Issues of academic dishonesty split into three areas: 1) how to educate students on what constitutes academic dishonesty; 2) how to design assignments and evaluation situations that discourage or inhibit dishonesty; and 3) what to do once you detect that dishonesty has occurred. It may be surprising to new instructors to learn that... Click for more
Issues of academic dishonesty split into three areas: 1) how to educate students on what constitutes academic dishonesty; 2) how to design assignments and evaluation situations that discourage or inhibit dishonesty; and 3) what to do once you detect that dishonesty has occurred. It may be surprising to new instructors to learn that a considerable amount of academic dishonesty stems from student ignorance of ethical standards and rules. It may not be so surprising to learn that academic dishonesty occurs most when students do not value the learning objective, or do not believe the evaluation is authentic or relevant to them. In this sense, academic dishonesty can sometimes be an instructional issue as well as a student behavior issue. It pays to spend time in every course to remind students of what constitutes plagiarism and cheating, and to remind them of how they will be held accountable. As for assignment and situation design to discourage dishonesty, some suggestions appear in the links below, but you may want to visit with an ITLAL consultant to explore solutions specific to your course. As for what to do when you detect dishonesty (#3), the procedures for reporting dishonesty are clear, and available in the UAlbany Undergraduate Bulletin. We recommend strict compliance to the policies, since they are effective only when applied with consistency. Click for less
