papers before the final deadline
  • assess students more frequently with smaller quizzes/tests so they have less to study at once
  • schedule study sessions before a quiz or test
  • rearrange your class schedule so your students don't have a giant assessment at the end when they have giant assessments in other classes

You can ask students to sign and date an academic integrity statement with each assignment. Not only does this remind them of the importance of academic integrity, but it reminds them that it applies to every assignment. 

You can do this in addition to or instead of an academic integrity pledge for the class (see an example in the Class Setup section above) and academic integrity statements for tests/exams (see an example in the Tests/Exams section below).

Example academic integrity statement for a paper (from Dalhousie University):

“I hereby declare that the work presented in this paper, except as acknowledged in the text and references, is my own original work and that it has not been submitted for academic recognition or credit at Dalhousie or any other university, neither has it been copied, retrieved by any means, or purchased, in whole or in part, from any other source.” 
Signed: 
Dated:

Example academic integrity statement for an assignment (from Dalhousie University):

“I declare that I have read and understand the Dalhousie University policy on Intellectual Honesty. I also declare that the answers attached are my own work, done without collaboration, and that I have fully disclosed all information sources that I used in preparing them (other than class notes and text)."
Signature:
Date:

Example academic integrity statement for a STEM assignment (from University at Buffalo):

"I certify that the calculations and data in this assignment were generated independently, using only the tools and resources defined in the course and that I did not receive any external help, coaching or contributions during the production of this work."
Signature:
Date:

Giving students integrity and/or ethics assignments can help them understand the intricacies around those topics. It can also generate excellent discussions and questions.

Example assignments on integrity:

• • assignment related to the ethical implications of AI systems like ChatGPT; you can frame the assignment within your course, the university, or the discipline
  • assign academic integrity case studies to students and ask them to report their thoughts or argue each side
  • edit one or more of your existing assignments to focus on the topic of integrity or ethics
  • assign a group project where each group develops a code of ethics for different businesses
  • reflection assignment about what academic integrity means to them
  • ask students to evaluate potential academic integrity violations and indicate whether they think a violation occurred

Try and reduce students' temptation by avoiding assignments that make it extremely easy for students to violate academic integrity. Here are some suggestions that may help reduce students' temptation:

• • assign group projects or allow collaboration
  • flip your classroom so they work on assignments in class while you're there
  • assign presentations or other oral assignments
  • incorporate integrative learning
  • do not give the same assignments multiple years
  • give very specific assignments that would be difficult to plagiarize or use AI (general ex: study magazine covers across various decades and discuss how the cover headlines were accurate or misleading to the average reader)

Students often violate academic integrity because they run out of time to study or complete an assignment. If you split up big assignments into parts (scaffold them), then you help students manage their time better. It also allows you to offer guidance and feedback throughout the project instead of relying on students to ask questions before submitting the final version.

Here is an example of how to scaffold a research paper into smaller assignments (each bullet would be an assignment):

• • Topic selection
  • Outline
  • Library searching tutorials 
  • Library research activity (example)
  • Annotated bibliography
  • Rough draft
  • Peer review
  • Revised/final submission

There are programs that check for plagiarism or AI-generated text. 

THESE PROGRAMS CAN BE WILDLY INACCURATE!

Therefore, you should only use them as an indicator that you should review the student's work more closely. 

 

Plagiarism Checkers

Programs that check for plagiarism compare your student's assignment with websites, academic papers, and other assignments in the program's database. The program often flags direct quotes, common words/phrases, citations, and academic words and phrases. If you reuse the same assignment across multiple semesters and use the same plagiarism checker, it flags most words because your previous students' assignments are in the checker's database.

If one of your student's assignments is flagged by a plagiarism checker, here are some tips to help you:

• • If a student's assignment is flagged, you must investigate; do not solely rely on the results to declare there is an academic integrity violation.
  • The programs often give you a percentage. That is the percentage of the assignment it flags as plagiarized. However, it counts the problem areas listed above, like direct quotes, common words/phrases, citations, and academic words and phrases.
  • You should look in the results for whole sections that are flagged, not individual words throughout.
  • You need to go look at the websites that the plagiarism checker says were used. How similar is the text? 

 

AI-Detectors

These are robot detectors looking for common AI patterns. Academic writing often asks for formal writing with strict grammar, both of which mimic AI patterns.  Academic writing often yields repetition when using similar sources, comparing two things, applying one theme across multiple variables, etc. These types of repetition almost always trigger AI detectors. 

If one of your student's assignments is flagged by an AI detector, here are some tips to help you:

• • If a student's assignment is flagged, you must investigate; do not solely rely on the results to declare there is an academic integrity violation.
  • The detector often gives you a percentage. That is usually the percentage chance that the text was AI-generated, not the percentage of text in the assignment that is AI-generated. Be sure to read the detector's details closely so you understand what the percentage means.
  • Consider the topic. Papers that recite facts, like the history of something, often trigger AI detectors because there is no interpretation or emotion.
  • Look at the student's other writing/assignments. Consider their English/writing scores on their admission test, if applicable. If they write well and/or scored very high on their ACT or ACCUPLACER, it could be their great grammar that triggered the AI detector.

The CITL has information about leveraging AI.  

You can ask students to sign and date an academic integrity statement with each test/exam. Not only does this remind them of the importance of academic integrity, but it reminds them that it applies to every test/exam.  It should be at the beginning of the exam.

You can do this in addition to or instead of an academic integrity pledge for the class (see an example in the Class Setup section above) and academic integrity statements for assignments (see examples in the Assignments section above).

Example of academic integrity statement for an exam (from University at Buffalo):

"I will complete this exam in a fair, honest, respectful, responsible, and trustworthy manner. This means that I will complete the exam as if the professor was watching my every action. I will act according to the professor’s instructions, and I will neither give nor receive any aid or assistance other than what is authorized. I know that the integrity of this exam and this class is up to me, and I pledge not to take any action that would break the trust of my classmates or professor, or undermine the fairness of this class."
Signature:
Date:

There are various ways to give tests as learning assessments. Consider the following practices and how they might reduce students' temptation and/or ability to cheat:

• • allow take-home tests and open-book/open-note tests to focus more on mastery than memorization
  • use short answer or essay questions; multiple-choice questions make it easier to cheat
  • ask students to analyze examples or apply their knowledge in a specific situation; vary these examples or situations 
  • assign seats for your exams, and vary the seating for each exam
  • increase the spacing between students so they cannot see other students' tests
  • use multiple versions of an exam
  • do not reuse the same exam questions every semester/year
  • incorporate more quizzes and tests; assessing students early and often can reduce the pressure students feel from cumulative exams
  • give students plenty of time to finish a test so they do not feel time pressure
  • use the TLC Testing service for proctoring exams, which includes increased security measures
  • review suggestions from Dalhousie University for assessment alternatives to multiple choice tests

If you aren't sure if a student is cheating during a test, let them finish the test. Document the incident and note all the details you can. Then, follow the instructor procedures for the suspected violation. You should let the student finish the test because you're unsure if there was an academic integrity violation. 

If you are sure the student is cheating (you see a prohibited item, a student admitted to cheating, etc.) then you can stop the student from finishing the test.