07/20/2024

Engaging students in celebrating academic integrity

Written by Anna Michalska

Understanding that integrity should be intrinsic to students’ academic, personal, and professional lives, University of Warwick has undergone a transition from a reactive approach to student academic misconduct to a proactive stance, focusing on celebrating academic integrity. As part of this transformation, each department was encouraged to appoint an Academic Integrity Lead with a responsibility in promoting ethical behaviour and academic integrity standards.
Following this, Academic Integrity Leads from Warwick Manufacturing Group (Alexa Kirkaldy) and Warwick Business School (Anna Michalska), had an idea to create a university-wide initiative to support academic and ethical aspects of student learning, which they hoped would result in enhancing academic integrity and minimise instances of academic misconduct.
Recognising that academic integrity requires a shared vision and holds importance across academic and professional services functions, the team sought input from representatives of the entire University community. The team united members of staff from different departments interested in academic integrity, including representatives from Education Policy and Quality (EPQ), Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA), Students’ Union, Dean of Students, Library and Student Communications, providing a forum to collaborate and share ideas.

Academic Integrity Celebration Week
Responding to the development in GenAI tools and their threat to upholding academic integrity, the focus was placed on ‘Academic Integrity in the era of Artificial Intelligence’. The team decided to organise a weeklong series of events to celebrate academic integrity across the University, highlighting inter-relationships between academic integrity and artificial intelligence and discussing potential impacts of academic integrity on student performance and wellbeing. Academic integrity week included events such as student, staff and external experts panel discussions, Students’ Union stands, Library academic writing and referencing sessions, in addition to localised activities organised by individual departments. Student bloggers in attendance at these events further publicised the discussion and outputs via various social media platforms, delivering the vision of providing ‘something for everyone’ and the opportunity to fully engage.
The team created the new university-wide website, which was inaugurated on the International Day of Action for Academic Integrity (18th October 2023) and promoted during the Celebration Week. The new website offered advice, guidelines, and resources for both staff and students, creating a holistic learning experience and information resource to support students’ academic needs and ethical aspects of their learning.
To enhance student engagement, the team organised a competition for submitting creative entries on the topic of the week. The initiative proved to be successful in creating active and inclusive learning opportunities and resulted in 27 original and inspiring submissions. Many competition entries demonstrated students’ maturity and understanding of their journey from being a student to becoming a professional, making connections between students' lives, experiences, and their academic studies, highlighting the link between academic and professional integrity. The competition entries were displayed on the university academic integrity website to share the proactive messages and to make them available for dissemination across faculties.

Academic Integrity Champions
To engage students further, enhance their sense of institutional belonging and develop disciplinary identity, the team introduced the concept of departmental ‘academic integrity champions’. These champions collaborate with fellow students to promote involvement in academic integrity initiatives. They serve as members of academic committees within departments, offering feedback, forward-looking insights, and improving communication with the student body. The role includes but is not limited to:
• Promoting academic integrity to students, via resources such as Moodle, webpages, videos, or FAQs.
• Signposting students to support, events, or resources which focus on academic integrity.
• Developing and communicating awareness of regulations, procedures, and signposting to advice.
• Communicating the importance of academic integrity beyond assignments, including employability.
• Co-leading academic integrity events with student groups.
The team believes that this role would enable students to develop their transferable skills towards employability and would be a positive addition to any job or further study application.

Value and Impact
Initiatives introduced by the Academic Integrity team have been successful in fostering an environment that supports and upholds academic integrity. Through the Celebration Week and engagement in departmental debates on the ethical use of AI, students gained knowledge about university regulations, how to incorporate AI into their assignments and improved their assessment literacy. Having opportunity to discuss their concerns, enhanced students’ understanding of academic integrity and the proper use of AI.
The team established an educational ecosystem, forming communities of practice and fostering collaborative efforts to develop materials and events for broader dissemination. This resulted in expansion of communities, a shift in culture and perception regarding artificial intelligence and academic integrity. What started with two departmental Academic Integrity Leads has evolved into a larger community that promotes growth and ongoing collaboration through events and engagements.
For their passion and dedication to enhancing students’ academic, social, and ethical aspects of learning, the Academic Integrity team was shortlisted for the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence in the ‘collaborative’ category.

The author’s views are their own.

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