The Academic Integrity Rating System (AIRS) first provided an opportunity for institutions to assess their campus’s institutionalization of academic integrity in 2012. Designed to help institutions identify benchmarks for academic integrity institutionalization, AIRS 1.0 was built based on rubrics from AASHE’s model for Sustainability Performance. The original rubric used a scoring system that provided different points possibilities for different aspects of institutionalization. The scoring rewarded campuses for their institutionalization efforts while allowing them to compare themselves to peers and provided the basis for a conversation on academic integrity.
In 2021, ICAI leaders decided to revamp AIRS for release in for the ICAI’s 30th anniversary. Although the goals remained the same, the structure of AIRS 2.0 was revitalized with NERCHE’s rubric for Institutional Inclusion as inspiration. A team of academic integrity practitioners worked to identify the appropriate dimensions of the new rubric, and scoring provided guidance for institutional best practices in addition to identifying strengths and weaknesses.
In 2022, AIRS 2.0 was piloted by 19 institutions. Initially designed to be completed by an academic integrity task force, individuals ended up completing AIRS 2.0 and providing feedback instrumental to the AIRS 2.1 adjustments. These secondary updates included a scoring scheme that enables individuals or teams to use AIRS and definitions to help scorers that are less familiar with academic integrity practices to participate in scoring their institution.
As you look towards your annual assessment reports for student services, AIRS can provide a foundation for your administrative and student learning outcomes, as well as creating space for continuous improvement in the academic integrity space. With the era of artificial intelligence – the other AI – just beginning, degree and assessment validity and quality assurance will continue to be front of mind for institutions receiving public funding. AIRS supplies a basis for institutions to argue the
AIRS 2.1 will be released to ICAI members this month! Because the ICAI is dedicated to providing academic integrity tools that are based on research, AIRS 2.1 will begin its validation process this summer. If you are interested in participating in the validation process, make sure you attend the webinar this week. You can also indicate your interest by filling out this interest form.
Courtney Cullen is an ICAI Board Member and is the Assessment Manager for Georgia Institute of Technology's Quality Enhancement Plan.
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