Academic Integrity in the F.A.C.E. of Online Teaching
For many of us, online teaching is a new experience and it can feel overwhelming to reconceptualize some of the traditional face-to-face assignments for students in their virtual classroom. The Centre for Teaching and Learning has developed some tips and suggestions for developing online assessments, but what about academic integrity in this new landscape?
Ensuring academic integrity in an online course takes planning and trust. Be compassionate with your students and yourself. Approach your courses with an expectation that students don’t have the intention or desire to be dishonest. If we communicate to students that we expect they’ll cheat, we’re telling them that we don’t trust them. This can be demoralizing and encourage academic dishonesty because that’s the expectation!
When considering academic integrity, take the F.A.C.E. approach: Flexible, Adaptable, Compassionate, Empathetic!
Flexible and Adaptable
Students are in a new environment now. Some of them never expected to take any of their courses online. They have competing priorities and they’re trying to manage self-directed learning. There are very few students who are hoping to use their online setting to deceive their instructors, but you can eliminate the potential desperation that leads to academic dishonesty by working flexibility and adaptability right into the assessment design and course environment. With this in mind, attempt to create assignments and communicate expectations in ways that are flexible and adaptable:
Communicate clear expectations for each assignment. Students need to know the purpose for an assignment and how they can successfully demonstrate their learning. Providing guidance through multiple media (written, visual, and audio) can help students understand what’s expected of them. Consider creating rubrics to accompany assignments as well.
Don’t forget to tell students what to do if they encounter technical difficulties. Prepare students for using multiple types of hardware, like laptops and phones, as well as software in advance of any major time-sensitive assessment. How can a student adapt if something isn’t working properly? And what happens if things don’t work at all? Lay out a plan for them, and part of that plan should be preparation.
When possible, try and use asynchronous assessment techniques so students don’t need to be online at specific times to complete an assignment successfully.
Consider including “buffers” to account for technological challenges or various time zones. For example, provide a range of a few days for a due date. Instead of requiring an assignment to be submitted on one day at one time, provide some flexibility by allowing students to submit their work anytime between Wednesday and Friday.
Provide multiple opportunities for students to contact you and ask questions. It’s possible to set up a discussion thread in Brightspace for anonymous questions. Ensure students know how frequently you’ll check and respond to email.
Compassionate and Empathetic
In a March 19th message, the Dalhousie University President, Deep Saini, spoke to the “very unusual and unprecedented decisions” that we, as an institution, made over the last few weeks. Because of this, faculty, staff, and particularly our students, are filled with feelings of uncertainty and anxiety. Dr. Saini reaffirmed that the Dalhousie community is built on a strong foundation “grounded in empathy and compassion,” and it’s those characteristics that we must also exercise in our courses when we think about academic dishonesty in our current context.
Ways that you can express compassion and empathy in your online courses include:
Ask students what supports they need to be successful. This can be done by setting up an anonymous survey and sending email messages directly to students. There will be students who may not have identified the need for academic accommodations in their face-to-face courses and find themselves in a situation where they are unsure of where to go for help. Direct students to resources that they can access virtually.
Let students know what’s acceptable and what’s unacceptable for completing each assignment. Do you expect them to work autonomously or in a group? Can they consult their course notes or readings as they complete their work?
If a student doesn’t follow directions exactly as they’ve been communicated, don’t assume their intention was to be dishonest. Address any issue by reiterating the expectations and consulting the university’s policies, which apply to all modes of teaching.
Go back and reiterate the importance of engaging in honest and integrity-based behaviours, especially during a time of transition to an online setting, and that both instructors and students must continue to abide by Dalhousie’s policies of Academic Integrity.
For more information, check out the new Academic Integrity part of the Centre for Learning and Teaching website.
Watch Dalhousie University President, Deep Saini’s message to the community.