Five Minute Facets of Teaching

Purpose of Five Minute Facets The purpose of these mini-sessions is for us to explore our understanding with regard to what is and isn’t academic dishonesty, why you would be concerned about academic dishonesty, and how to handle it in the classroom.

Why might educators be concerned about academic dishonesty? Equity Character development Mission to transfer knowledge Student morale Faculty morale Students’ future behavior Reputation of the institution Public confidence in higher education

Student’ Beliefs Tests already given are fair game as long as they are not stolen Unauthorized collaboration is ok Some plagiarism is ok Conning teachers is ok Collecting information from someone who took a test earlier is not cheating

Student’ Justifications Cheating hurts no one Cheating is only wrong in your major The class is too hard The professor is unfair It’s only busy work Everyone does it (including leaders)

Fostering Academic Integrity Supportive classroom environment – Interactional fairness – Procedural fairness – Outcome fairness Discuss academic integrity Reduce pressure on students Be available to students outside of class

Preventing and Detecting Changing assignments/tests Keep copies of assignments (tell students) Be specific about collaboration Require drafts/research notes Require copies of title pages from sources Watch for papers that are too good Allow limited notes for tests No hats during tests

Preventing and Detecting (cont.) Provide paper for tests or collect the paper they will use ahead of time and mark them Randomly assign seating on test days Do not allow student workers to copy exams If students believe their classmates/peers disapprove of cheating they are less likely to cheat Shred extra exams

Dealing with academic dishonesty Informal Resolution Formal resolution