Promoting a Culture of Academic Integrity

Every student in our classes is having their own experience, with individual goals, values, and desires for learning. When we make space for student goals and values in coursework, students can find the “why” in their own learning.

• Incorporate project-based learning
• Use authentic assessment design
• Allow learners agency in the assessments (projects, test topics, deliverables, etc.)
• Make explicit connections between the assignment and the learner’s personal or professional goals

We tend to think most deeply about the things we care about. When students have a voice and a choice in the learning process, they may care more, think more deeply, and engage in a manner that leads them toward academic integrity.

• Ask for student feedback throughout the semester
• Incorporate multimodal learning materials
• Give students choice in materials, activities, and assessments

Think about where the power of learning is centered in your classroom. We can design our courses to shift the ownership of learning to the students, empowering them to control their learning. 

• Adopt an “assessment as learning” mindset
• Evaluate the equity and privacy implications of lockdown browsers 
• Allow open book, open note, or even AI on assessments

We can design our courses and assessments to prompt our learners’ best performance, and thereby truly gauge their learning and achievement of course objectives, with a number of strategies.

• Balance high-stakes summative assessments with many low-stakes formative assessments
• Link to key GRCC supports in the LMS
• Allow opportunities for student practice and mastery with guiding feedback
• Give students opportunities to revise and resubmit assessments

Learners might be frustrated, demoralized, or anxious when confronted with a policing mindset (think of lockdown browsers, remote proctoring, and other measures). Instead, we can incorporate tools and strategies to convey unwavering positive regard for students and build classroom community.

• Create a community of inquiry in your classroom (Vaughan et al., 2024)
• Build in learner-learner supports and interaction
• Provide feedback in a wise criticism framework (Cohen, 2022)
• Set shared norms at the beginning of the class
• Assume positive intentions (Garmsten & Wellman, 2016)
• Normalize the use of academic supports and tutoring
• Reconsider flexibility of policies

Many strategies exist to help design “AI-resistant” assignments in cases where the use of AI might hamper learning. These methods capitalize on the areas where AI is less helpful.

• Incorporate metacognitive, reflective, and process-based assignments
• Prompt students to use personal experience and insights
• Focus on new and very recent information
• Create novel case studies or other assessment materials
• Use multimedia in assignments and submissions

In other cases, faculty might consider incorporating AI into certain assignments or activities. AI can be a powerful assistive tool when used ethically and responsibly.

• Use AI to create practice worksheets
• Have students interview AI or participate in AI-run simulations
• Generate an AI essay and have students critique and edit

View additional resources on AI at these links:

• AI Articles & Resources
• STLI 2023: “Apply Motivation and Emotion Sciences to Nudge Students Toward Academic Integrity in an Age of AI”