This document discusses academic integrity and cheating in higher education. It provides findings from a survey that found 6% of students admitted to cheating and 27% provided another student with a completed assignment. Factors associated with cheating included being male, speaking a language other than English at home, and attending a Group of Eight institution. The document recommends supporting students, using less cheat-able assessments, and ensuring processes to detect, report, and penalize cheating. It also discusses essay mills, ghostwriting services, and Navitas' framework to promote academic integrity through principles of assessment design, student support, and institutional policies.

1. Academic integrity: Shining a
light on cheating and
ghostwriting
Ann Wilson, Senior Academic Developer,
Learning, Teaching and Innovation

2. Agenda for the session
• What is academic integrity?
• Explore some findings and ideas from the Academic Integrity
conference
• Explore the Navitas Academic Integrity framework

3. What is academic integrity?
We need to talk about cheating and plagiarism
What examples of cheating have you
encountered?

4. MyMaster Scandal
2015
SBS Pens for Hire
SBS The Feed 2015

7. How big is the problem?
• 6 per cent of higher education students in an Australian
nation-wide survey across 10 institutions admitted to cheating
on exams and/or assignments.
• 27 per cent had provided another student with a completed
assignment
• 0.2 per cent (2 000 students) had somebody else take an
exam for them
• 18 per cent of these cases students used a commercial service

8. Findings from the survey - students
• males account for 54 per cent of cheaters,
• 40 per cent of the entire sample speaking a
language other than English at home.
• Two thirds of cheaters were domestic
students
• 55 per cent of them were at Group of Eight
institutions

9. Findings from the survey - students
• The survey also found that while well over 90
per cent of honest students thought all
cheating behaviour is wrong some
• 46 per cent did not object to
buying/selling/trading notes.

10. Findings from the survey - staff
• 68 per cent of surveyed staff suspected some of their students had
outsourced assignments but only 56 per cent of those that did handed the
matter to Academic Integrity staff. An alarming 8 per cent ignored the
issue, with the remainder acting themselves.
• Staff reported that penalties in proved cases of outsourced assignments
range from warnings (37 per cent), through zero marks (27 per cent) to
exclusion (2 per cent). “Penalties seem far more lenient than those
recommended in the literature,” the survey report states.
• In cases of exam “assistance” 46 per cent of students were warned or
counselled, 11 per cent allowed to re-sit, with 36 per cent marked zero
and 12 per cent excluded.

11. Recommendations from project
• support the development of ‘personalised teaching and
learning relationships’ with students
• recognise the particular needs of international and LOTE
students
• use assessments that are less likely to prompt outsourcing
• ensure processes of breach detection, reporting,
substantiation, penalisation and communication
• support campaigns to get students more concerned about this
problem

12. • ICAC investigation into corruption in higher education 2016
• TEQSA request to all higher education providers for “assurance of
academic integrity”
• Quality assurance of academic standards and outcomes
• Section 2.9 of the Australian University Provider Category Standards: The
higher education provider has systematic, mature internal processes for
quality assurance and the maintenance of academic standards and
academic integrity.
• Section 3.9 of the Australian University College Provider Category
Standards: The higher education provider has systematic, well developed
internal processes for quality assurance and the maintenance of
academic standards and academic integrity.
•
12

13. Things to consider – from TEQSA guidelines
• Are systematic processes in place at all levels
to prevent misconduct and maintain academic
integrity?

14. APCEI conference

15. Tracey Bretag research on contract cheating – internal and external factors

16. Internal Factors (Bretag)

17. Essay Mills, Ghost writers
How much do you think it costs to produce a
3 000 word essay, 14 day return, final year, credit
level?

18. Essay Mills

19. Who writes the essays?

20. Comments?

21. Navitas Framework
Navitas values
Academic integrity is a central element of the Navitas value of ‘honesty, as:
• Essential in maintaining high academic standards, where work is
conducted honestly and appropriately referenced;
• A shared responsibility including management, teachers, professional and
administrative staff and students;
• Developmental, with a shared framework, policies and procedures that are
clear, accessible and understood by all stakeholders available and
embedded into learning.

22. Principles of Academic Integrity
• Assessment design
The design and structure of assessment is such that academic honesty is
actively supported.
• Student support strategies
Students are provided with a range of resources that will support their
understanding and practice of academic honesty
• Policy and institutional frameworks
There are clear guidelines and policies in place which not only assist in the
identification of plagiarism but also a set out the protocols and procedures
when and if academic honesty is challenged

23. Checklist for Assessment designers (course coordinators,
teachers)
• the pacing, timing and workload demands of assessment, are spread evenly through the
course. Where no one piece of assessment carries more that 50% of the marks
• consideration is given to the types of questions that are asked in the assessment, more
reflective pieces, which focus on work covered in the class sessions for example, students
writing about how they applied peer feedback, or perhaps scaffolding where students submit
a first draft, or a literature review, which builds into a final piece.
• assessment tasks are reviewed and refreshed each iteration of the course
• Integrated assessment design is practised, where one assessment builds on and uses
materials from other assessment.,
• viva voce is built into tasks, so students are aware that for any piece of assessment they may
be called to answer verbal questions on their assessment, such as how the researched it,
what sources they used, what strategies they used for development.
• Learning journals or logs require students to record the construction of the assessment item,

24. Checklist for markers
• Strategies identified that will assist markers in
identifying anomalies, for example a student
with usually poor English skills producing work
that is exemplary. This will involve keeping
records and also examples of student work for
comparison.

25. Checklist for Student support
• Academic integrity modules are developed, delivered online self-paced
that explore the issues, with self-paced quiz, and incentives included such
as badges awarded for completion. Requirements to complete these are
included in course materials, and minor sanctions included for non-
completion.
• To ensure students have the skills and knowledge to underpin academic
integrity, support is provided in the form of discipline based access to
study skills, writing skill workshop, time management making it clear what
the correct procedures are: details about correct referencing, and citation,
Support in how to write in their own voice, rather than in the authors

26. Checklist for Administrative support
• Clear protocol for those examples of academic dishonesty when detected,
uniformly applied across the program
• The policy and procedures regarding academic integrity are easy to read,
clear and concise and made available to all students on enrolment, and all
teachers and markers on employment
• Students acknowledge that the work is their own and understand that
there would be serious consequences if that turned out not to be the case
• an institutional framework regarding levels and recurrence of academic
dishonesty, with student records, are maintained
• Text-matching software such as Turnitin, or other similarity checkers are
introduced and used as part of educational processes

27. Checklist for Institutional frameworks
• There is a clear and common understanding amongst students and staff
about what constitutes plagiarism and academic dishonesty
• There are clear guidelines and policies in place which set out the protocols
and procedures when and if academic honesty is challenged and uniformly
applied across the institution
• Strategy in place for the detection of academic dishonesty, for example,
students work and achievement is monitored across the programme
• The materials might include, definition of Academic integrity, institutional
values, what is plagiarism, strategies for paraphrasing, referencing,
citations, quoting, from sources, and from group work with quizzes. There
is a need for a discipline integrated practice session regarding these skills

28. Questions