Maintaining academic integrity

Academic integrity is behaving honestly and respectfully in all our academic and professional endeavours. We demonstrate honesty in our teaching, study and publications by producing our own, original work and by correctly acknowledging when we use the work of others to inform ours. Academic integrity is also about being fair. It is being responsible for our own learning, our own work, and having the courage to do the work we need to achieve the outcome we desire.

At Federation University..."academic integrity is the honest and respectful engagement with the scholarships of learning, teaching, research and community. It is an essential moral code to be upheld by the academic community inclusive of staff and students”

View the Higher Education Assessment (inclusive of FedTASKs) Procedure AG1254.

Academic Integrity Module (AIM)

The Academic Integrity Module (AIM is an educative tool that supports students to demonstrate integrity in their academic writing. It outlines the University’s expectations of producing original work and appropriately acknowledging the work of others. The self-paced learning module was created in alignment with TEQSA’s guidelines for academic integrity to educate students about the various forms of cheating, such as plagiarism and collusion. AIM was piloted by selected students in Semester 1, 2018, with great success. Now in its third phase of development, the module makes more explicit the concepts and skills needed to practice academic integrity.

From Summer Semester 2022, the Academic Integrity Module will be integrated into students’ learning and students will be required to complete AIM before submitting their first assignment. The three-part module is designed to enable integration into course curriculum, if desired. Each part takes about 20 minutes to complete.

The Academic Integrity Module (AIM) is embedded in Moodle, the key conduit for course materials at Federation University. Its three-part structure allows specific aspects of academic integrity to be explored more deeply and over a period. The structure offers the opportunity for teaching staff to link the relevant part of AIM directly to aspects of their curriculum, thereby assisting students to understand the relevance of AIM to their course content and assessment tasks. Integrating AIM as a necessary component of a student’s study and learning at Federation will increase students’ engagement levels. This approach aligns with current best practice of embedding academic literacies into the curriculum rather than locating them externally to the course content (Thies et al., 2014).

  • The Staff Guide to Using AIM (pdf, 124kb) is a two-page document outlining how AIM can be integrated into any Federation University course.
  • Contact your Institute Learning Designer or Learning Skills Advisor to discuss the option of integrating AIM into your course.
  • Staff are welcome to enrol in and explore AIM. To request staff enrolment into Academic Integrity Module (AIM), please contact your Institute's Learning Skills Advisor.

To help students maintain academic integrity in all areas of learning and assessment, the following student resources are available for reference or embedding within course materials:

  • Study Skills website: comprehensive academic learning materials for students, including referencing, writing, reading, time management, essay planning, editing, and more.
  • Study Skills: Academic integrity website which includes advice for students who receive notification of a breach of academic integrity.

Academic misconduct is “conduct that conflicts with the principles of academic honesty and academic integrity and leads to an unfair advantage” (Federation University Academic Integrity Procedure, AG1944)

Plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating and other types of cheating, whether intentional or unintentional, is a practice which runs counter to the University’s values of excellence and integrity. There is an expectation that students will prepare and submit work which is their own and acknowledges the work of others.

In the event that you suspect a student has not maintained academic integrity practices within their assessment task, please access the Federation University Academic Integrity Procedure to support your approach to dealing with this situation.

Contact your Institute's Academic Integrity Officer to discuss your Institute’s process for investigating suspected academic misconduct in student work.

Assessment design, development and delivery

How teachers and teaching teams design, develop and deliver assessment tasks can impact on how likely misconduct can occur. Teachers are encouraged to work with their School Learning Designer or Learning Skills Advisor to explore the following:

  • Design – Examples may include regular changing of assessment tasks, use of student reflection or scaffolding to previous tasks, video tasks, live tasks, exam/test question types and wording.
  • Development – Examples may include the use of text matching software, online exam/test software, invigilation, or time allocations and limits.
  • Delivery - Examples may include the embedding of targeted online resources with your course, or utlising the expertise of Library staff or Learning Skills Advisors to deliver task specific supports in class.

Contact your Institute Learning Designer or Learning Skills Advisor to explore elements of assessment design, development and delivery to promote academic integrity, decrease opportunities for academic misconduct and embed resources to support student learning needs.

Resources

Text

Thies, L., Wallis, A., Turner, A., & Wishart, L. (2014). Embedded academic literacies curricula: The challenges of measuring success. Journal of Academic Language & Learning, 8(2), A43-A59. Retrieved from https://journal.aall.org.au/index.php/jall/article/view/301/197

Federation University policies and guidelines

Assistance

  • Contact your Institute Learning Designer or Learning Skills Advisor to discuss educative and preventative measures to support academic integrity in student work through assessment design, development and delivery.