Does good policy mean good practice? Release was granted by these university students

Purpose of case study Target audience: Policy & Governance Units, Subject Coordinators, Heads of School, Academic Conduct Advisors, Teachers (sessional and tenured), Administrative Staff Key issue: Determining and addressing any barriers that might prevent the implementation of a university’s academic integrity policy. Purpose: To assist staff to work through their own policy to understand their own and their colleagues responsibility with respect to policy implementation Materials: Full case scenario; University policy; selected readings (eg. Bretag et al., 2011). 2 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Our research Analysis of the academic integrity policies of 39 Australian universities found:  Exemplary policies displayed 5 key elements ease of Access educative Approach shared Responsibility Detail regarding types and range of breaches, processes and outcomes Support systems to facilitate the enactment of the policy  Many university policies do not adequately address one or more of these key elements. 3 Academic Integrity Standards Project

The Case An large Australian university has faculty-based practices to address issues of academic misconduct (ie. no institutional policy on academic integrity). Problems of mixed messages and inequity of process across the institution. Institutional policy developed along with extensive supporting materials to assist staff in the implementation of the policy. After five years there is only limited uptake of the policy due to a variety of reasons. 4 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Considerations… “having a good set of policies on paper does not necessarily translate into good practice on the ground..” (Lee & Faulkner, p 89) An institutional culture of academic integrity is central to the successful implementation of even a good policy. The question becomes how this can be achieved……. 5 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Questions for discussion What does your university’s policy do to support the efforts of staff when dealing with academic integrity breaches by students? How simple is the reporting process at your university? How much work is involved in the process for the staff member who first suspects that or identifies that an instance of academic integrity breach has occurred? What measures are in place at an institutional level to keep staff (particularly sessional staff) informed of the university policy on academic integrity? 6 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Questions for discussion… What measures are in place at the Faculty or School level to keep staff (particularly sessional staff) informed of the university policy on academic integrity? How well does your university’s policy on academic integrity measure up against the five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy outlined in Bretag et al. (2011) Do you have any suggestions for how your university’s academic integrity policy and processes can be improved? 7 Academic Integrity Standards Project

Conclusions Successful implementation of an institutional academic integrity policy requires: 1. The policy to include the five core elements as outlined in Bretag et al. (2011). 2. Organisational barriers need to be addressed including: adequate publicity and promotion changes to organisational practices line managers need to embrace the policy and train and encourage their staff as necessary in the appropriate practice and implementation Rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the implementation and impact of the policy is required (Lee & Faulkner, 2010). 8 Academic Integrity Standards Project

References and resources Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., East, J., Green, M., James, C., McGowan, U., Partridge, L., Walker, R. & Wallace, M. (2011). Academic Integrity Standards: A Preliminary Analysis of the Academic Integrity Policies at Australian Universities, Australian Universities Quality Forum, 29 June-1 July, Melbourne, Australia. Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., James, C., Green, M., East, J., McGowan, U. & Partridge, L. (2011). Core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy in Australian higher education, International Journal for Educational Integrity, Vol 7(2), pp. 3-12, available online: Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., McGowan, U., East, J., Green, M., Partridge, L., & James, C. (2012, under review). ‘Teach us how to do it properly!’ An Australian academic integrity student survey, paper submitted for review to Studies in Higher Education, 5 April East, J. (2009). Aligning policy and practice: An approach to integrating academic integrity. Journal of Academic Language and Learning, 3(1), A38-A51. Lee, L. & Faulkner, W. (2010). Turning good policies into good practice: Why is it so difficult? International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology. 2(1), pp Academic Integrity Standards Project

For further resources from the Academic Integrity Standards Project, please go to: Support for this project/activity has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License 10 Academic Integrity Standards Project