We understand general academic integrity events as those that don’t target any one of the six values that underwrite academic integrity in particular. Rather, general academic integrity events aim to inform participants about academic integrity generally or how to maintain academic integrity as a participant in the academy.
Example 1: Exploring and Promoting Integrity in the Classroom through Targeted Assignments
This event is geared toward helping faculty, staff, and graduate teaching assistants understand how to explore and promote academic integrity in their classroom through targeted assignments. This works best when run by an individual from a specific discipline for that specific discipline, since they are in a better position to understand the sorts of assignments and techniques used in the classroom of that discipline.
Targeted assignments are simply assignments that target a specific idea or skill. For instance, we often take for granted that students understand what plagiarism is. In fact, standards for what is and what is not plagiarism vary widely across disciplines. So, it's not surprising that many students are unsure what the standards are in your classroom.
Thus, a lesson this event would canvass, then, is one with a targeted assignment at its core. The assignment asks students to read three source passages and several non-source passages that were construsted using those source passages as a resource. Students are asked to write a sentence or two stating (a) whether they thought the non-source passage represents a plagiarized passage or not, (b) if they thought it was plagiarism, they are asked to explain why they thought so, and (c) state what they would do were they the author to avoid plagiarizing.
Another targeted assignment that develops students’ understanding of academic integrity focuses directly on the values underwriting it. This lesson asks students to pick one of the values and unpack it in various ways. In the end, students form groups. The first grouping is of students who chose the same value. After they discuss how they unpacked the value with each other, they break up to form different groups. The second grouping is of students who chose different values. Students are encouraged to have as many values represented in their second group as they can. Once the second groups are formed, students share their understanding of the value they chose to focus on.
You can add other targeted assignments to the event. The idea is to use this space to provide participants with a number of assignments they could use to help promote, highlight, or encourage respect for academic integrity in the classroom and beyond.
Example 2: How to Use Rubrics
This event focuses on helping faculty, staff, and graduate teaching assistants develop their understanding of how to use rubrics and why. Using a device that explains what differentiates an excellent paper, project, or other assignment product from a good one, and a poor one like a rubric helps to maintain consistency in grading, helps to establish trust, shows students you are attempting to hold yourself accountable to them, as well as doing other academic-integrity-wise excellent things. Thus, an event focused on how to use rubrics is a great way to highlight a way to have integrity in the academy.