1. RTC's Academic Integrity LibGuide: https://libguides.rtc.edu/academicintegrity

2. Assessments Ideas shared by faculty

3. Quizlet Study Set for Your Class, https://quizlet.com/teachers

   • Add this HTML<iframe> code on your Canvas assignment's page:
     <p><iframe style="border: 0;" src="https://quizlet.com/515447409/flashcards/embed?i=7y2ja&amp;x=1jj1" width="100%" height="500"></iframe></p>

The Summer 2020 Academic Integrity collaborative workshop resulted in the materials in the section above.

Ways to Create a Culture of Integrity in your class

Transparency

Create a survey for students asking why students cheat and what students believe can be done regarding cheating. Use the information from the surveys to pass information to other students for subsequent quarters. For example, after students take the survey, allow students to see what previous students have written. Ask students how they believe cheating could be decreased.

Embed Integrity @ RTC images in your courses as a reminder to students of the importance of doing their own work and preparing for tests.

Honesty Policy

Create and have students take a one-question "Honesty Policy" quiz at the beginning of the quarter with an "I agree" question. For example:

Academic Dishonesty is willful and intentional fraud and deception to improve a grade or obtain course credit. It includes all student behavior intended to gain unearned academic advantage by fraudulent and/or deceptive means. It will not be tolerated in this class. Such behavior will result in immediate Due Process, outlined in Student Code of Conduct and Hearing Procedures.

• Performing assigned work is a commitment to the Honesty Policy

In this course, you shall be asked to do assigned work the Instructor has given you. You are pledging here to do that work, independently, to the best of your ability. It shall be work that is thoughtful and meaningful, and work that is your own work, and not the work of others, (the exception being paired and group projects.) Performing assigned work is a commitment to the Honesty Policy.

• Communication is a commitment to the Honesty Policy

You commit to being honest and truthful, and communicate questions. If you are not communicating to your Instructor why assigned work is late, lacking quality, or not turned in at all, you are not giving me the opportunity to provide you with needed support.

Assessments

To help students our assessments must be designed to measure the outcome in a variety of ways and modalities so that each outcome can be assessed in multiple ways so that students have a choice in how they are assessed. Can they create an infographic about the main points of a chapter, that incorporates 10 learned concepts, rather than take a chapter quiz? To achieve this, faculty need to be teaching with a UDL Mindset to allow students to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of ways.

To discourage plagiarism, give students writing assignments that are grounded in time and place. For example, students might respond to a current debate in a newspaper’s editorial section, or they might write about a problem in their own neighborhood and propose a solution. Because these assignments naturally change quarter to quarter, the essays can’t be easily duplicated (shared among students). Because the assignments are not generic (instead, they involve specific, localized, time-sensitive information), they cannot be easily sourced from the web.

Scaffolding

Cheating can be avoided by creating assignments that build on each other. Early assignments should create the resources students use for later assignments. An example might be having students create first drafts of a final project, or a bibliography of sources that they will use in a final project, or study aids they will share with the class.

Lower the stakes for each assignment by creating many assignments, students will be less tempted to cheat on any one assignment. (And it’s even good pedagogy, if each assignment is a kind of mini-practice or test, because mini-tests or self-testing are good ways to learn material.)

Chances

Give students multiple attempts to pass a quiz, and keep the highest score. In addition or alternately, create practice quizzes that students have to pass in order to take a bigger test.

Allow students to drop their lowest quiz score. This can be achieved in Canvas: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-9880-4152232976

Give students several chances for extra credit that increases their learning, and reduces test-taking anxiety and possibly even the need for as many tests. (Instead of calling it a test, call it an extra credit assignment.) Give students choices to carry them out in different ways; testing science experiments on their own and reporting results, etc.

Create alternative ways for students to make up credit. Should a student feel that they have the options in adding points to a class they become less prone to cheat.

Growth Mindset

Helping students see assessments as part of the learning process. For example, a follow-up discussion after a quiz where students post areas they had issues with, and ideas for how they will be better prepared to succeed on the next quiz.

Cheating can come from desperation or believing that it is the only way to succeed. One way to avoid this would be to check in with students regularly to make sure that they have the tools they need to succeed. For example, a mid-quarter survey.

Failure is a super-charged word that can be as descriptive of the teacher’s performance as it is the terminal grade of the student to whom it is being given. Students achieve more when they are allowed to make mistakes, examine the causes, and revise to mastery--without imminent threat of failure, which often becomes a motive for cheating. Designing instructional materials with safety nets is essential pedagogy and gives students the self-confidence to persevere under their own steam. Failure should be embraced as part of the learning process--as a starting point, not an ending.