Collaborative Partners Conference

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• Collaborative Partners Conference
• 2nd July 2008
• Our Academic Integrity Policy
• What you need to know!
• Jules Cassidy Chair of the Academic Integrity
  Group, Leader In Learning Teaching SSMCS
• Toby Grainger Head of Student Compliance
  Responsibilities, Chair of the Responsible
  Officers Group

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UELs Academic Integrity Policy

• Rationale
• As a learning community, we recognise that the
  principles of truth, honesty and mutual respect
  are central to the pursuit of knowledge.
  Behaviour that undermines those principles
  diminishes us, both individually and
  collectively, and devalues our work. We are
  therefore committed to ensuring that every member
  of our University is made aware of the
  responsibilities s/he bears in maintaining the
  highest standards of academic integrity and of
  the steps we take to protect those standards.

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Academic Integrity Policy

• Our Academic Integrity Policy sets out 9
  principles
• Our Academic Integrity Policy frames our revised
  Assessment Regulations
• Our Academic Integrity Policy aims to establish
  consistency of treatment across the university
  essential to ensure equality of experience for
  all students at UEL

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School Meetings

• School Meetings are central to how we deal with
  all (but the most serious) first breaches of our
  Assessment Regulations
• School Meetings are conducted by the Leader of
  the module where the breach of regulations occurs
  
• This locates first offences within a pedagogic
  as well as disciplinary context
• Partner institutions need to develop a suitable
  process that will facilitate the School Meeting

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School Meeting

• First offences meriting Level A penalties
• dealt with at School and module level at UEL
• Partner institutions need to develop appropriate
  processes see previous slide
• Offences meriting more severe penalties
• dealt with by Head of Student Compliance
  Responsibilities
• Partner institutions should consult with UELs
  Head of Student Compliance Responsibilities,
  Toby Grainger, in re this type of offence

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School Meeting

• Meeting structure is defined
• by the School Meeting Report Form which ensures
  consistency of treatment across UEL
• School Meeting Report Form
• provides a structure to follow (and a handy
  check list)
• Module Leaders will normally conduct the School
  Meeting accompanied by another colleague

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School Meeting

• Vivas
• new regulations make specific reference to vivas
• used in School Meetings to help establish whether
  a student is familiar with a piece of work that
  s/he says s/he wrote)
• Distance learners
• arrangements being developed to deal with
  breaches of regulations in this area
• Partner institutions should consult with UELs
  Head of Student Compliance Responsibilities,
  Toby Grainger

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Conduct of School MeetingThe School Meeting Form
To be completed by the Responsible Officer, or
the Head of Student Compliance and
Responsibilities please complete all
sections. The Responsible Officer is any person
trained in School Meeting procedure At the end
of this session you will all be trained
Responsible Officers
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Conduct of School Meeting

• Assessment Offence Regulations (with particular
  reference to plagiarism/collusion, or behaviour
  in examinations, as appropriate) explained to
  student
• Yes/No
• Relevant Regulation Part 8 of UELs Manual of
  General Regulations
• Definition
• 1.1 an assessment offence is defined as any
  action(s) or behaviour likely to confer an unfair
  advantage in assessment, whether by advantaging
  the alleged offender or disadvantaging
  (deliberately or unconsciously) another or
  others.

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Examples of Assessment offences

• (a) Importation into an examination room of
  materials other than those which are specifically
  permitted
• (b) Reference to such materials (whether written
  or electronically recorded)
• (c) Copying the work of another candidate.
• (d) Disruptive behaviour (e.g. smoking
  unacceptable noise e.g. from a mobile phone)

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Plagiarism and Collusion

• (e) The submission of material (written, visual
  or oral), originally produced by another person
  or persons or oneself, without due
  acknowledgement, so that the work could be
  assumed to be the student's own
• includes incorporation of significant extracts
  or elements taken from the work of (an)other(s)
  or oneself, without acknowledgement or
  reference, and the submission of work produced
  in collaboration for an assignment based on the
  assessment of individual work. (Such offences
  are typically described as plagiarism and
  collusion.)

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Plagiarism and Collusion

• (Note To avoid potential misunderstanding, any
  phrase not the students own or submitted by
  the student for a different assessment should
  normally be in quotation marks or highlighted in
  some other way.
• It should also be noted that the incorporation of
  significant elements of (an)other(s) work or of
  ones own work submitted for a different
  assessment, even with acknowledgement or
  reference, is unacceptable academic practice and
  will normally result in failure of that item or
  stage of assessment.)

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Tariff of Penalties

• Tariff of penalties (Paragraph 7 of the
  Assessment Offence Regulations) explained to
  student Yes/No

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Conduct of School Meeting

• Suspect work/invigilators report shown to
  student (together with, where appropriate,
  plagiarised sources, or other evidence of an
  offence)
  Yes/No
• Student agrees that s/he breached the Assessment
  Offence Regulations Yes/No
• Student accepts proposed penalty Yes/No

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Conduct of School Meeting

• Student advised on plagiarism, or examination
  behaviour (where appropriate) and on how to avoid
  future offence Yes/No
• Student given academic integrity leaflet (showing
  resources available to improve referencing and
  academic writing skills and how to access them)
  Yes/No
• Agreed decision
• Students signature
• Staff signature(s)

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Additional Information

• Principle 6 of the AI policy requires that our
  Students understanding of good practice in the
  referencing and acknowledgment of the work of
  others will be tested and certificated within the
  first semester of their studies
• - the Academic Integrity Quiz is located on the
  Student Academic Integrity site in UELs virtual
  learning environment, UEL Plus
• If your students have access to UEL Plus they
  should have access to the Quiz

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Additional Information

• Principle 9 of the AI policy requires that we
• will organise an annual academic integrity
  awareness campaign and regularly draw our
  assessment offence regulations to students
  attention
• UEL holds an Academic Integrity Week each
  semester but
• you may decide to make your event an annual one

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More information?

• For further information regarding operation of
  the Academic Integrity Policy please contact your
  link person or Toby Grainger t.j.grainger_at_uel.ac.
  uk
• or Jules Cassidy
• j.cassidy_at_uel.ac.uk