November 2018

At the University of California, San Diego, we try to honor and celebrate integrity. We do this in an attempt to counter the often negative way in which people approach academic integrity (as if it WERE cheating instead of the OPPOSITE of cheating). There are two main public ways in which we do this: 1) an annual Integrity Awards Ceremony held every April in which we celebrate "integrity champions" among our faculty, staff, students and alumni; and 2) an annual "Excel with Integrity" Contest in which students submit art (written, video, song, visual) to explain how or why they excel with integrity or why excelling with integrity is so important.

There are many winning entries displayed on our UC San Diego Academic Integrity website, but here are the lessons I think that any institution can draw from our spotlighted experience.

Lesson #1 - Celebrate Integrity. Don't let a cheating scandal be the first time people hear about the importance of integrity on your campus. Be proactive and be positive - integrity is something to be desired and developed, not feared.

Lesson #2 - Spend a little to get a lot. We give $250 to the winner of our contest and $150 to the runner-up. You can adjust that amount to suit your campus. We have found cash to be the most attractive draw to the contest. One year we had a bicycle donated (worth far more than $250) and we received fewer entries! So, it may be the usefulness/convenience of the prize is more important than the dollar amount.

Lesson #3 - Involve students. Students should be involved in the designing/creating of your proactive and positive integrity efforts if you want them to attract students. They should also be involved in judging/picking winners - for example, the adults in the room never would have picked the Gorillaz album entry since most of us didn't know what the "Gorillaz" were!

Lesson #4 - Showcase the results. The fruits of your efforts shouldn't just be noticeable for the one day or event. Build your website to highlight your awards, your contest and your other positive-proactive approaches on a daily basis. This can help feed the culture, changing hearts and minds until they believe that the institution cares about integrity and that integrity is something for which we should all continually aim.

 



Editor's Note: in honor of our international status, ICAI is committed to publishing blog posts in languages other than English. 

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Cuando en el 2011 fui por primera vez a un congreso organizado por el Centro Internacional de integridad académica (ICAI, por sus siglas en inglés), en Toronto, Canadá y escuchaba a algunos de los pioneros en el tema en el mundo (Donald McCabe, “padre” de la integridad académica; Tricia Bertram Gallant; líder académica del movimiento de integridad académica y creadora de este blog; Tracey Bretag, investigadora australiana y gran entusiasta del tema), jamás imaginé que siete años después no solo habría podido materializar el sueño de crear un centro de integridad en mi universidad , sino que estaría trabajando de la mano de comprometidos colegas latinoamericanos en una red de integridad académica.

El trabajo colaborativo empezó a tejerse en el 2013, en el marco del XX Congreso Internacional de Integridad Académica, celebrado en San Antonio, Texas, cuando yo exponía los progresos del programa de integridad académica de la Universidad EAFIT (en Medellín, Colombia), denominado Atreverse a Pensar. Ahí tuve la fortuna de conocer a Cecilia Quintanilla, directora de Efectividad Académica de la Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), quien muy generosamente me invitó al Primer Congreso Nacional de Integridad Académica, organizado en octubre de ese mismo año  por esa universidad.

En ese primer encuentro académico en Monterrey fue muy interesante darnos cuenta que si bien las preguntas que se venían haciendo -desde hacía dos décadas- investigadores y académicos de universidades norteamericanas resonaban con nuestras preguntas, las problemáticas que nosotros enfrentamos como instituciones latinoamericanas tienen unos contextos y unas características muy propias: marcos normativos más laxos; cultura institucional particular; relación con la cualidad moral del honor muy distinta a la estadounidense; acceso a la educación superior privada no necesariamente por méritos académicos, sino por la posibilidad de contar con los recursos económicos; y una idea de solidaridad que se tiende a confundir con complicidad en el fraude, por mencionar solo algunas.

Así las cosas, comenzamos a estudiar diferentes temas que ocupaban la agenda del fenómeno de la integridad académica mundial: los códigos de honor, los instrumentos para medir el fraude académico, las campañas comunicacionales de otras universidades, las herramientas para disminuir la trampa, las transformaciones en la evaluación, los servicios de softwares de detección de similitud en los trabajos escritos, etc. De esta manera, lo que en un inicio se pensaron como proyectos en algunas de nuestras universidades, con el paso de los años, se convirtieron en programas permanentes, y gracias al gran esfuerzo de la UDEM -que desde el 2013 ha realizado el congreso anual de integridad académica- fueron llegando otros compañeros de la Universidad Católica de Chile, de la Universidad Panamericana de México (UP) y del Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC), con quienes en 2016 tomamos la decisión de iniciar formalmente la Red Latinoamericana de Integridad Académica.

