ACADEMIC HONOR POLICY AND GRADE APPEALS SYSTEM Jennifer N. Buchanan, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President for Faculty Development and Advancement Jennifer N. Buchanan, Ph.D. Assistant Vice President for Faculty Development and Advancement THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Academic Integrity Survey  FSU mirrors other universities  Faculty and teaching assistants as primary sources of information  Students and faculty disagree on what constitutes “serious” cheating  Hope to do survey again in

Ways Undergraduates Reported Cheating  Sharing assignments (65%)  Unauthorized collaboration (41%)  Copying a few sentences from internet without citation (39%)  Copying a few sentences from written source without citation (38%)  Helping someone cheat on test (10%)

Faculty/Student Opinion Differences  Students rated the severity of penalties as higher (60% high/very high) than did faculty (15% high/very high)  Students rated faculty members’ understanding of the policy as higher (77% high/very high) than did faculty (25% high/very high)

Honor Code Assumptions  Strong majority of students (56%) disagree that they should be responsible for monitoring others  Unlikely to report fellow students (80%)  Even less likely to report friends

Conclusions and Themes  Cheating happens  Students assume you know more than you do about academic integrity  Students look to you for cues about whether cheating will be tolerated  Students will hesitate to inform  Prevention is important  Our involvement is critical

Prevention  Mutual respect between student and instructor  Syllabus  Confident verbal reinforcement  Teaching meaning of plagiarism, esp. paraphrasing  Making cheating more difficult  “Turn-it-in.com,” “SafeAssign” and other resources  Following through (learn policy)  Have a plan for test-time (verify independently)

Academic Honor Policy  Faculty play central role  Charges explained in detail  Graduate student cases  Responsibility to clarify group work and multiple submission expectations  Procedural Notes (check for prior record)  Sanctions  Resources

Academic Honor Policy By Semester (Since New Policy in Fall 2005)

Academic Honor Policy Violations by Academic Year (New Policy Effective Fall 2005 )

Cases and Outcomes

Grade Appeals System  Also involves integrity  Emphasizes centrality of faculty judgment in grading process  Grade must be imposed in an arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory manner to be overturned  Starts with evaluation (grading) standards expressed in syllabus  Minimize exposure through consistency

Resources  Office of Faculty Development and Advancement website under Academics – Academic Honor Policy or Grade Appeals System  General Student Grievance Process  Supervising faculty member  Department chair  ODL resources at: es/plagiarism.cfm es/plagiarism.cfm  Me