Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*

3-6 July, 2002
The University of Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

Influencing Academic Integrity: A Process of Institutional Change

Julia Christensen Hughes, University of Guelph, Canada

Academic integrity is at the heart - the core value - of the academic enterprise. Achieving it requires an ongoing commitment by all levels of the university community. Unfortunately, recent articles in academic journals and the popular press have brought into question our collective success in living this value. This workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to further their understanding of academic misconduct and to reflect on what steps they might take in support of academic integrity on their own campuses. Participants will be asked to compare their perceptions and assumptions with statistics on self-reported student and faculty behaviour. They will also have the opportunity to learn about an institutional change process, facilitated by the Director of a teaching centre, in support of a culture of integrity at one Canadian university. The change process included adapting a survey from the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University in the U.S., constructed by Dr. Don McCabe, and surveying all students, teaching assistants, and faculty. The strategies used for generating senior administration, student, and faculty buy-in will be presented, along with the actual survey instruments used and key results. Participants will be asked to discuss what steps the University might take in response to the issues identified. Following, participants will be asked to reflect upon what steps they are taking, or might take in the future, in support of academic integrity on their own campuses.

Key words: Integrity; Misconduct; Change

Objectives, outcomes and activities:

To explore academic misconduct (ie, what it is, what forms it takes, why it is increasing)
To identify steps the head of a teaching center might take, to help his or her university
explore academic misconduct and foster a culture of integrity.
To identify steps a university might take in response to specific survey data on academic misconduct.

Dr. Julia Christensen Hughes is an Associate Professor and Director of Teaching Support Services (TSS) at the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada. TSS is responsible for instructional development, learning technologies, courseware development, classroom planning, and classroom technical support. Julia is particularly interested in how instructional development offices/teaching centres can help facilitate large-scale institutional change in support of learning and teaching. Julia has made numerous conference presentations on such topics as: effective classroom design, achieving learner-centredness, universal instructional design, facilitating institutional change, and service learning.

Contact: Julia Christensen Hughes, email: jchriste@uoguelph.ca