Author: Dr Katherine Sugars, Murdoch University
Focus area: Partnering with students
Academic misconduct is a wicked problem; we need a cornucopia of strategies. I find building a sense of belonging can reduce ad hoc misconduct risks and has a positive effect on student commitment to academic integrity — individually and as a social group norm. Designing a learning space around belonging has multiple other benefits. It:
- helps students engage and dive into novel learning experiences
- strengthens relationships and trust
- enhances individual wellbeing.
The more my students teach me about their worldview, the more I can make sense of their experiences and actions. I can then be more purposeful in my unit design and teaching and improve outcomes. I am not the only one who finds that increased agency in a more predictable learning space inspires commitment to learning and group wellbeing. In the context of academic integrity, this can mean to do what is right and fair for everyone, and cooperate with group rules, until they become second nature: Just what we do here.
I teach an academic skills unit for international master’s students, typically those who have newly arrived in Australia. Most of my students are Bhutanese with an eclectic mix of other nationalities; differences matter, as do common woes. The challenge is to build a shared identity and a classroom experience that is flexible and engaging but includes non-negotiables — in this case academic integrity. Students must adapt, but I can too (within policy constraints). I can build bridges, move boundaries, re-order priorities, be responsive to shifting needs of cohorts and individuals, and I can see myself as one of “us” while we journey together.
Coming to Australia to earn a degree is a big transition. It is not just logistics, culture shock or even homesickness — it is social standing and security in their understanding of the world and their place in it. Former professionals work as Uber drivers, cleaners or in aged care and struggle to pay rent. Expectations and reality are far apart. The rules seem to make life harder and more confusing. It takes time to regain stability, self-confidence and belongingness, and this comes from finding agency, choosing our own actions and learning what to expect in response.
How can this understanding influence unit design and class activities?
First, I design for and teach whole human beings, who are courageous and capable, and who are dealing with a lot of stuff right now. Be kind and empathetic, actively affirm this shared experience. I use their life experience as a topic for class activities and assessments. I resist saying everyone is in the same boat, even though it is true, because this diminishes their experience and is disempowering, a conversation stopper (as are judging and fixing). I try not to think “they made their choice” even when I am mad at them, because this happened in the past and can’t be fixed. It is useful for judging but not problem solving (same with “should” and “should have”).
I provide all the stability and predictability I possibly can. Help them build a connected support structure, in class, on the learning management system (LMS), within the university and with classmates, friends and family. Stabilise their learning environment. Not in a rigid way, but rather a routinely engaging, welcoming, easy-to-participate and fun way. Remove unnecessary barriers and make acting the way you hope the easiest and most rewarded choice. Attendance is the first step in relationship building and, oh yes... learning. I see myself as a key support person. The more students sense I care for them, the more they commit to genuine engagement in my unit. I try to make it easy to get it right.
Global grand challenges and real-life experiences make great topics for practicing academic skills. There is no right (or wrong) answer and they offer something for everyone to engage with. When giving feedback on weekly journal writing I will often engage with the substance of a student's entry as well as the scholarship. I recall meeting with a student who I had given 5 fails in a row to. I was repeating my mantra, “I want to hear your voice”, and he suddenly looked at me in wonder and said “you really care about what I have to say.” It was a moment. He submitted some brilliant persuasive writing after that. Plus, we were both much happier. The fails weren’t because he couldn’t, or was lazy or entitled, they were because he did not value the activity enough and part of that was because he thought I didn’t value him.
I have had to rethink my priorities. I value genuine voice over polished grammar and spelling (it can be hard to convince students this is true and that it will be reflected in their marks). I value integrity far more than due dates. I recall brainstorming in class “what to do when there is 2 hours until your assignment is due and you haven’t started”. We filled a whole whiteboard (including use ChatGPT, copy from a friend and outsource) and I still needed to be the one to suggest “ask for an extension.”
Bhutanese students have a deep respect for their elders and their teachers, and this can create strange situations where they employ a work-around when I expect them to ask directly. I try to predict when this might happen, with my crystal ball, and be explicit (repeatedly) that questioning is allowed, nay, rewarded and rewarding! I even model being wrong. It may be painful but it's good for my soul. In fact, it is hard to critically engage at all unless you allow yourself to question others and welcome questions without defensiveness.
I encourage even the smallest risk-taking when it comes to learning. I read in a student portfolio that her tutor simply saying her comment in class was excellent changed her whole outlook: her confidence, her commitment to the work and her joy in challenging herself. The risk-taking doesn’t have to be content-related. My Bhutanese students have a wicked sense of humour and are — a surprise at first — fiercely competitive. We play games. Not all students find ‘Fruit salad’ fun, so I’m told in feedback, but laughter and movement change everything. A student might be too anxious to contribute an idea to a group discussion but happy to hip-check me over the last free chair — a step in the right direction, I say. For some students who remain quiet in class, we may dialogue privately via their weekly portfolios - their creations, my responses. Building trust and allowing a safe learning space to conquer anxiety about being judged by others. Silently can be an equally valuable way to conduct an interpersonal learning and teaching relationship.
I make every effort to reduce risk and tragic consequences of mistakes, while establishing a clear cause and effect expectation for misconduct. Early, low-stakes, formative assessment (and best four of five fortnightly submissions) allows for early zeros. I find a zero is remarkably effective individual feedback and normative boundary setting. High-stakes assessments are high security. This minimises my own uncertainty and errors, and lowers the risk of unit failure from one mistake.
I try to be explicit with students about what I expect when it comes to academic integrity —the principle is easy, the details are harder. It is a fuzzy line, because I want them to develop their own good judgement about the use of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) and collaborating with group members. Both can be valuable, both can enhance learning. Errors in judgement can be teaching moments. But deliberately misrepresenting authorship draws a penalty, as does carelessly misrepresenting authorship with the attitude that it does not really matter. I aim to pick it up every time. I’m delusional, I know (I’d love to know my actual hit and miss ratio).
Creating a fun, safe learning space that belongs to everyone helps each student take social and cognitive risks. When I ask students what tempts them to cheat, they say time pressure, not understanding requirements, thinking they will get a better mark and life being overwhelming. I can lessen some of these drivers with technical fixes, but student feedback consistently and overwhelmingly says that knowing their contribution to the group is valued and being supported as a human being, is what they value most. Students report being motivated by this sense of inclusion and mutual regard to have self-confidence and maintain integrity when hurdles appear.
Key lessons or points for implementation
- Reduce disorientation by providing stability and a shared group identity, have fun together, establish academic integrity as a group norm.
- Reassess priorities, be clear and strong on what matters.
- Encourage learning risks, make it safe, make it personal. Make it the best and most enjoyable option for the student to do the work themselves.
- Back-up plan: Stick to your word and penalise academic misconduct.
Academic integrity toolkit