Academic integrity investigation and confidentiality Locked file cabinet key (Russwurm 2009)

Purpose of case study Target audience: Policy and Governance Units, Subject Coordinators, Teachers, Administrative Staff Key issue: How to incorporate ethical principles into everyday faculty information access practices Purpose: To assist staff to work through their own policy to respond appropriately to an inappropriate staff request Materials: Full case scenario; University policy; Readings 2 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Our research Analysis of academic integrity policies of 39 Australian universities  Most academic integrity policies (56%) made no mention of confidentiality. Interviews with 28 senior academic integrity stakeholders at 6 Australian universities No. 1 recommendation for good practice:  Provide appropriate and on-going professional development for all staff in relation to academic integrity policy and process. 3 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Case Study: Early career academic who does not have tenure takes on role of Academic Integrity Breach Decision Maker ECR is also a doctoral student in academic unit where employed Investigates a case of plagiarism by a student in their first year 4 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Case study: A more senior staff member asks to be kept informed of the outcome of all allegations of academic misconduct Claims that they wish to ‘keep a watch’ on students with ‘history’ Academic Integrity Breach Decision Maker declines to reveal outcomes to senior staff member except in those cases where they are directly involved 5 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Questions for discussion 1. What does your university policy say about privacy and confidentiality in relation to the investigation of allegations of breaches of academic integrity? 2. According to the policy of your university who is permitted access to information about allegations/investigations/findings in relation to student academic misconduct? 6 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Questions for discussion 1. How does the ‘custom and practice’ of your university align with the intent of the relevant policies? 2. Based on your own university’s policy, do you think that the correct decision was made in this case? 7 Academic Integrity Standards Project

References and resources Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., East, J., Green, M., James, C., McGowan, U., Partridge, L., Walker, R. & Wallace, M. (2011). Academic Integrity Standards: A Preliminary Analysis of the Academic Integrity Policies at Australian Universities, Australian Universities Quality Forum, 29 June-1 July, Melbourne, Australia. Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., James, C., Green, M., East, J., McGowan, U. & Partridge, L. (2011). Core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy in Australian higher education, International Journal for Educational Integrity, Vol 7(2), pp. 3-12, available online: Jackson, J, Fleming, K, Kamvoumias & Varnham, S (2009). Student Grievances and Discipline Matters Project: Good Practice Guide for Handling Complaints and Appeals in Australian Universities – Good Practice Guide (ALTC Funded Project), Southern Cross University, Lismore. Russwurm, L. L (2009).Locked file cabinet key, digital image, accessed on 29 August 2012, This image is used with permission under an Attribution 2.0 Creative Commons License. 8 Academic Integrity Standards Project

For further resources from the Academic integrity standards project, please go to: Support for this project/activity has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License 9 Academic Integrity Standards Project