Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity Procedure

Policy Code: LT1944

Purpose
Scope
Legislative Context
Definitions
Actions
1A Educating students about required standards of academic integrity
1B Educating academic/teaching staff about required standards of academic integrity
2. Adopting preventative strategies that mitigate the risk of academic misconduct
3. Being vigilant in detecting cases of academic misconduct
Supporting Documents
Responsibility
Promulgation
Implementation
Records Management

Purpose

This procedure supports and mandates the implementation of FedUni's Academic Integrity Policy. It acknowledges that integrity is key to all aspects of education and training and that academic honesty is the responsibility of all members of the University. It identifies behaviours and standards of conduct expected of the University community to encourage a learning environment of academic integrity. It details the actions required to embed these guiding principles and expected behaviours across the organisation. Suspected instances of academic misconduct are to be managed through the Academic Misconduct Procedure.

Scope

This procedure applies to all FedUni students and academic/teaching staff (HE and VET) including those at partner organisations as is consistent with our contractual arrangements. It mandates a framework to support our shared academic principles and behavioural expectations of all members of the University’s community which are in addition to any professional codes of conduct and employment or enterprise agreements.

Additional policies and procedures need to be adhered to regarding the conducting of research. These cover ethics, data management, research integrity and misconduct.

Legislative Context

  • Federation University Australia Act 2010
  • Statute 5.3 – Assessment
  • Statute 6.1 – Student Discipline
  • Regulation 6.1 – Student Discipline
  • Regulation 6.1.1. - Plagiarism
  • The Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2015

Definitions

A complete list of definitions relevant to this procedure is contained within the Academic Integrity Policy.

Actions

1A Educating students about required standards of academic integrity

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

  ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A.                Educating students about the University’s expectations regarding academic integrity University/Academic/ teaching staff
Program Leaders
Course Coordinators
CLIPP Director
  1. Inform students of the availability and recommended completion of an academic integrity Moodle module (available here https://moodle.federation.edu.au/course/view.php?id=44369)
  2. Deliver a standardised presentation to undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students about academic integrity in the first lecture/tutorial/engagement of each course
  3. Create awareness of the University’s commitment to academic integrity by including a statement about academic integrity in course documentation and links to relevant policies/procedures
Graduate Research Office
  1. Offer the Moodle module as part of twice-yearly compulsory induction for higher degree by research (HDR) students.
B.     Educating students adequately and consistently in how to correctly research, present and reference their work in an Australian in educational environment Academic/teaching staff/School
  1. Provide information to students on acceptable referencing practice, including the required referencing style
  2. Direct students to appropriate resources such as the University’s General Guide To Referencing
  3. Alert students to the availability of additional support through, for example, the Library and Student Connect
  4. Provide transparent and consistent feedback to students on issues relating to referencing
  5. Model best practice in teaching materials and research output by acknowledging authorship and contribution to ideas
  6. Provide students from diverse cultural backgrounds with cultural education and practical training in relation to expectations and referencing practices at FedUni
University
  1. In all forms of communication maintains an unequivocal commitment to academic integrity and  and a commitment to academic honesty
  2. Provide referencing resources on the University’s website
  3. Provide and promote on campus and online referencing courses
  4. Promote the benefit and availability of additional support services such as Learning Skills Advisors and the Academic Skills and Knowledge (ASK) program
Students
  1. Understand the importance of maintaining academic integrity not just to meeting university expectations and their program requirements but also to being able to apply their acquired knowledge and skills post-qualification
  2. Understand academic misconduct includes (but is not limited to) the following:
    1. Plagiarism and failures to correctly acknowledge
    2. Contract cheating or paying for another person to prepare an assignment
    3. Submitting (for assessment or review) work prepared by another person
    4. Collusion – that is, the unauthorised collaboration on assessable work with another person or persons.
    5. All forms of cheating in exams
    6. Offering or accepting bribes (money, sexual or other favours), e.g. for admission or for grades
    7. Fabrication or falsification of information
  3. Understand how to research, present and reference their work
  4. Self-educate or seek further assistance if required

1B Educating academic/teaching staff about required standards of academic integrity

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

  ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A.                Providing academic/teaching staff with information about academic integrity Associate Dean Learning & Teaching
Heads of Schools
Deans
  1. Encourage academic/teaching staff to familiarise themselves with the academic integrity Moodle shell produced for students available here https://moodle.federation.edu.au/course/view.php?id=44369).

 
B.                Providing academic/teaching staff with information about: warning signs that may indicate academic misconduct and detection strategies Associate Dean Learning & Teaching
Heads of Schools
Deans
  1. Produce and circulate a standardised presentation that will assist in (i) identifying possible warning signs of academic misconduct when reviewing students’ work and (ii) detection strategies.

Warning signs include (but are not limited to) the following that may require further investigation/review:

  1. High similarity in Turnitin
  2. Differences between student’s spoken and written English and/or differences between the standard of written English in previous assessments compared to the current assessment
  3. Unusual failure to answer the question and/or failing to provide examples relevant to the assessment task (possibly indicating that a standard, off-topic essay/case study has been purchased)
  4. Incorrect bibliographic details eg. journals that do not exist
  5. References that are misrepresented, inappropriate or irrelevant
  6. Inclusion of material that was not covered in class or recommended reading and is markedly outside the scope or above the expected level of the student’s assessment/course/program
  7. Submission of material/computer code/artwork that is of a significantly higher standard than previous work and/or class contributions

Detection strategies include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Become educated about the electronic resources available to students in their discipline
  2. Use search engines to find sites that students are likely to find by using a likely search phrase
  3. Let students know of their awareness of particular sites
  4. Make use of text, image or other media matching detection software
  5. Ensure all websites listed in the bibliography are current and contain the information cited
  Academic/teaching staff
  1. Familiarise themselves with University-produced material regarding academic integrity and academic misconduct
  2. Seek clarification where necessary/appropriate.

