Academic Honesty 1

Maintaining Academic Honesty

Ryan Nichols ADA Sanction July 19, 2011

Academic Honesty 2 The purpose of this paper is to take an in depth look at the trials and tribulations of trying to maintain academic honesty. We will touch on different types of plagiarism and way to avoid the dreaded P word. Distance learning will be discussed along with the inherent problems todays high-tech world brings to the subject. Hopefully, the following will answer some of the common stigmas related to academic honesty and shed light on the student perspective.

What is plagiarism exactly? A dictionary is not necessary to define plagiarism since anyone with any school experience above grade school has been familiarized with the term. Gambescia (2007) states, Schools over the years have developed, reviewed, and revised policies and procedures that address academic dishonesty... (The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, Vol. 55, No. 1). Plagiarism is a big part of academic dishonesty and is basically attempting to pass off someone elses work as your own. As shady a practice as it sounds plagiarism is not always done intentionally. It is possible to cite or quote a piece of work incorrectly thus plagiarizing said piece of work. It is also possible to paraphrase a portion of someone elses work in your own words thinking that it is your own original thought. The above examples are generally not intended to be plagiarism, but they are no less serious and need to be rectified like any other instance.

It is important that academic institutions take a very active approach towards educating their students about all types of academic dishonesty. Most businesses will have monthly safety training and the same subjects will be covered year after year. The repetition is very important in keeping the information fresh and getting any message across. Many schools offer workshops on plagiarism and academic honesty free to any student wishing to gain knowledge of the

Academic Honesty 3 subject. Caldwell (2010) suggests in his article, The problem of maintaining academic integrity is an issue that requires a cultural change involving students, faculty, and administrators in an integrated process. (Journal of Business Ethics, 92, 1-13). It is not enough to just offer workshops or lectures on academic integrity they need to be made mandatory. It is on the teachers, professors, counselors and administrators to ensure that every student has the necessary facts about academic integrity and knows of the pitfalls of dishonesty. A bold plan of attack would benefit the institution as well as the students. It would be much easier to determine the validity of instances in which academic dishonesty occurs, and the faculty can rest easy with the knowledge that the student should have known better. It would prove difficult for students to plagiarize accidentally when they have all the knowledge and tools it takes to avoid such situations.

Distance Learning is one of the fastest growing forms of higher education in the world. It was always difficult in the past for hard working adults to further their educations in hopes of a better career down the road. The Internet proved the perfect vessel in which to tackle this problem for professional adults. The University of Phoenix is one of the pioneering institutions in the distance learning revolution. Now these professional adults can earn a degree in their spare time with programs that contoured around their schedules. It beats the old way of working all day then spending 4 or 5 hours in a classroom at a local community college. As wonderful as this process of online schools seems it has created a perfect storm for potentially unethical or academically dishonest behavior. The Internet is a vast seemingly endless pit of information where a person or student can find almost anything. The question becomes, just how much can someone learn from an online schools and are they putting forth the necessary amount of effort?

Academic Honesty 4 The answer is, there really is no way of knowing and it is almost impossible for schools to protect against students willing to break the rules. Spaulding (2009) writes, While maintaining academic integrity is of utmost importance in any course of study, it often proves to be an even greater challenge within the online format. (Journal of Interactive Online Learning, Vol. 8, No. 3). There are a large number of sites that were current and former students can sell their old work as tutorials. It is not much of a stretch to imagine that many of these tutorials simply get a new name and date before finding their way into the assignments sections of an online class. It appears that as faculty and administrators become more and more aware of the way students can be dishonest new protocols will be developed to combat any academic dishonesty. It will no doubt be an ongoing battle against academic dishonesty, but newer more secure online campuses should prove formidable to potential cheaters in the not to distant future.

If we were being completely honest with ourselves it would be foolish to dream of a world in which plagiarism and academic dishonesty will become a thing of the past. Where that a possibility there is probably that aliens would come to Earth and instill an age of world piece. Most people generally have some sort of moral compass, which includes an understanding of both right and wrong. The thing is that in the right situation peoples compasses can just stop working all of a sudden. It is easy for someone to rationalize doing something that would generally be considered wrong like being academically dishonest. Regardless of anything a school or University does to combat academic dishonesty it will always begin and end with the student. Before someone decides to pass off another persons work as their own they need to ask themselves if it is a worthwhile proposition. Would it be worth potentially tanking your academic career or even hindering your professional career? What about the person whose work

Academic Honesty 5 you are stealing, how would you feel where you in their shoes? The simple fact is dishonesty will always be an option, and some people will take that path. Hopefully with improving security and plagiarism detection that path will prove to rocky for most.

Academic Honesty 6 References

Spaulding, M. (2009). Perceptions of Academic Honesty in Online vs. Faceto-Face Classrooms. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 8(3), 183-198. Retrieved from EBSCOhost July 15, 2011.

Gambescia, S. F. (2007). A Best Practice Protocol for Handling Academic Honesty Issues with Adult Students. Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 55(1), 47-55. Retrieved from EBSCOhost July 15, 2011.

Caldwell, C. (2010). A Ten-Step Model for Academic Integrity: A Positive Approach for Business Schools. Journal of Business Ethics, 92(1), 1-13. Retrieved from EBSCOhost July 15, 2011.