Uno de los primeros frutos fue la revista Integridad Académica , que bajo el liderazgo de la UP y el apoyo de Turnitin, ha publicado cinco números. También intercambiamos experiencias académicas e investigativas en nuestro encuentro anual en la UDEM (las presentaciones del 6to Congreso están alojadas aquí) y hoy, con este blog en español, comenzamos nuestra participación en la iniciativa de ICAI, que busca mantener viva la conversación de sobre la creación y el fomento de culturas universitarias de integridad académica.

Después de tantos años de intentar entender mejor lo que implica crear un cultura de integridad en nuestros campus universitarios, podríamos concluir que: a) hemos profundizado en la comprensión del fenómeno del fraude académico; b) hemos logrado algunos avances interesantes que se ven reflejados en decisiones institucionales que respaldan una apuesta decidida por el valor de la integridad como impronta de nuestras universidades; c) hemos aprendido sobre estrategias y acciones investigativas, pedagógicas, culturales y comunicacionales que tienen sentido y aportan valor en nuestro contexto de instituciones de educación superior latinoamericanas; d) somos conscientes de que pese a algunos logros significativos, son muchos más los retos que tenemos por delante.

En ese sentido, embarcarse en trabajar por la integridad académica, que a mi modo de ver constituye un proyecto de ética aplicada de un alcance mayor en el tiempo que el tema exclusivo de lo académico, implica:

    • Claridad para definir las motivaciones y las metas que se quieren alcanzar.

 

    • Apoyo institucional desde las altas directivas de las universidades, que permita que los proyectos tengan un alcance y un peso significativo.

 

    • Voluntad de conocer el problema a través de investigaciones y estudios cuantitativos y cualitativos.

 

    • Perseverancia, en tanto las acciones comienzan a generar sus frutos en el tiempo.

 

    • Entusiasmo puesto que es fácil caer en el desánimo cuando ocurre una crisis por un fraude masivo o una falta de respuesta a determinadas iniciativas por parte de los estudiantes, de los docentes o de los mismos directivos.

 

    • Trabajo colaborativo tanto al interior de la institución -a través de las alianzas con compañeros de otras dependencias- como  con otras universidades.



Los primeros puntos dependen, en gran medida de cada universidad y de quienes lideren las iniciativas de integridad académica. En el último punto, es fundamental encontrar aliados dispuestos a compartir experiencias, aprendizajes y a tejer redes que vayan expandiendo las preguntas, los esfuerzos y los sueños de crear esos ecosistemas de aprendizaje que permitan que las comunidades universitarias realmente cumplan su misión de formar seres humanos íntegros y competentes para aportar a los retos sociales, económicos y científicos de la humanidad.

The ICAI Annual Conference is less than 120 days away (March 8-10, 2019).  We have extended the early bird registration deadline until Nov. 21, 2018. 

Here are few updates about the conference.

1 – Approximately 80 proposals were submitted for workshops, presentations, and poster sessions.  The conference allows us to learn from each other. These presentations will be high quality for you to explore research in academic integrity, see best practices, and have open dialogue about academic integrity concerns or highlights at your institution.

2 - Lewis Simms will be one of our conference keynote speakers. Mr. Simms comes to the conference as a High School teacher and coach in Pascagoula, Mississippi, but he will be speaking to us about his own story.  His story is one from the student's perspective in academic integrity as he was involved in a large academic misconduct case at the US Naval Academy. He will tell his story and explain how his life changed that year and how he works with his current students to help them learn from his mistakes.  His story will serve as a great opportunity for us to learn from a student who has gone through the academic integrity process and for us to see what proactive or reactive measures might have benefitted Mr. Simms and others involved in his situation.

3 – Location, location, location!!  The Intercontinental Hotel sits a block away from the French Quarter in New Orleans.  If you do not want to walk, the street car runs right outside the hotel as well. When selecting the hotel, a goal of ICAI was to make sure that the hotel allowed for room for participants to interact between sessions and have casual conversation. We think that the intercontinental will truly allow for you to interact and learn with other conference participants in both a formal and informal way.

