Design assessments that maximize integrity while being inclusive, authentic and able to measure students’ achievement of the intended learning outcomes. 

Reasons students commit academic misconduct 

As you're planning assessments in your course, consider the main reasons students engage in misconduct: 

"Pressure

Academic and other pressures on students work against the goal of fostering academic integrity. Pressure can come from real or perceived requirements to pass or to achieve high grades. These pressures can be internal (from the student) or external (e.g., from maintaining scholarship or visa requirements; from meeting requirements for entrance to programs or co-op; or from satisfying parents). Pressure can also come from peers, such as in requests for help or following along with what others are doing. In many cases, pressure may cause students to behave in ways they would not otherwise (i.e., “panic cheating”), and issues of pressure are exacerbated as student stress increases and wellbeing diminishes. 

"Opportunity

Opportunity refers to making academic integrity the easy choice for students, in light of all of the pressures they are facing. Relatively speaking, this means seeking ways to make engaging in academically dishonest behaviours more difficult than engaging in honest ones. Practically this is done through the presence or barriers to misconduct and mechanisms to detect and address misconduct if it happens. 

"Rationalization

Rationalization is shown as the foundation to the triad above as it is also the foundation to academic integrity. Rationalization refers to ensuring students both understand and value academic integrity such that they choose a path of integrity even when pressures are high and barriers to academic misconduct are not present. Rationalizing academic integrity becomes easier for a student when they have clear guidance in terms of what behaviours are acceptable and expected, and when they perceived that violations of academic integrity are taken seriously and dealt with appropriately. A perception that other students are engaging in and getting away with dishonest behaviours makes it more difficult to rationalize integrity. In many ways, the key element of rationalization comes down to a student being able to make a choice that the risks and costs (both personal and external) are not worth any potential rewards of dishonest behaviour. 

"The absence of any one of the three elements of the Academic Integrity Triad (i.e., there was high pressure on students, students had the opportunity to cheat without being caught, or students were able to rationalize cheating) has led to a statistically significant increase in cheating behaviours (Choo and Tan, 2008). They also found interaction effects: from a baseline propensity to cheat of approximately 20%, when none of the three elements were addressed, this climbed to 33%. When all of the elements were addressed (i.e., measures were taken to reduce pressure, opportunity, and the ability to rationalize cheating), the likelihood of cheating dropped to 8%."

Source: A misconduct framework, University of British Columbia, Assessment Guidebook, 2022, blogs.ubc.ca/assessmentguidebook/academic-integrity/the-fraud-model/. 

Detecting and addressing misconduct 

There are a number of ways to detect misconduct: 

• The work may be very similar to already published work. You can use Ouriginal in Brightspace to check students’ work. 

• Two students may submit similarly unusual answers to a question. 

• You may see students copying each other. If so, try to have a second person observe the situation, as well. 

If you detect misconduct, see Regulation 14 for the procedure to follow. 

Your efforts matter! 

Share your work and have it recognized: 

• Let us know how you're helping improve academic integrity in your courses. We'd love to share your work (with appropriate credit). 

• Gather your work in a teaching dossier (scroll down the page), approved by the Senate for use in tenure and promotion. 

• Get involved! Become a reviewer for material on academic integrity or give a presentation about discussing academic integrity in your courses. 

In your syllabus

Set out your expectations for academic integrity. Here's an example you can adapt: 

"Academic integrity is of paramount importance in this course. It’s 'a commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage'. – International Center for Academic Integrity. You should be proud to show your diploma, knowing that you’ve earned it honestly by respecting the principles of academic integrity.” 

Here are the ways you can show integrity. Ask me if you have any questions: 

• Commit to integrity: Read, commit to and sign any academic integrity statements before major assessments. 

• Set an example: Be an example of academic integrity by following the guidelines, even if it’s tempting to do otherwise. 

• Talk about integrity: Conversations and questions about academic integrity helps us build a community where we respect each other and our work. 

• Speak up: If you see an issue, say something. You can email me or the program director. 

• Build: Join an academic integrity committee, lead a conversation or make policy suggestions. Your experiences and opinions matter! 

Please let me know of any academic misconduct you see. Email me [or add other method, such as an anonymous reporting form].

There are significant consequences for academic misconduct, as described in Regulation 14, which can include: 

• An F grade for the work or course 

• Adding extra requirements (from three to 30 units) to your program 

• Suspension or expulsion from the faculty

Include messages about any tools you'll use to detect misconduct in the course. For example, if you're using Ouriginal, you can include this: “Course essays will be analyzed using a plagiarism detection tool for a review of textual similarity to help you avoid plagiarism. This process implies that essays will be included as source documents in the tool’s reference database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting similarities.” 

Expectations for assessments 

Set specific expectations for each assessment. They can include whether the work must be done individually or collaboratively (and if collaboratively, what collaboration is allowed?), whether an exam is closed or open book (if open book, what sources are allowed), what practices are never allowed (e.g., posting answers broadly, such as on Chegg or Discord) and other details. 

Honour codes 

Honour codes raise awareness of academic integrity and remind students of the core values of their degree work. 

All new undergraduate students sign an academic integrity statement as part of the mandatory academic integrity training module. 

In courses, you can include an honour code to sign at the start or end of the work, such as: “The work submitted here is my own and was completed in compliance with the professor’s and uOttawa’s expectations for academic integrity.” 

Other practices

This checklist can be adapted to your own responsibilities: 

Process

• I have read the University’s policy on academic integrity. 

• I know whom to contact to report cases of academic dishonesty. 

• I know the potential consequences for students. 

My course:

• I have clearly referenced in my syllabus where to find the University’s policy on academic integrity. 

• I have clearly stated my expectations to students (verbally and on paper). 

• In class, I have discussed the importance of integrity beyond the classroom. 

• My assignments are consistent with my course objectives and learning outcomes. 

• I reiterate my expectations often and for each type of assignment. 

Students in my course:

• Have completed the University’s module on academic integrity (for students new to the university). 

• Know that I think everyone can succeed in my class with integrity. 

• Know that I value their work. 

• Know I value academic integrity in my class. 

• Understand the purpose of my assignments. 

• Are encouraged to take ownership of their learning. 

My assignments:

• I provide clear examples of cheating for each assignment type. 

• I "scaffold" (break down) large assignments. 

• I give ample time for students to answer. 

• I use authentic evaluations, relying less on passive recall and more on application, evaluation and analysis. 

• I encourage students to seek clarification about assignments when needed.