1. eLearning as the cornerstone to academic integrity in the 21st century
Stream 5: Good practices for promoting academic integrity in the 21st century
Ilona du Plessis
Optimum Learning Technologies

2. Focus of the presentation
The presentation will include:
Academic integrity
eLearning
eLearning for the development of academic integrity
eLearning for preventing academic misconduct
Challenges that need to be overcome
Concluding remarks

3. Introduction

4. Academic integrity
The International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) (2013) defines academic integrity as “a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. From these values flow principles of behaviour that enable academic communities to translate ideals to action”.
(Pixabay 2019)

5. Principles of academic integrity
According to McCabe and Pavela (2017) there are ten principles to academic integrity, namely:
Recognise and affirm academic integrity as a core institutional value.
Foster a lifelong commitment to learning.
Affirm the role of teacher as guide and mentor.
Help students understand the potential of the Internet – and how that potential can be lost if online resources are used for fraud, theft, and deception.
Encourage student responsibility for academic integrity.
Clarify expectations for students.
Develop fair and creative forms of assessment.
͏͏​Reduce opportunities to engage in academic dishonesty.
͏Respond to academic dishonesty when it occurs.
Help define and support campus-wide academic integrity standards.

6. Principles of academic integrity (continued)
The principles stated by McCabe and Pavela (2017) can be grouped into two broad categories:
Promoting and fostering academic integrity through best practice in teaching and learning.
Promoting academic integrity through good practice in identifying and addressing areas of academic misconduct.

7. Challenges of academic integrity
Despite the best efforts of institutions, not all students value academic integrity.
Fundamentals of academic integrity must therefore be developed.
Measures must be put in place to identify areas of academic dishonesty.
(Pixabay 2019)

8. Challenges faced by providers of Higher Education
Constant change in Higher Education creates the following challenges:
Increasing student numbers
Student needs
Pressure on resources, or lack of resources
(Pixabay 2019)

9. Increasing student numbers
Number of students enrolled in HEIs
Figure 1: South African Higher Education student numbers 2010 – 2018.
(DHET, 2018:11 - redrawn)

10. Student needs Student demographics (Destiny Solutions, 2019)
The need emerged for more flexible learning (McPherson, 2017)
Skills related to adaptability, agility and innovation need improvement (Watanabe- Crockett, L., 2016)
As a result of changes in student numbers and needs, more pressure is placed on institutional resources and, more specifically, ensuring that academic integrity can be upheld.
(Pixabay 2019)

11. Institutional resources
Bawa (2018) stated that universities are under pressure in terms of resources, and that it will continue to be under pressure.
A lack of resources at institutional level can, amongst others, be seen in:
Infrastructure in terms of technology, facilities and software
Libraries
Human resources in terms of lectures and other academic staff
Tools to monitor and manage large student numbers
This can have an impact on academic integrity in two ways:
Insufficient support on sound teaching and learning practices to promote academic integrity.
Insufficient resources to identify and address areas of academic misconduct.

12. Purpose of eLearning eLearning defined:
eLearning is an “education system that primarily utilises technology to transfer skills and knowledge” (McGrath, 2018).
eLearning supports:
Teaching and learning methodologies
Easing the burden on resources by increasing visibility, and analysis on students
Consequently improving academic integrity by supporting the academic principles indicated by McCabe and Pavela (2017).
(Pixabay 2019)

13. eLearning for developing academic integrity
Students’ need for increased flexibility as identified by Watanabe-Crockett (2016) can be achieved through eLearning’s contribution and support to teaching and learning best practices.
Examples include:
Live lecture sessions
Forum discussion
More comfortable learning environment
Flexibility in terms of location
Time flexibility
Improve technical skills
As such, eLearning can contribute to the academic integrity principles as identified by McCabe and Pavela (2017) through the recognition and affirmation of academic integrity as a core institutional value and a lifelong commitment to learning.