2. Adopting preventative strategies that mitigate the risk of academic misconduct

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

        ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A. Role modelling academic integrity to students Academic/teaching staff
  1. Ensure material presented to students meets high standards of academic honesty and avoids plagiarism
B.        Designing assessment tasks that lessen the opportunity of cheating/plagiarism Associate Dean Learning & Teaching
CLIPP Director
  1. Support and educate academic/teaching staff in the development and implementation of innovative approaches that may reduce the opportunities to commit academic misconduct
All academic/teaching staff and Faculties
Course Coordinators
  1. Use essay topics/scenarios/worked examples/case studies that rely on analysis and evaluation rather than collection and description
  2. Do not set the same assignment topic semester after semester
  3. Use alternatives/variations to standard assignments eg. require students (or a sample of students) to submit progress or non-final reports on their assignments or require students to make a brief presentation (a form of invigilation) in tutorials on their assignments
  4. Where appropriate, make use of an oral examination (viva)
  5. Avoid an excessive number of assessable tasks
  6. Ask students to provide library site and call number and/or website details of all sources
  7. Collect an annotated bibliography before an assignment is due
  8. Insist on evidence for significant claims and do not assess unless provided
  9. Ask students what they learned from a particular task
  10. Make positive use of collaborative work, having provisions to counter ‘free riders’
  11. As appropriate use invigilated assessments
C.        Communicating assessment/examination requirements to students Course Coordinator/Partners/Academics associated with delivery of a course
  1. Communicate requirements as per the Higher Education Assessment Procedure, Higher Education Examinations Procedure and VET Assessment Procedure
D.        Making every effort to avoid academic misconduct by taking responsibility for understanding what constitutes academic misconduct and assessment/ examination requirements Students
  1. Undertake assessment tasks responsibly and with honesty and integrity, and without collusion or cheating
  2. Do not purchase material for use in assessment(s) or submit material (for assessment or review) prepared by another person
  3. Do not collaborate with others on assessment tasks unless collaboration has been deemed permissible in the assessment task
  4. Do not copy other people’s work or allow people to copy their own
  5. Make every effort to reference correctly and not plagiarise
  6. Understand and comply with the legislation and procedures of the University regarding plagiarism and seek help if unclear about the requirements
  7. Be familiar with, and apply, the referencing practices acceptable to the School/Centre
  8. Ensure that all sources of information are appropriately acknowledged
  9. Check and improve assessable tasks using a text matching software tool provided by the University (where relevant and available) prior to submission
  10. Take responsibility for the work that is submitted which includes taking precautions to ensure work cannot be copied, in whole or part
  11. Sign a declaration when submitting each assessment that they have complied with requirements
  12. Actively engage and seek academic support or self-educate based on feedback from academic/teaching staff
  13. Do not cheat in exams and take responsibility for understanding special conditions that apply to their examination. e.g. open book, limited open book, closed book, non-programmable calculators allowed, etc.
E.         Ensuring security of student-submitted assessment/examination materials Course Coordinator/Academic/teaching staff/Partner
  1. Ensure security of assessments as per the Higher Education Assessment Procedure and VET Assessment Procedure
  2. Ensure security of examinations as per the Higher Education Examinations Procedure

3. Being vigilant in detecting cases of academic misconduct

Please note: Staff should refer to the Research Integrity Policy for further information on research matters and guidance on what constitutes Research Misconduct.

  ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY STEPS
A.    Utilising detection strategies Academic/teaching staff
Course Coordinator
Program Coordinator
  1. Familiarise themselves with University-produced material regarding academic misconduct warning signs and detection strategies
  2. Utilise the Academic Misconduct Procedure where academic misconduct is suspected

Supporting Documents

Responsibility

  • Academic/teaching staff and students are responsible for ensuring they comply with this Policy and uphold and promote high standards of academic integrity.
  • Deans, Heads of Schools and Executive Directors/Directors are responsible for monitoring the academic integrity of academic/teaching staff and students, and actioning complaints and/or allegations of breaches.
  • Academic Board is responsible for monitoring the implementation, outcomes and scheduled review of this procedure.
  • Chair, Academic Board is responsible for maintaining the content of this procedure as delegated by Academic Board.
  • Academic Secretariat is responsible for the administration support for the maintenance of this procedure as directed by the Chair, Academic Board.

Promulgation

The Academic Integrity Procedure will be communicated throughout the University community in the form of:

  • An Announcement Notice via FedNews website and on the ‘Recently Approved Documents’ page on the ‘Policies, Procedures and Forms @ the University’ website to alert the University-wide community of the approved Procedure.
  • Academic Induction Program
  • Learning and Teaching Committee

Implementation

The Academic Integrity Procedure will be implemented throughout the University via:

  1. Information Sessions; and/or
  2. Training Sessions
  3. Embedding in preparatory programs for students
  4. Embedding materials in staff induction programs
  5. Development and advertising of Moodle Shell resources

Records Management

NIL

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Academic Integrity Policy 
 


Approval Authority: Academic Board Original Issue 05/10/2017
Policy Sponsor: Chair, Academic Board Current Version: 22/11/2018
CRICOS Provider Number 00103D Review Date: 05/10/2020
Policy Code LT1944