Academic integrity an issue
Chris Dart & Travis Lowry
Issue date: 10/19/04 Section: News
"So we then urged the university to adopt a procedure whereby a student who has a principled objection to the use of Turnitin.com will have an alternative ... But we then said we have to go past this, we have to look at academic integrity in general, and the best way to start that is by getting involved in U.S. Centre for Academic Integrity."
Mitterer suspects that, unfortunately, Brock students will be close to national average when it comes to cheating, and says he sees academic cheating as part of larger problems within our society.
"We look at government and business leaders throughout North American society and we find that they're not always acting on the up-and-up, and it's sort of hard to think that you should be honest every little step of the way if those people aren't," said Mitterer. "So, we think there's been a general decline in integrity."
"Also students nowadays are much busier [than students of previous generations]. It's quite common for students to be taking a full course load, carry a part-time job, have other responsibilities ... it's understandable that under more and more pressure, you'll do what you need to get you through," he said.
"I think also that when cheating becomes common enough, people that wouldn't really be that predisposed to cheat almost feel they have to. This is one thing I hear from my PSYC 190 students all the time, that 'So many people boast about cheating, that I feel that even though I don't want to do that ... I better because otherwise I'm going to end up with a poor grade' ... that's not an excuse, but it provides me some context for understanding," Mitterer said.
John Radue, an associate professor of computer science and the chair of the Taskforce hopes that the survey will bring a new focus on teaching academic ethics.
"There should be a push to teach ethics through the curriculum, so whenever get ... an ethics moment in class, you take the time to illustrate," said Radue.
Mitterer suspects that, unfortunately, Brock students will be close to national average when it comes to cheating, and says he sees academic cheating as part of larger problems within our society.
"We look at government and business leaders throughout North American society and we find that they're not always acting on the up-and-up, and it's sort of hard to think that you should be honest every little step of the way if those people aren't," said Mitterer. "So, we think there's been a general decline in integrity."
"Also students nowadays are much busier [than students of previous generations]. It's quite common for students to be taking a full course load, carry a part-time job, have other responsibilities ... it's understandable that under more and more pressure, you'll do what you need to get you through," he said.
"I think also that when cheating becomes common enough, people that wouldn't really be that predisposed to cheat almost feel they have to. This is one thing I hear from my PSYC 190 students all the time, that 'So many people boast about cheating, that I feel that even though I don't want to do that ... I better because otherwise I'm going to end up with a poor grade' ... that's not an excuse, but it provides me some context for understanding," Mitterer said.
John Radue, an associate professor of computer science and the chair of the Taskforce hopes that the survey will bring a new focus on teaching academic ethics.
"There should be a push to teach ethics through the curriculum, so whenever get ... an ethics moment in class, you take the time to illustrate," said Radue.
