ERIC Number: EJ924854
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jun
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1080-5699
EISSN: N/A
Academic Integrity Policy: The Journey
Spain, Judith Winters; Robles, Marcel Marie
Business Communication Quarterly, v74 n2 p151-159 Jun 2011
An undergraduate student breaks into a professor's office and steals the answers to an exam; the university initiates only process available--discipline pursuant to regulations governing student behavior through judicial affairs. An undergraduate student fabricates lab data and is flunked for the course; the student initiates only process available--grade appeal through department academic practices committee. A graduate student plagiarizes his master thesis and is dismissed from program; the student initiates only process available--appeal of dismissal through a readmission committee. All these scenarios actually happened and all were handled through various administrative university processes not ever designed to handle matters involving cheating, fabrication, and plagiarism. But when a university does not have a unified method of handling academic integrity issues, administrators must default to whatever processes are available. Because these scenarios happened, faculty and staff at a southeastern regional public institution began to discuss better methodologies to handle these matters. But how to even begin a conversation about a process, as well as changing a culture? This article details the story of the idea, the process, and the final product on the journey toward developing an academic integrity policy and procedure that provide a unified methodology for handling the results of student choices to plagiarize, cheat, or fabricate, and, along the way, begins to change a culture. (Contains 3 tables.)
Descriptors: Academic Standards, Integrity, Student Behavior, Cheating, Plagiarism, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, College Administration, Colleges, School Culture, Educational Change, Discipline Policy, Systems Approach
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A