The Essay On Academic Integrity In Higher Education Is Crucial.

Academic Integrity and Its Core Values

In this report of further academic skills, the aim is to portray the importance of academic integrity, especially in higher education, the implication the academic misconducts, and presenting the findings from different academic sources. In the first section of this report, an introduction and description of academic integrity will be provided along with a discussion on how important academic integrity within the higher education sphere is as well as the possible implications of academic misconduct. In the second part of the report, reflection on the steps adopted and difficulties which has been encountered while producing the game during the second assignment will be presented along with reflection on the skills learned during the academic year, by focusing on the production of the same (Ramdani 2018).

An Introduction Including a Description of Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is referred to those expectations which teachers, researchers, students, and every member of the community of academics act with such as honesty, fairness, trust, responsibility, and respect. It is also referred to as the ethical policy, morale code of academia which is a term coined by the late Don McCabe who is known as the ‘Grandfather Of Academic Integrity. Academic integrity is supportive of the enactment of the educational values through behavior like avoiding any form of cheating, plagiarism, or any type of contract cheating along with maintaining an academic standard such as rigor and honesty within the academic publishing and research. During the later eighteenth century, academic integrity has been closely correlated with the honor code, which was majorly monitored by the students as well as the surrounding time culture (Bertram Gallant 2017).

The honor code majorly concentrated on the aspects such as pride, duty, self-esteem, and power, where any part promoting the building of this aspect within oneself was considered to be the goal. Therefore, the concept is closely related to the appearance and status of the upstanding individual character and any act of academic dishonesty to performance for the maintenance of the good name was a necessary means to the end of it. In today’s world, academic integrity is performed by the majority of the educational institutions and is also considered within their policies, mission statements, procedures as well as honor codes. In addition to that, it is being taught in the ethical classes and is even considered with the syllabi. Universities and other educational bodies even possess a section on their websites for academic integrity and generally consist of six core values namely, fairness, trust, honesty, respect, courage, and responsibility (Bretag 2018).

A Discussion of the Importance of Academic Integrity in Higher Education

Having academic integrity in higher education is important for several reasons such as possessing integrity will make other people, especially within the education sector believe and trust in the achievements earned and work provided. Through this people can rely on the individual knowing that they will act with utmost honesty and will perform their work and tasks within the given time period and appropriately. It is important for other individuals to understand that an individual is performing the right actions and their behavior is consistent with beliefs and will trust them (Denisova-Schmidt 2017).

Significance of Academic Integrity in Higher Education

Trust is also a major characteristic of a genuine and true leader which in higher education is an important position to be placed in. The features of a true and successful leader are to create a good reputation for themselves by being fair, honest, and trustworthy, and in later time periods, these qualities will help in becoming successful in the respective fields if the importance of academic integrity is understood. In higher education, the community is based on the capability to trust one another, and developing an appropriate ethical habit in the present time, will help in the workplace or when facing any ethical issues and challenges (Sefcik, Striepe and Yorke 2019).

Other than that possessing academic integrity is crucial because it gives value to any degree which has been achieved by an individual, as employers look for those candidates who possess higher personal integrity, where they can invest in the development of their human capital and will provide a positive influence on the activities of the organization along with trusting them to perform the mission set for the organization. Lastly, academic integrity provides peace of mind to the students along with self-satisfaction and confidence in their work, and acting in a consistent manner for the beliefs will help in the reduction of stress in the personal life and become healthy and productive (Tatum and Schwartz 2017).

Discuss the Implications of Academic Misconduct 

There are several implications when an individual performs academic misconduct such as penalties from the university imposed on offending students and other consequences such as serious ethical, moral, social, and academic concerns. For academic misconduct, the moral consequences of unethically cheating include the habit-generating nature of cheating and it further devalues integrity, hard work, and fairness. The habitual nature can continue on to the work and other aspects of the individuals’ lives, alongside that in the longer run, the attitude can be harmful as people will be affected around them through their actions (Robinson and Glanzer 2017).

