About Academic Integrity
Academic integrity has got several definitions. However, the baseline of these definitions is that any work done by students is required to be honest whereby the ideas and writing that has been borrowed should be cited properly. The students should be able to submit their original work for assignments and tests without having assistance from unauthorized parties. Students should not give assistance to fellow students when they have not been authorized to do so. In the reporting of accomplishments or research, students should do so in an accurate manner that will help the teachers evaluate them from a genuine perspective. By doing this, it gives the teachers an easy time to see where the students have weaknesses and how they can help them.
Academic integrity is composed of a set of core principles and values that underwrite admission of students in to any school. The values include; academic honesty, integrity, hard work and determination to translate professional and personal principles in to someone’s behavior. This gives a reflection of what students should be experiencing whilst in any school. It also provides students with a degree that is worth their own sweat. Academic integrity has to be employed by two parties in the education system (Bleeker, 2007). One of the parties is the students who have to value ethics and place it at the heart of their degree. All of the students should embrace academic ethics and strive to excel on all occasions by depending on their own work. If one student depends on his or her own work, and then the other students around do not, then most likely they will demoralize the honest student and this will downgrade the academic integrity of the education they are receiving. The other party that must embrace academic integrity if the faculty, because they need to understand their students and ensure that the students are given the best education that will help safeguard future lives. The faculty must ensure that students are able to perform optimally with honest and high standards of working.
There are several ways that can be employed to ensure that students are barred from submitting materials that they did not work to make so that they gain some academic credit. Some of these methods is for the school administration to be exceedingly firm and strict about enforcing the academic integrity law in the school. The administration should be able to impose penalties for any students who are found to be copying any material without acknowledging the previous owner of the material. Students want to achieve satisfactory grades in school although they do not want to work for them. This tempts the students to start cheating and copying works that have been done by others so that they get the top grades.
Teachers can also help by setting clear standards and rules that should be adhered to when doing assignments and tests. The assignments should be properly cited to avoid plagiarism. Teachers should be able to motivate and inspire students to have integrity in their work by giving positive remarks about specific jobs and how they are supposed to work on their assignments. The school administration should have its students sign an honor statement before doing a test or assignment to ensure that they will not cheat and if they do the statement outlines the repercussions and penalties. Teachers should be able to monitor examinations to motivate integrity among students and ensure that no form of cheating is taking place. Schools should ensure that students do not talk to each other during the exam time. Students should turn off their electronic devices while they are in the examination room to avoid temptations of looking up for answers in the website. By doing this the school administration, teachers and students will ensure that promotion of academic integrity is done in a manner that is best and fair for everyone.
References
Bleeker, K. C. To Be Honest: Championing Academic Integrity in Community Colleges. New York: Amer. Assn. of Community Col.
Sutherland-Smit. Plagiarism, the Internet and Student Learning: Improving Academic Integrity. Virginia: Taylor & Francis.