Academic Integrity Resources for Faculty
Talking about Academic Integrity with your Students
By the time you meet with your students, most will have already completed the required AI Module. Note: Students no longer receive a hard copy of the AI Handbook. The handbook is available electronically.
It is important to have a clear Academic Intergity syllabus statement outlining your expectations for coursework, including collaboration and Generative Artificial Intelligence. Talking about specific expectations for assignments as they come up is also helpful to remind students about your course policies.
Setting the tone:
It's important to find a balance between sobering them up to how serious a violation can be AND appealing to their genuine desire not to cheat. AI is central to the college's identity as an institution that promotes gaining knowledge and acknowledging the work of others in that pursuit. You can acknowledge that most students caught seem to express genuine regret, and that usually circumstances clouded their judgment and led to the violation. They need to be prepared to resist that temptation-through reaffirming their own commitments to succeeding on their own and through realizing how damaging a violation can be to completing their degree on time and with the respect of their professors (and their own self-respect).
Talking points:
Talk about Academic Integrity generally:
Talk about integrity as something you have (an attitude; a set of values).
Talk about integrity as something you learn (how to use quotation marks; how to cite; how to paraphrase; how to work carefully to avoid forgetting doing those); emphasize that they may need help to maintain their integrity (from professors or CLT).
Talk about integrity as the foundation for all kinds of positive relationships--with each other and with professors. Don't be afraid to get personal: Talk about why integrity is important to you and what you are trying to achieve as a professor.
Emphasize personal responsibility:
Students need to ask for clarification on allowable collaboration.
Students unsure about citation /paraphrase need to seek help from professor or the writing center.
Students need to insure the integrity of their own work (this includes not allowing others access to their work even just to "help someone out").
Students need to plan ahead so that circumstances don't lead to the temptation to cheat/plagiarize.
Talk about violations: Why they are wrong and strategies to avoid them.
Use of an electronic device during a testing period: Why can't I check my messages during a quiz?
Collaboration: How do you know what is allowable? Why don't professors allow collaboration on all assignments? Why shouldn't I "help" my friends by showing them my work? How can I say "no" to a friend who asks for help?
Lying to improve your grade/standing: What's the big deal with a "white lie?"
Failing to acknowledge the source of ideas and words in written work: Why does anyone care who thought of these ideas first? Why should anyone care if I use other people's words?
Encourage students to:
Read every syllabus
Be careful with collaborative assignments
Ask questions about what resources are and aren't allowed and when, including Generative Artificial Intelligence
Don't let the short term crisis ruin the long term outlook
Live up to their own standards of behavior
Revised September 2024