14. eLearning for preventing academic malpractice
An eLearning platform can be used to detect malpractice in assessments and to support and guide the lecturer regarding assessment practices.
An eLearning platform can be used primarily in two ways:
͏Plagiarism
Identifying general areas of concern during assessments
(Pixabay 2019)

15. eLearning and assessment practices
Several plagiarism software tools are available as Moodle plugins. If assessments are loaded on a platform, it can be evaluated for plagiarism.
This therefore reduces the pressure on resources to detect plagiarism practices through other methods.
Figure 2: UNPLAG plagiarism checker, 2019

16. eLearning and assessment practices
By taking pressure off resources, academic integrity is improved twofold:
͏Identification of academic dishonesty through Moodle
͏Enhancing focus on academic integrity
Aligning this to McCabe and Pavela (2017), the following principles of academic integrity can be enhanced at institutional level:
Affirm the role of teacher as guide and mentor.
Reduce opportunities to engage in academic dishonesty.
Respond to academic dishonesty when it occurs is fostered to contribute to academic integrity.
Help students understand the potential of the Internet – and how that potential can be lost if online resources are used for fraud, theft, and deception.

17. eLearning and assessment practices
Moodle can assist in identifying any areas that students require additional support in.
Consequently, pressure on resources is reduced.
(Pixabay 2019)

18. eLearning and assessment practices
Figure 3: Assessment results

19. eLearning and assessment practices
Question 1
Response 1
Right answer 1
Result 1
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Picture_3
correct
Question 2
Response 2
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Legs_-_Rectangle.Legs,Decanter_-_Rectangle.Decanter,Fermentation_-_Rectangle.Fermentation,Cooper_-_Rectangle.Cooper
Figure 4: Analysis of student results (redrawn)

20. eLearning and student monitoring
Figure 5 : Student participation

21. eLearning as a cornerstone for academic integrity
“The difference between detection and academic integrity is the focus on educating students” (Rowell, 2018).
A foundation for academic integrity can be a sound eLearning system, as it can address:
Teaching and learning for the promotion of academic integrity
Methods of identifying and preventing academic misconduct
Academic integrity is therefore promoted through educating students and addressing their changing needs, but it can also be used to identify areas of misconduct.

22. Conclusion
eLearning allows for continuously increasing capacity and provides additional features to support student learning which may otherwise have placed resources under strain (Ferriman, 2013). This assists in supporting teaching and learning and educating students on academic integrity.
By addressing the principles leading to academic integrity as identified by McCabe and Pavela (2017), academic integrity at institutions can be improved.
It can therefore be argued that eLearning may be used and considered as a cornerstone for academic integrity in the 21st century.

23. Source list
Bauer College of Business. (2019). What is Academic Integrity and why is it important? Accessed: 15 February Available:
Bawa, A. (2018). UNISA says decision on free Higher Education puts pressure on universities. Accessed: 18 February Available: education-puts-pressure-on-universities/amp
Department of Higher Education. (2018). Statistics on Post-School Education and Training in South Africa: Accessed: 14 February Available: _04%20April% pdf
Destiny Soluations. (2019). Four recent changes that have radically altered the Higher Education Landscape. Accessed: 17 February Available from: higher-education-landscape/
Ferriman, J. (2013). Elearning. Accessed: 17 February Available: advantages-of-elearning/
Watanabe-Crockett, L. (2016). The critical 21st century skills every student needs and why. Accessed: 17 February Available:
McGrath. (2018). What is eLearning? The good, bad, and the ugly. Accessed: 17 February Available:
McPherson, P. (2017). Our college students are changing. Why aren’t our higher education policies? Accessed: 21 February Available from: arent-our-higher-education-policies/2017/06/06/1fc0e37c e7-b beef8121f7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5773b37fb1a3

24. Source list
Moodle. (2019). Plagiarism. Accessed: 17 February Available:
Optimum Learning Technologies. (2019). Portal. Accessed: 17 February Available:
Pavela, G., McCabe, D.L., (2017). Ten principles of academic integrity for faculty. Accessed: 17 February Available from: integrity.pdf
Pixabay. (2019). Accessed: 20 February Available:
Plagiarism: UNPLAG Plagiarism Checker. (2019). Accessed: 16 February Available:
The International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI). (2013). The fundamental values of academic integrity. Accessed: 16 February Available: pdf
Ya Ni, A. (2014). Comparing the effectiveness of classroom and online learning: teaching research methods, Journal of Public Affairs Education 19(2):