Academic
Integrity: A Community Conversation February
27, Summary
The task
force members thank the more than 40 staff, students, instructors and
faculty who participated in this workshop. It was a rich and valuable
discussion that focused on issues about academic integrity which apply
to all areas of university life. The afternoon
began with a brief review by Susan Stevenson of some of the findings
of the recent on-line surveys which were completed by many students,
faculty, instructors and teaching assistants. This was followed by small
group discussions. One group discussed first impressions for those arriving
at SFU, another focused on academic discipline for cases of dishonesty,
and two groups examined institutional changes that would promote a culture
of academic honesty and integrity. Each group reported back to the larger
assembly with a list of up to five recommendations. Further discussion
revealed some additional concerns. The discussion can be summarized
under three main themes: There
is a lot at stake. Academic honesty and integrity are central
issues for all members of the SFU community since these are critical
components of all aspects of academic life. Honesty refers to the actual
behaviours demonstrated by members of the university community, and
integrity refers to the values and attitudes that guide these behaviours.
Students,
faculty, staff, and administrators should be guided in their work by
the highest principles. Integrity is crucial for good learning, teaching,
research, and administration. A lack of integrity in any of these activities
undermines the generation and transmission of knowledge that is the
core of a strong university. All members of the community—instructors,
students, staff and administrators—have a significant investment in
the reputation of an SFU degree. To this end, all have responsibilities
for creating an environment of academic honesty that supports the value
of all SFU degrees. Furthermore,
all members of SFU experience many pressures on their time and sometimes
also lack the resources to do their job as well as they would like.
Students experience intense pressure for grades which can come from
academic program requirements, peers, family, and oneself. Expectations
that students perform well – while not an excuse for cheating – may
be a context in which cheating occurs. Increases in tuition create more
pressure on students’ resources. Faculty also experience many pressures
that sometimes make it difficult to commit the time to follow up on
suspected cases of academic dishonesty. Classrooms are often too small
to permit alternate seating in exams. Under the pressure to publish,
teaching can sometimes suffer. Although
there were many examples of pressures that undermine a culture of academic
honesty given in the workshop, several people also emphasized the importance
of both increased institutional resources to help reduce some of the
pressures and individual efforts to find ways around the pressures that
would allow a greater focus on learning. The
importance of a level playing field. This theme was behind
many of the specific ideas that were discussed in the workshop. First,
everyone should know about academic honesty, what constitutes plagiarism
and how to avoid it, consequences of dishonest behaviours, and the value
of honest learning. All orientations
for students, faculty and staff should have information about expectations
and policies about academic honesty at SFU as a crucial component of
the orientation. We, as a university community, should make this issue
front and centre through statements on course outlines, publicizing
results of cases of dishonesty, posters, and ongoing activities such
as an academic integrity week. Administrators
have an important role in speaking about the issue, creating open and
transparent policies, and supporting members of their units in administering
policies and disseminating information. Resources should be available
to support all students in the goal of obtaining a degree that reflects
their own work. Specific
suggestions for ensuring a level playing field for all students included
the following:
Discipline
in cases of academic dishonesty should be applied uniformly across departments
and faculty: All policies
and procedures should be accessible and transparent at all levels of
the university. There should
be simple and straightforward reporting mechanisms for cases of academic
dishonesty. Records should
be kept centrally to ensure that even and appropriate punishments are
applied to repeat offenders. Thinking
‘both/and’ rather than ‘either/or’. Academic honesty and integrity
is an inclusive issue with many areas for examination and change and
no simple solutions. We are all responsible. Creating a climate of academic
honesty requires both education and strong but fair disciplinary procedures.
Either alone will not adequately address the issues. In focusing
on discipline, some felt a need for stricter penalties, emphasizing
that if the penalty for being caught cheating is only failing the assignment,
a students who already is so unprepared that they expect to fail feel
they can only gain by cheating. All agreed that whatever the penalties,
more uniform enforcement is required. To this end, it is crucial to
develop clear policies, straightforward procedures and a central reporting
system to catch repeat violators. Furthermore, a clear and fairly applied
disciplinary procedure can serve an educational function. Research
and teaching are often framed as either/or activities in the university.
So faculty are seen to be concerned with their research to the detriment
of their teaching, or as we heard in the workshop, concerned with but
not rewarded for their teaching. However, these are not and should not
be mutually exclusive activities. Both research and teaching are important
for the creation of knowledge and influence each other. Both require
honesty and integrity. Faculty through their research and teaching are
role models for students, especially graduate students. If they violate
principles of integrity in either research or teaching, they contribute
to a climate of dishonesty, both in the university and in wider society.
On the other hand, by pursuing the highest standards of integrity in
their research and teaching, they create a climate of academic integrity
for future generations to model as well as contribute to building a
culture of academic honesty in the present. |