Further, academic misconduct will result in loss of intellectual property where academic dishonesty consists of plagiarism that is equal to stealing the property of another individual. By copying the original work such as writing, idea, art, design, music and so one created by an individual is considered to be stealing as it is considered to be utilizing their property without permission where the author loses their intellectual property, prospective income, and recognition (Amigud et al. 2017).

Academic misconduct’s implication is also inaccurate assessment where when a student plagiarizes or cheats in their academic activities, it becomes difficult for the assessor to accurately measure their performance or evaluate their knowledge mastery, application, and skills in the relative field. This may lead to the educational institutions granting credentials to the undeserving students which will put serious ramifications within the workplace. This practical concern will impact the employers as well as alumni of the educational institution as well when they hire potentially incompetent graduates (Gottardello and Karabag 2020).

Academic misconduct also generates legal consequences, wherein case cheating, fabricated data, plagiarism in any projects serious and formal actions can be taken against the student as well as the university which can further result in lawsuits, fines, and loss of future projects. Other implications of academic misconduct or dishonesty consist of ruining the educational environment and enthusiasm held by the educator as well as the decline in morale and quality of education. Lastly, through academic misconduct or dishonesty, the self-esteem of the student is gravely affected as they are constantly feeling guilty and lower self-esteem, especially with the loss of self-respect within the community, family, and other important parts of their life (McHaney, Cronan and Douglas 2016).

Implications of Academic Misconduct

Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in producing the game for Assignment 2

The game for my second assignment during this course consisted of the process where the teacher provided the students with ten cards, from which a few were picked. Each card consisted of questions relating to the student and academic integrity. The game has further proceeded in such a manner that when I provided a correct answer for the questions mentioned in the cards, the teacher provided me and other students with a potential one mark for our next assignment, however, when answered in a wrong manner, there was a possible deduction of the same mark from the next assignment. I became aware that the game provided me with a chance to study and understand the concept of academic integrity in an interesting and easier manner (Cronan et al. 2017).

Through this engaging session with my teacher, I and other fellow students talked about academic integrity in a detailed manner. I became aware that in order understand the concept, I need to be engaged and understand the rules and regulations surrounding academic dishonesty and misconduct. Previously while studying for the game, I recognized that most of the information has been generated from policy pages and is mostly delivered in an uninteresting and dry manner.

Further while studying for this game and delivering answers to the question that are asked, the major obstacles I faced were understanding different aspects associated with this concept such as double standards, fear, personal connection, formal processes as well as power corruption. I have come to this awareness that while studying for this concept, often these aspects are not covered in detail which makes them a taboo subject. In addition to that, there has been increasing pressure on the students to perform at the highest level by grappling with information which also results in information overload (Chankova 2020). 

Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those emphasized in producing your game

The skills which I have gathered while learning for this academic year is academic success at the University which is associated with me having to grow a mindset and to also develop certain key academic skills. During this academic year I learned to provide my work with utmost integrity such as honesty, fairness, trust, respect, courage and responsibilities which is a big step towards the right direction. I learnt that success can be determined by hard work as well as perseverance due to which I developed a growth mentally along with that I learnt to develop practical skills of effective and active skills for reading, researching, writing, help seeking and studying. By combining all these skills, I developed a proactive approach to manage the several demands presented by the university life (Holden, Kuhlmeier and Norris 2020).

While emphasizing on the production of the game, I came to this awareness that I gained certain skills unconsciously which has been helping me throughout my academic year. By learning more about academic integrity, I became highly aware about the fundamentals of teaching, learning and researching at the University which instilled a base on which I could deliver appropriate and up to the mark work and material. I also learned several ongoing fostering of the complex strategies network as well as responsibilities throughout the educational communities (Sheard et al. 2017).