4 – One cannot come to New Orleans without experiencing the culinary side of the town.  When you check-in at the conference, you will be asked if you want to take part in our dining around New Orleans dinner group.  For Friday evening’s dinner, you will be able to sign up to eat with other who have similar interests or discussion topics. Each small group will then have a reservation to go eat at a local restaurant (all within walking distance).  You get to experience the city while also continuing the conference conversation.

5 – While the schedule is still being developed, below is a summary of what you can expect:

Friday, March 8

    • ICAI committee meetings midmorning 

 

    • “First Timer” Orientation to ICAI Annual Conference mid/late morning

 

    • Opening Luncheon will begin the official conference

 

    • Program sessions

 

    • Social/Cocktail Hour

 

    • Dining Around New Orleans



Saturday, March 9

    • Breakfast provided

 

    • Large Group Panel Discussion

 

    • Program Sessions

 

    • Luncheon with Keynote Speaker

 

    • Program Sessions

 

    • Town Hall meeting for all members of ICAI

 

    • Dinner on your own



Sunday, March 10

    • Breakfast provided

 

    • Program Sessions

 

    • Closing Lunch



We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans!!

AUTHORSHIP NOTE: This piece was co-authored by Dr. James Orr and Dr. Jessica Beckett. Dr. Beckett is the Director of the Harvey Knowledge Center at Radford University

A twenty-first century education is mediated by technology in countless ways. Students engage with user interfaces to complete and submit assignments, universities use predictive analytics to support students and increase retention, and software provides students with tutorials, adaptive testing, and machine-enhanced learning. On the other hand, software also exists to facilitate and detect cheating and the use of such software has grown exponentially. For example, there are over 15,000 institutions that have adopted just one of the available products to help faculty detect plagiarism (herein referred to as “plagiarism software”). Yet, concerns over the use of such software have been simmering for over a decade.

Among such complaints is a concern over the rights such software companies maintain over student work that is stored in their databases. In a 2017 blog post for the journal Hybrid Pedagogy, the authors claim that “While students . . . are discouraged from copying other work, the company [Turnitin] itself can strip, mine, and sell student work for profit.Hybrid Pedagogy, the authors claim that “While students . . . are discouraged from copying other work, the company [Turnitin] itself can strip, mine, and sell student work for profit.”  Similar concerns that students are being exploited by such software have been echoed by others.

Despite these concerns, the US Court of Appeals has ruled that such contributions to a database fall under fair use, because they are only being referenced for comparison. Further, despite some earlier concerns, none of these software companies maintain copyright to student work.

In addition, when a researcher or faculty member prepares writing for circulation, they submit it to a journal that will often engage reviewers to check the veracity and contribution of the work to their discipline. Using such software can mimic this process for students, by having students submit work to be reviewed first by software that checks for matches to other text, and then by their course instructor, who must review the report that software generates and check the student’s use of sources based on the assignment for their course.

Another common complaint among writing educators is that such software replaces the highly skilled human who is credentialed and experienced in the teaching of writing and use of sources.

The former chair of the national organization Conference on College Composition and Communication was quoted by Inside Higher Ed, claiming that universities are using such software to take the place of writing education: “The job [of faculty] is to pay attention to assignments," Anson told Inside Higher Ed, "They shouldn’t be finding ways to get around that responsibility, which is an important one."

As adoption of such software increases, what are universities doing about these ethical and pedagogical complaints that companies are using technology to replace quality education? The answer is simple: they are teaching. A few forward-facing universities, such as UC Berkeley and Virginia Tech are taking an educational approach by training faculty and framing plagiarism within conversations of pedagogy.

UC Berkeley claims that “The use of web-based detection does not mean that plagiarism is now merely an enforcement or technical issue.” And instead they remind the campus that plagiarism is “still a pedagogical matter.”  One of the authors of this piece, Dr. James Orr, has  stated: “I encourage faculty to use these tools to assist students in the writing process,” which is the very area to which Anson and others wanted faculty to place their attention.

So, how can such software programs be utilized in pedagogy rather than punishment? Some of the approaches used by institutions adopting this approach include the following:

    • requiring faculty to undergo training before using plagiarism detection software

 

    • offering teaching tips for helping students understand source material

 

    • guiding faculty to use common plagiarism prevention strategies such as breaking assignments into multiple drafts and making unique and meaningful assignments

 

    • offering educational support services to students in the areas of time management and test taking skills

 

    • bundling feedback and grading features into the plagiarism detection software



As concerns over digital surveillance and reliance on software grow, so are responses to ensuring that such software remains a tool to enrich the work of educators—rather than a solution that replaces that work.