Promoting academic integrity through robust assessment design
1. Dr Laura Costelloe, Academic Developer
Learning Enhancement and Academic Development Centre (LEAD)
Mary Immaculate College, Limerick @Lostelloe
Promoting Academic Integrity
Through Robust Assessment
Design
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Why focus on assessment design?
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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• Scott (2017): importance of creating a strong environment for
academic integrity;
“We ourselves may be unwittingly creating conditions that
facilitate misconduct through the design of our assessments”
“When we are intentional about incorporating design elements
that limit opportunities for misconduct, we promote a stronger
academic integrity environment. This in turn facilitates a focus on
academic skills development and relationships of trust between
students and between instructors and students”
What the literature tells us…
4. 4
• Walden & Peacock (2006): addressing issues relating to
plagiarism and breaches of academic integrity are best
addressed by engaging with the causes, rather than focusing
solely on detection;
• Owens & White (2013): “assignments must be designed to
ensure that dull, reworded summaries do not obtain strong
marks”
• Egan (2018): “Assessment design that uses scaffolding as a
basis for learning is likely to support student’s incremental
development. Using this approach, as students’ progress
through their academic programmes, their opportunities to
practice and develop their skills will be enhanced”
What the literature tells us…
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• It has been challenging to (re)design robust alternative assessment in the
context of COVID-19, while taking academic integrity into account.
• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
• I am able to access or identify key institutional and sectoral resources to
support the integration of academic integrity into assessment (re)design.
• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree
A few quick questions for you….
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• Prof Sally Brown, building on the work of Conklin &
Hughes (2016) and Jazaieri (2018)
• Assessment design which takes account of the realities
and lived experiences of both students and staff;
particularly important in the COVID-19 context
• For students, this means that they are provided with authentic
and meaningful assessment tasks
Compassionate Assessment
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• 1st Year undergraduate module focused on the
development of academic writing skills
• Students worked throughout the semester on a
portfolio, composed of the following elements:
• A plan for an assignment of their choice from another
module on the programme;
• Writing journal;
• Samples of their writing from assignment/s submitted for
other modules on the programme;
• An annotated bibliography;
• Reflection on the writing process.
Sample Assessment Approach (1)
Received
peer
feedback on
draft writing;
template
provided
Weekly reflective prompts
Reviewed and
commented on
exemplars in small
groups
In-class writing tasks
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Full rubric shared and
discussed in class.
Learning portfolio – focused
on the process as well as the
product.
Reflective pieces, ongoing
formative assessment and
feedback are important
elements of the learning
process, and the overall goal
is to facilitate and document
learning and development
over time (Klenowski, Askew &
Carnell, 2006; see also Scully
et al, 2018)
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• Postgraduate module designed to enable students to
explore some contemporary and enduring issues
impacting on teaching, learning and assessment
practices
• Students participated in a series of in-class debates/group
discussions, in collaboration with the Theories of Learning
and Teaching module;
• Prepared a written response to one of the debate topics,
drawing on the arguments raised during the classes;
• End of semester written exam, using student-generated
questions (pre-approved)
Sample Assessment Approach (2)
(Assessment approach co-designed with Dr Leo Casey, National College of
Ireland)
Rubric
negotiated and
agreed in class
Opportunity for
informal peer
feedback and
learning
Students supported to write
individual exam questions which
are grounded in their particular
academic practice context
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• When it comes to assessment design and academic integrity:
• Consider how assessment design can support broader institutional
initiatives to enhance academic integrity;
• Consider how you can support students to create authentic,
personalised and contextualised assignments;
• Consider self- and peer-assessment for formative feedback;
• Consider compassionate assessment approaches that take
account of the realities of students experiences of remote learning;
• Consider semester-long assessment approaches (e.g portfolios) to
avoid the pressures caused by ‘bunched’ assessments;
• Consider involving students as partners in the design of
assessments and rubrics;
• Consider various assessment types that are appropriate for your
discipline – is there anything that has worked previously for you?
