Academic Integrity

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Academic Integrity
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• What is Academic Integrity?

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Thoughts From Dr. Joseph Lechner

• 1. I have been called by God to Christian higher
  education. Class participation and learning are
  acts of service to Him.
• 2. My body, my mind, and my spirit are gifts from
  God. He expects me to develop them to their
  fullest potential.
• 3. Time, energy, health and finances are
  resources that have been lent to me by God. I am
  accountable to Him for my stewardship of these
  resources.
• 4. Attending MVNU is a privilege that has been
  extended to me. It is my personal responsibility
  to make the most of this opportunity.

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Thoughts From Dr. Joseph Lechner

• 5. Learning is my personal responsibility. I may
  receive help from teachers and from fellow
  students, but it is my obligation to learn skills
  and knowledge. I will not short-circuit my
  education by allowing others to do the work for
  me.
• 6. Learning is my principal occupation at this
  time. It requires time and active effort. As a
  good steward of my time and energy, I will devote
  two to three hours of study time per hour of
  class time for each course in which I am
  enrolled. Each course deserves and will receive
  my undivided attention during the times that are
  reserved for it.

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Thoughts From Dr. Joseph Lechner

• 7. Every academic discipline belongs to God. All
  truth is His truth. Every discipline is relevant
  to my life, and is worthy of my interest and my
  best effort.
• 8. The most important outcomes of education are
  my personal character, faith, wisdom,
  understanding, and skills.
• 9. Grades are one means of measuring educational
  outcomes, not an end unto themselves.
• 10. I will not falsely misrepresent myself or my
  work in order to secure a higher grade than that
  which accurately represents my achievements.

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• Learning as _________?

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Why do you think having academic integrity is so
important?
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• Mount Vernon Nazarene Universitys Institutional
  Statement on Academic Integrity
• As a Christian community, faculty, staff and
  students have a moral and ethical responsibility
  to uphold the principle of unquestioned honesty,
  and refrain from any activity or behavior that
  would suggest academic dishonesty and lack of
  personal integrity.
• Academic Dishonesty is defined as
  misrepresentation of facts with the motive to
• slant consequences in one's favor,
• minimize one's workload, or
• make untruthful claims to benefit oneself or
  others.

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• Situations
• What do you think?

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• You have been ill and fallen behind in your
  classes. You have a test coming up in History and
  Faith. You would like to ask your professor for
  an extension but do not think they will be
  convinced you were ill without proof. You have a
  doctors excuse from a previous illness you were
  able to alter. Is this a problem? After all, you
  were legitimately ill.
• Yes.
• It is called fraud.

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• Attendance Fraud - misrepresentation of one's
  attendance at a required campus event.
• Writing another student's name on an attendance
  sheet
• Asking or permitting another student to write
  one's own name on an attendance sheet
• Writing one's own name on an attendance sheet and
  leaving the activity before it is formally
  dismissed or
• Making a false or misleading statement to an
  instructor as an excuse for missing class.

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• The final exam in your psychology class is a
  take-home test. Dr. Cronks instructions state
  that you may consult the following resources
  library books, class notes, texts and the
  professor. You and your roommate discuss the test
  questions, but wrote your own answers. Is this a
  problem?
• Yes.
• Its a form of cheating called collusion.
• Studying before the test would have been fine,
  but once they had the questions the professor
  expected the students to do all the thinking
  about the answers individually.

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• Your roommate took Dr. Cochrans history exam
  yesterday. You missed class because of a
  legitimate medical excuse. Would it be OK to ask
  your roommate what topics the essay questions
  addressed?
• No.
• This too is cheating

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• The student who cheats untruthfully represents
  his/her own legitimate effort on an assigned
  project, paper, assignment, test, etc.
• Cheating includes
• Unauthorized use of a previously-given
  examination to prepare for a present examination
  
• Discussing any part of an examination which has
  not yet been completed with any person who has
  already completed the examination
• Unauthorized storage of information on an
  electronic calculator, cell phone, Ipod or other
  media for use during an examination
• Unauthorized collaborating with or consulting
  another person to complete a project or homework
  assignment.

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• While reading an article in a professional
  journal you find an idea that becomes the main
  point of a paper you are writing for Art in the
  Western World. Rather than quote the text you
  choose to paraphrase it. Have you done anything
  wrong?
• It depends.
• Did you site the source?
• If not, this is called plagiarism.

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• Plagiarism is a special form of academic
  dishonesty in which writers
• a fail to acknowledge the source of ideas, or
• b portray someone else's work as one's own.

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• Plagiarism includes
• Submitting written work purchased from commercial
  sources (e.g., "mail order" term papers/or one
  secured through Internet connections)
• Submitting written work prepared by another
  person or
• Unacknowledged use (direct quotation or
  paraphrase) of a published work.

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• A statistics project requires you to distribute
  five surveys to other students on campus prior to
  tomorrows class. You remember the project late
  in the evening so you have three friends complete
  surveys and you fill out the remaining two
  surveys. Have you done anything wrong?
• Yes.
• It is called fabrication.

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• Fabrication also includes
• Submitting a report on an experiment or project
  that was not actually performed
• Listing works which were not actually consulted
  in a bibliography and
• Listing fictitious works in a bibliography.

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• A research paper is required in both your
  Research Writing class and Introduction to
  Sociology class. The same paper fits the
  requirements of both classes so you do one paper
  and submit it in both courses. Have you done
  anything wrong?
• Yes (if not discussed with the professor).
• Some call this double-dipping.
• Important for you to discuss this possibility
  with your professor.

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• You are working on a paper for your General
  Psychology class and decide to have a friend read
  it over to provide feedback. They make several
  editorial, as well as content suggestions. You
  decide to incorporate most of them. Does this
  represent academic dishonesty?
• No.
• It is good practice to have another person
  proof-read your paper!

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How does the institution respond to academic
dishonesty?
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• The penalty for a first offense shall be a zero
  (0) on that particular assignment, examination,
  or project.
• No makeup examination or extra credit project
  will be permitted.
• The zero may not count as the lowest grade to be
  dropped, if a faculty member uses a
  lowest-grade-dropped policy.

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• The penalty for the second offense during the
  entire college tenure of the student shall be
  failure for the course.

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• The penalty for the third offense during the
  entire college tenure of the student shall be
  immediate dismissal from the University.
• In cases of academic dismissal, the "dismissal"
  designation shall be entered on the student's
  transcript.

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• Why do you think students feel compelled to
  engage in academic dishonesty?

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Statistics

• Dr Cronk, 2003 (N257)
• Academic pressures to succeed
• US News and World Report Poll
• 84 of college students believe they need to
  cheat to get ahead in the world
• 40 say parental pressure

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• Cronk, 2003 (contd)
• Fear of failure
• Over commitment and heavy workloads
• Robert Harris, Institute of Academic Integrity in
  Teaching and Learning
• Students faced with too many choices
• Students have poor time management planning
  skills

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• So what can you do to avoid the academic
  dishonesty trap?

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• Access the services and resources available to
  you
• Academic Support Services
• Supplemental Instruction
• Peer Instruction
• Communicate often and honestly with your
  professors
• Keep each other accountable

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ECC 101 As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and
honor. Folly foolishness, stupidity, idiocy,
craziness, recklessness Honor respect,
admiration, credit, reputation, tribute,
principle, nobility, veracity, reliability,
integrity, uprightness, truthfulness ECC 49
Two are better than one, because they have a
good return for their work 10 If one falls
down, his friend can help him up. But pity the
man who falls and has no one to help him up! 12
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend
themselves. A cord of three strands is not
quickly broken.
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Questions?