ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT AND
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY RESOURCES FOR FACULTY
Classroom Resources
Faculty are encouraged to utilize these resources in educating their students about academic integrity and what consistutes academic misconduct. Please use the resources in whatever way works best for your course including sending resources directly to students, embedded in online courses, and/or showing in-person.
Academic Integrity at Iowa State Tutorial
(link: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/academicintegrity/)
Our office has created content in Canvas, including a link to the tutorial, discussion posts, a reflection assignment, and a knowledge check that you may consider assigning in your courses. The content can be accessed through the course commons by searching Academic Integrity Tutorial: Office of Student Conduct.
Below are ways you may consider implementing this resource in your course.
- Imbed the reading link into your Canvas course as a resource for students
- Assign the reading and facilitate a class or virtual discussion around the content. Questions could include:
- How would you define academic integrity and why is it important?
- What is the relationship between academic integrity and ethics in your chosen career field?
- What are the benefits of doing your academic work honestly? What do you gain personally and professionally?
- What are the potential consequences of doing your academic work dishonestly, both personally and professionally?
- Assign the reading and require students to answer, download, and submit the questions found under “What is academic integrity and why is it important?”
- Assign the reading and require students to complete the knowledge checks (9 total) and submit screenshots or documentation of completion.
See above link (brown box, second row, last box) for information about investigating Chegg posting and having infringing content removed.
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Faculty and instructors may wish to add specific information in their syllabus related to use of AI content generation. CELT has developed a website with information that may be useful in addressing these concerns, and provides information on potential alternative assignments and assessments. (https://www.celt.iastate.edu/resources/ai-teach-learn/)
Suspected AI-generated coursework referrals will be reviewed similar to any other form of academic misconduct.
A March 30, 2023 article in HigherEdJobs by Dr. Sarah Ruth Jacobs* provide “approaches that faculty can take to protect academic integrity despite” artificial intelligence:
• Openly discuss the ethics of using ChatGPT in a variety of ways. A course policy that specifies allowable uses of the chatbot -- and/or penalties for using it -- can help to manage everyone's expectations. For example, a course might allow for certain uses of ChatGPT, as long as the work includes the chat transcript and an explanation of how the chatbot's output was evaluated, coordinated with other research, and fact-checked.
• Test assignments with ChatGPT. While the chatbot is excellent at summarizing well-established concepts, it is less proficient at complex, novel analysis of individual texts or sections of texts. Entering an assignment prompt into ChatGPT can be a great way for faculty to gauge and then leverage the tool's blind spots. If a student's work does not deeply engage with an assignment, it may not be possible to prove that the work is AI-generated, but the student can still lose significant credit, which should hopefully encourage him or her to do the needed deep work.
• Flip the classroom. Having students do assignments in the classroom creates an opportunity for faculty to assist them, and it also establishes certain baselines for each student's work. When a student's in-class work bears little resemblance to his or her out-of-class work, perhaps a non-punitive, open-minded dialogue will help the student and the faculty member to determine if the student is working in a way that serves his or her best interests (and that is consistent with course expectations).
• Assign more original research, timely issues, hands-on work, or projects requiring personalized/localized knowledge. By asking students to apply course concepts via appropriately challenging original research, faculty can breathe more life into the course material, as well as remove the potential for plagiarism. Additionally, ChatGPT's knowledge ends in September 2021, so asking students to apply concepts to recent events or publications will, at least currently, stump the chatbot.
• Use AI text detection tools with caution. Unlike traditional plagiarism, which usually involves taking exact wording from or lightly rephrasing a source, AI plagiarism is quite often not provable, and faculty members and administrators will perhaps find themselves on the defensive when they are unable to point to any original sources or wording, even when AI detection tools are on their side. Students may have complex reasons for using AI, such as a sense of inadequacy or life circumstances that make completing work on time very difficult. A compassionate approach that seeks to understand and address the root cause of the suspected AI use, rather than a one-size-fits-all lecture or punishment, will most likely hold the highest hope for positive change.
(Making Courses Resistant to ChatGPT Plagiarism)
Faculty are encouraged to provide information in their syllabus regarding expectations related to coursework completion, academic integrity and the academic/grade consequences for students who complete their work dishonestly. CELT and the Office of Student Conduct have created sample syllabus statements:
The class will follow Iowa State University’s policy on academic misconduct (5.1 in the Student Code of Conduct). Students are responsible for adhering to university policy and the expectations in the course syllabus and on coursework and exams, and for following directions given by faculty, instructors, and Testing Center regulations related to coursework, assessments, and exams. Anyone suspected of academic misconduct will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct in the Dean of Students Office. Information about academic integrity and the value of completing academic work honestly can be found in the Iowa State University Academic Integrity Tutorial.