Spring 2020 brought many changes to higher education. With the switch to remote learning, not only did faculty have to contend with delivering quality content in the online environment, but monitoring academic integrity changed. Whereas before large lecture classes could take proctored exams in person, now these same exams had to occur online, possibly without any sort of proctor. Previously, to try to prevent plagiarized essays, instructors could ask students to write the first drafts during the in-class period, to eventually be compared to the final submission. Now these same drafts were written outside of class and submitted online, without the same supervision.

These academic integrity tips and tricks that faculty teaching face-to-face have gathered and implemented for the span of their teaching careers were no longer available to them. Faculty and the administration had to become creative – both looking to their colleagues who have taught online and to one another for advice.

With the Fall 2020 semester, faculty have had more time to prepare for the remote environment and some might be teaching a few in-person classes, but for most campuses “normal” has not returned. The academic integrity lessons and strategies learned throughout the spring and summer are still applicable.

For this reason, the 2020 ICAI Southeast Regional Sharing Conference will focus on Integrity in the Time of COVID-19. This free virtual conference, hosted by the University of South Florida, will be an opportunity for higher education faculty, staff who support integrity, high school teachers, and both graduate and undergraduate students to meet and discuss academic integrity. The synchronous online presentations, only 15 minutes long, are to emphasize the sharing of practices, examples, and case studies. These are not research presentations.

We think a wide variety of presentations by different audiences would be a fit for this conference:

• Staff and Administrators
  • integrity policies and honor codes
  • ​​​​​​​policy adjustments made for the switch to remote learning
  • establishing a culture of integrity amongst students
  • onboarding and training of incoming students
  • remediation efforts for students caught cheating

• Faculty, Instructors, and Teachers
  • assignments and strategies to prevent cheating
  • adjusting assignments with academic integrity in mind for the remote and/or online environment
  • technology used to uncover cheating (plagiarism detection, proctoring software)
  • plagiarism, self-plagiarism, unintentional plagiarism
  • contract cheating (papers for hire)
  • exposing students’ new cheating techniques (including Chegg, GroupMe, etc)
  • ethics of reporting/non-reporting students once caught

• Students
  • creating a peer culture of integrity
  • reporting on students who cheat (and/or the ethics around reporting)
  • ways student organizations, clubs, government, and individuals can alter campus culture on integrity

To submit a proposal: https://usf.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b76XSwBvMNeIoId  (proposals are due by Oct. 19)

To register for the conference without presenting: https://usf.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cSyA7YJ6InYoqe9

This conference is an opportunity to add to your CV during the pandemic, gain insights and actionable ideas from your colleagues, and network with individuals who care about integrity as much as you do…all for free! We look forward to seeing you there.

Lead Author: Dr. Ashley Reese. Secondary Author: Dr. Kevin Yee.

Dr. Kevin Yee is Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning in Undergraduate Studies at the University of South Florida. In this role, he functions as the university’s academic integrity officer. He also serves as the director of USF’s teaching center, the Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence.