Reinventing ethical education in Australia: Too Ocker for

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Reinventing ethical education in Australia Too
Ocker for Honour?

• Helen Marsden
• University of South Australia

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Minister for Education to the AVCC, August 2005

• I have raised my concerns about the current
  practices for dealing with all forms of cheating
  and plagiarism in Australian universities ...
• I am also aware that universities are highly
  committed to combating plagiarism in its various
  forms

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Nelson, 2005, continued

• Nonetheless, I believe that there is room for a
  greater emphasis on values and ethics as part of
  any participation in higher education
• and that a Code of Honour could be one way of
  addressing some of the root causes of cheating
  and plagiarism

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(No Transcript)
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Bond University School of Business, 1993
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Honour Code Tradition

• development and nurturance of a strong sense of
  campus community
• greatest effectiveness being found in smaller
  institutions

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The Traditional Honour Code

• unsupervised examinations
• a statement that students are asked to sign that
  have completed their work honestly
• a strong student presence on misconduct boards
• an expectation that students will report
  dishonest acts by peers

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The Modified Honour Code

• a code of ethics that covers both students and
  staff
• strong, ongoing communication of policies and
  practices, and
• student involvement.
• Do not include a student pledge

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Honour in the Australian Context

• academic misconduct policy
• codes of ethical conduct
• academic staff and/or students
• student charter
• rights and responsibilities of students.

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Language of obligation

• Prescriptive and subjugative
• Demands a course of action

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Effective honour codes

• High student involvement
• In development and running of integrity systems
• Culture of integrity
• teaching
• mentoring
• modeling

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Are honour codes effective?

• Traditional code Modified code
  No code
• Exam cheat 23 33 45
• Plagiarism 45 50 56
• from McCabe and Pavelas (2000) study of over
  2000 students on
• 21 campuses.

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An honour code

• Is NOT a document filled with the language of
  obligation

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An academic integrity system

• A system of academic integrity
• multi-faceted paradigm
• Prescribes values of ethical scholarship

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An academic integrity system

• Captures the essence of the academic conduct
  policy
• Sets the tone for a culture of integrity
• Provides a vehicle for good practice