ALISA OPPENHEIMER
News Editor
In a campus-wide email, students were recently reminded of our school’s Academic Integrity Policy and some of the common ways they might be violating this policy without fully being aware of the consequences.
This is because there has been a spike in violations of the Academic Integrity Policy this year.
The email reads: “Unfortunately, there has been an increase in reported violations of the Academic Integrity Policy this academic year. As a result, students have been required to attend academic integrity hearings for alleged violations, and academic sanctions have been given, including a grade of F for courses in which a violation to the Academic Integrity Policy has occurred.”
There are a number of ways in which the Academic Integrity Policy could potentially be violated, but some of the more common ways that have been occurring recently include collusion, or unauthorized collaboration, plagiarism and cheating.
Could this have to do with many classes being virtual this year?
Professor Andrea Zevenbergen believes this could be a contributing factor.
Zevenbergen, Chair of the Academic Integrity Review Board, is fully involved in the student disciplinary process and has recently revised the relevant policies.
“Students may feel more anonymous because they haven’t met their professors face to face,” she said.
Although not being in a physical classroom may make it easier for students to cheat or plagiarize, there are certainly other components to these actions.
“The types of infractions we have been seeing this year nearly all relate to use of websites such as Course Hero and Chegg,” said Zevenbergen.
“Students have been posting answers to exam questions and also plagiarizing answers from such sites.”
Chegg and Course Hero are both websites that operate as online learning platforms, that offer services like textbook rentals, textbook solutions, study guides and online tutoring.
But more often than not, students are taking advantage of these services and not for the better — although both sites state that they do not condone these types of actions.
According to Interim Provost, Keavin Kearns, the increased number of these commercial sites has a lot to do with it, along with having class virtually.
“Students are used to communicating and sharing information online and that, combined with the expanding availability of commercial sites, creates an environment that makes it easy to obtain information,” he said.
“I suspect the anonymity of the online world contributes to the temptation to violate the integrity policy,” he
continued.
Through the recent high numbers of reported violations, both Kearns and Zevenbergen feel as though students may not be fully aware of the integrity policy, and/or may not be fully aware of the extent of the consequences.
“The Academic Integrity Policy is included within the Student Code of Conduct and is part of the academic catalog, but students may not have read that policy carefully or recently,” said Zevenbergen.
“Sanctions range from receiving a grade of zero on the assignment, to receiving a grade of F in the class, all the way up to suspension,” she said.
The Academic Integrity Policy lists four categories of academic dishonesty and these include cheating, plagiarizing, colluding and fraud.
The two main changes recently made to the policy that will be in effect by fall have to do with how faculty handles these violations.
“First, it has been made easier for faculty members to submit Academic Integrity Incident Report Forms as the whole process is now electronic, including signatures,” said Zevenbergen.
“The second change is that if even a single Academic Integrity Incident Report Form is submitted about a student, the student’s advisor will be informed. This is to be able to have the advisor talk with the student about the violation to the policy, to try to prevent further incidents.”
According to Zevenbegen, Fredonia’s ultimate goal for the future is to prevent violations of the integrity policy from happening before they ever do.
In order to achieve this, students must do their part and make themselves aware of how the integrity policy can be violated and the consequences that come along with it.
For a full look at Fredonia’s Academic Integrity Policy, students can click here or search for it on fredonia.smartcatalogiq.com.