Moral Consequences of Academic Misconduct

I recognized that my University has committed to provide education approaches towards academic integrity by understanding and recognizing the requirements of the students for demonstrating and development of academic skills. Games such as these on academic integrity is one such example where through a different approach I understood such strict concepts which is majorly consist of policies and rules. By learning these skills, I was enabled to receive the freedom to develop new knowledge, ideas and creative works along with acknowledging and respecting others’ works (Nelson et al. 2017).

Through this activity, I recognized the importance of personal morals as well as values which ones’ characters and credibility is reflecting. It is highly important to main academic integrity in any educational environment, especially while earning a degree which will further reflect the academic accomplishments. I recognized that with integrity, educational degree can be achieved in an honest and fair manner along with putting addition hours for accomplishing the assignment and spending time on studies. Further into the game, I understood the implication which the academic misconduct can give (Ellis et al. 2020).

Conclusion

In this report of further academic skills, the emphasis has been provided on the importance of academic integrity within the high educational sphere, along with implications which the academic misconducts provides to the student who aims to cheat or plagiarize their work. In the second part of the part, reflection of the steps to be undertaken along with the difficulty faced while producing the game for the second assignment has been discussed as well as reflection on the skills which has been learned during the academic year along with providing emphasize on the production of the game in front of the teacher and the other fellow students.                

References

Amigud, A., Arnedo-Moreno, J., Daradoumis, T. and Guerrero-Roldan, A.E., 2017. Using learning analytics for preserving academic integrity. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning: IRRODL, 18(5), pp.192-210.

Bertram Gallant, T., 2017. Academic integrity as a teaching & learning issue: From theory to practice. Theory Into Practice, 56(2), pp.88-94.

Bretag, T., 2018. Academic integrity. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management.

Chankova, M., 2020. Teaching Academic Integrity: the Missing Link. Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(2), pp.155-173.

Cronan, T.P., McHaney, R., Douglas, D.E. and Mullins, J.K., 2017. Changing the academic integrity climate on campus using a technology-based intervention. Ethics & Behavior, 27(2), pp.89-105.

Denisova-Schmidt, E., 2017. The challenges of academic integrity in higher education: Current trends and prospects.

Ellis, C., van Haeringen, K., Harper, R., Bretag, T., Zucker, I., McBride, S., Rozenberg, P., Newton, P. and Saddiqui, S., 2020. Does authentic assessment assure academic integrity? Evidence from contract cheating data. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(3), pp.454-469.

Gottardello, D. and Karabag, S.F., 2020. Ideal and actual roles of university professors in academic integrity management: a comparative study. Studies in Higher Education, pp.1-19.

Holden, O., Kuhlmeier, V.A. and Norris, M., 2020. Academic integrity in online testing: a research review.

McHaney, R., Cronan, T.P. and Douglas, D.E., 2016. Academic integrity: Information systems education perspective. Journal of Information Systems Education, 27(3), pp.153-158.

Nelson, M.F., James, M.S., Miles, A., Morrell, D.L. and Sledge, S., 2017. Academic integrity of millennials: The impact of religion and spirituality. Ethics & Behavior, 27(5), pp.385-400.

Ramdani, Z., 2018. Construction of academic integrity scale. International Journal of Research Studies in Psychology, 7(1), pp.87-97.

Robinson, J.A. and Glanzer, P.L., 2017. Building a culture of academic integrity: What students perceive and need. College Student Journal, 51(2), pp.209-221.

Sefcik, L., Striepe, M. and Yorke, J., 2019. Mapping the landscape of academic integrity education programs: what approaches are effective?. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education.

Sheard, J., Butler, M., Falkner, K., Morgan, M. and Weerasinghe, A., 2017, June. Strategies for maintaining academic integrity in first-year computing courses. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (pp. 244-249).

Tatum, H. and Schwartz, B.M., 2017. Honor codes: Evidence based strategies for improving academic integrity. Theory Into Practice, 56(2), pp.129-135.