To summarise…
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• Breakout room discussion to explore these themes
further and share some ideas/examples
• Suggested discussion topic:
• How can we best support students to avoid breaches of
academic integrity principles through assessment design
in the online/blended context?
Over to you….
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• DCU TEU Academic Integrity Project: https://teuintegrityproject.wordpress.com/
• IUA Guide to Academic Integrity in Online Assessments:
https://edtldotblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/academic-integrity-in-online-
assessment_covid19.pdf
• National Forum Guide to Selecting Online Alternatives to Common Assessment
Methods: https://www.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/selecting-online-alternatives-
to-common-assessment-methods/
• Profs Kay Sambell and Sally Brown COVID-19 Assessment Collection: https://sally-
brown.net/kay-sambell-and-sally-brown-covid-19-assessment-collection/
• University of Limerick blog post series Promoting Academic Honesty with Online
Assessment: https://www.ul.ie/ltf/blog
Resources
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Bretag, T., Harper, R., Burton, M., Ellis, C., Newton, P., van Haeringen, K., Saddiqui, S. and
Rozenberg, P. (2019) 'Contract cheating and assessment design: exploring the relationship',
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(5), 676-691.
Conklin, H. and Hughes, H. (2016) 'Practices of compassionate, critical, justice-oriented teacher
education', Journal of Teacher Education, 67(1), 47-60.
Egan, A., (2018). Improving Academic Integrity through Assessment Design. Dublin City University,
National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL).
Jazaieri, H. (2018) 'Compassionate education from preschool to graduate school: bringing a culture
of compassion into the classroom', Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, 11(1),
22-66.
Owens, C., & White, F. A. (2013). ‘A 5‐year systematic strategy to reduce plagiarism among
first‐year psychology university students’. Australian Journal of Psychology, 65(1), 14-21.
Scott, S. (2017). ‘From Plagiarism‐Plagued to Plagiarism‐Proof: Using Anonymized Case
Assignments in Intermediate Accounting.. Accounting Perspectives, 16(4), 247-268.
Scully, D., O’Leary, M. & Brown, M. (2018). The Learning Portfolio in Higher Education: A Game of
Snakes and Ladders. Dublin: Dublin City University, Centre for Assessment Research, Policy &
Practice in Education (CARPE) and National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL).
Walden, K., & Peacock, A. (2006). ‘The i‐Map: a process‐centered response to plagiarism’.
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(2), 201-214.
References
Editor's Notes
When we are thinking about creating an institutional culture to promote academic integrity, it is more than about detecting incidences of plagiarism. While it is unquestionably important to create policies and practices to address the problem of plagiarism and contract cheating, there is increasing evidence of the role of assessment design to promote academic integrity. There is lots of opportunities to broaden the discourse and to not only to consider the responsibility of the student not to engage in practices which breach AI principles, but also to highlight the role of the educator in creating opportunities for students to develop and submit assessments which are their own work and which enable them to engage with module and programme concepts in a meaningful and authentic way. So I suppose, we can consider assessment design as being part of the jigsaw to create a holistic approach to promoting AI.
This paper reports on findings from a large Australian research project that explored the relationship between contract cheating and assessment design. Using survey responses from 14,086 students and 1147 educators at eight universities, it examines the influence of a range of factors on the likelihood that different assessment types would prompt considerations of contract cheating in students.
Explain the chart
Overall, four assessment types were perceived by students to be the least likely to be outsourced, however these are also the least likely to be set by educators. By using these assessment tasks more frequently it may therefore be possible to make contract cheating less likely. However, contract cheating is only partly influenced by assessment. It takes place within a teaching, learning and assessment process and is influenced by a range of intersecting individual, contextual and institutional factors.
Recognise the challenges of remote learning and the changes in terms of pressures, isolation and additional caring responsibilities.
The COVID 19 situation provides us with an opportunity to reimagine assessment and move away from traditional forms and approaches.