Integrity Matters
An ICAI Blog providing the latest insights about academic integrity
- Written by Alfonso Benito

La pandemia de Covid-19 que estamos viviendo a nivel mundial, en este 2020, está suponiendo nuevos desafíos para todo el mundo, incluyendo la educación superior. La mayoría de las universidades han tenido que pasar a esquemas de educación en línea o por lo menos híbridas (combinando la presencialidad con la virtualidad).
Esto ha conllevado tener que readaptar metodologías y pedagogías para lograr mantener la calidad de la enseñanza en entornos virtuales, así como, crear ambientes de aprendizaje propicios para los estudiantes y algunos otros retos, entre los que se destaca la integridad académica.
Muchas de las medidas de integridad académica hasta ahora, se han basado en el control de tener al alumnado presente físicamente para poder vigilar ciertas condici...
- Written by Jenny Díaz-Ramírez

In the middle of the Spring 2020 academic term, schools were suddenly forced to adapt themselves to a completely online offer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Professors were forced to learn, change, and adjust their courses on the fly. Now, in the middle of a complete online academic system, colleagues from the Engineering Department of Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) are constantly exchanging their best practices, not only in terms of teaching activities but evaluation practices that we think are among the most effective to prevent plagiarism and assess the students learning according to these new circumstances.
In a pleasant virtual atmosphere of camaraderie, nice ideas have been proposed, replicated, complemented, and given feedback by the peers. This is a summary of them:
...- Written by Elmi Salazar

Los retos de la integridad académica en la educación a distancia son posibles de vencer y esto se demostró en el 8.° Congreso de Integridad Académica “Conecta y transforma con integridad” llevado a cabo el pasado 24 y 25 de septiembre, que unió a más de 550 personas de 11 países, quienes de manera entusiasta, y con gran apertura, escucharon las conferencias a través de la pantalla y participaron interactivamente entre ellos.
Conferencistas de gran trayectoria en el tema de integridad académica y representantes de universidades de reconocido prestigio como Thomas Lancaster, de Imperial College London; Irene Gendinning, de Coventry University (Londres); Sarah E. Eaton, de University of Calgary (Canadá) y Rowena Harper, de Edith Cowen Universit...
- Written by Evangeline Litsa Mourelatos

The (2010) article The Shadow Scholar by the infernal Ed Dante jolted many academics into awareness of ghostwriting in academia. Soon proclaimed as one of the most widely-read pieces in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s history, the article made it impossible to ignore the issue. However, little dialog was occurring – at least in N. America, and with apparently few exceptions in the UK, it seemed hardly to be taking place globally either.
I became entrenched in the topic in 2012 through an international student I knew who was enrolled in a UK postgraduate program. Sadly, she had contracted out her MA thesis and shared with me – after the fac...

There is no doubt that 2020 has been a year of turmoil and challenges. Now more than ever we need to unite as communities of learning to support and ensure that our efforts in creating and cultivating quality learning environments, grounded in the values of academic integrity, are preserved and strengthened. The International Day of Action (IDoA) against Contract Cheating on October 21/2020 is one way to connect worldwide against this growing threat.
Contract cheating is the outsourcing of academic work to a third party. This outsourced work is then submitted for a grade or mark. It is on the rise and it is happening around the world. The day of action provides us a platform to speak up and out against this act of academic dishonesty. On October 21st we encourage you to plan eve...
- Written by Amy Williamson

The Aggie Honor System Office sought to create content that shed light on what academic integrity is. Working with Academic Affairs, faculty, and student leaders, the AHSO created two videos that the TAMU community could use as they thought about and explored their personal integrity and academic integrity. These videos aim to help promote awareness of some common missteps students make on their academic journey. Engaging students on their preferred platforms, and in limited lengths may just get their attention. You can watch the videos, and tell us what you think by commenting below.
Student Rules and the Honor Council:
...- Written by Kevin Robinson
- Written by Ashley Reese

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 s...
- Written by Zeenath Khan

As we gear up to celebrate the 5th International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating, I thought it apt to share an incident that took place in my daughter’s old school with regards to her science project.
Oh yes, I am back with yet another hair-raising experience.
When my daughter was in Year 4 (she is in Year 7 now), we got a circular from school that they were going to introduce a “Science Fair” where students would get to “make” a project, bring it to school, display it and present it to judges. Being from a science background, we all got excited about this new adventure my daughter was going to join in.
After much brainstorming for a good two – three days, my daughter heard about all sorts of projects we did as kids in school a...
- Written by Elmi Salazar

Cuando algo se comparte, se multiplica el resultado y cuando lo que se comparte es sobre integridad académica, ganamos todos como comunidad.
La Universidad de Monterrey tiene el compromiso de compartir prácticas y experiencias que reconozcan, vivan y promuevan los valores de la integridad académica entre profesores, estudiantes y colaboradores de las instituciones educativas.
Esto lo hace a través del Congreso de Integridad Académica. En esta ocasión, en su octava edición, es organizado en colaboración con otras universidades latinoamericanas de gran prestigio: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile...