FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC HONOR POLICY AND GRADE APPEALS SYSTEM

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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITYACADEMIC HONOR
POLICYAND GRADE APPEALS SYSTEM

• Jennifer N. Buchanan, Ph.D.
• Associate Dean of the Faculties

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2003 ACADEMIC INTEGRITY SURVEY

• FSU mirrors other universities
• Faculty and teaching assistants as primary
  sources of information
• Students and faculty disagree on what constitutes
  serious cheating

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Ways Undergraduates Report Cheating

• Sharing assignments (65)
• Unauthorized collaboration (41)
• Copying a few sentences from internet without
  citation (39)
• Copying a few sentences from written source
  without citation (38)
• Helping someone cheat on test (10)

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Faculty/Student Opinion Differences

• Students rated the severity of penalties as
  higher (60 high/very high) than did faculty (15
  high/very high)
• Students rated faculty members understanding of
  the policy as higher (77 high/very high) than
  did faculty (25 high/very high)

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Honor Code Assumptions

• Strong majority of students (56) disagree that
  they should be responsible for monitoring others
• Unlikely to report fellow students (80)
• Even less likely to report friends

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Conclusions and Themes

• Cheating happens
• Students assume you know more than you do about
  academic integrity
• Students look to you for cues about whether
  cheating will be tolerated
• Students will hesitate to inform
• Prevention is important
• Our involvement is critical

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Prevention

• Mutual respect between student and instructor
• Syllabus
• Confident verbal reinforcement
• Teaching meaning of plagiarism, esp. paraphrasing
• Making cheating more difficult
• Turn-it-in.com and other resources
• Following through (learn policy)
• Have a plan for test-time (verify independently)

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Academic Honor Policy Flowchart
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Academic Honor Policy

• Faculty play central role
• Charges explained in detail
• Responsibility to clarify group work and multiple
  submission expectations
• Procedural Notes (check for prior record)
• Sanctions
• Resources

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Cases and Outcomes
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Grade Appeals Flowchart
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Grade Appeals System

• New as of January of 2006
• Emphasizes centrality of faculty judgment in
  grading process
• Grade must be imposed in an arbitrary,
  capricious, or discriminatory manner to be
  overturned
• Starts with evaluation (grading) standards
  expressed in syllabus
• Minimize exposure through consistency

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Resources

• Dean of the Faculties website http//dof.fsu.edu
  under Academics Academic Honor Policy or Grade
  Appeals System
• General Student Grievance Process
• Supervising faculty member
• Department chair
• APPS resources at http//online.fsu.edu under
  staff and student resources, instructor
  information
• Me (jbuchanan_at_fsu.edu)