Reframing Academic Integrity: A Focus on Learning

Lang reminds us that academic dishonesty often stems from a mix of student motivation, high-stakes pressure, and poorly structured learning environments. Crucially, many of these factors lie within the instructor’s control. By designing courses that prioritize learning rather than policing behavior, instructors can help students see the value in their education and reduce the temptation to take shortcuts.

Why Students Cheat: Addressing the Underlying Causes

Lang identifies four primary contributors to academic dishonesty:

1. Student Motivation
   • When grades become the sole focus, intrinsic motivation to learn diminishes.
   • Strategies: Shift the focus from performance to mastery through formative assessments, reflective activities, and flexible grading practices.
2. High-Stakes Assessments
   • A small number of high-pressure assignments increases anxiety and the temptation to cheat.
   • Strategies: Break large tasks into smaller, scaffolded components with opportunities for feedback and revision.
3. Unclear Expectations and Course Structure
   • Students are more likely to cheat when they don’t understand the purpose of assignments or the criteria for success.
   • Strategies: Use the TILT (Transparency in Learning and Teaching) framework to make assignment goals, processes, and criteria explicit.
4. Weak Relationships with Instructors
   • Students who feel disconnected from their instructor may feel less accountable for maintaining integrity.
   • Strategies: Build rapport through personalized feedback, regular check-ins, and a strong instructor presence.

By addressing these factors, instructors can reframe academic integrity as a joint endeavor between students and teachers—grounded in trust, transparency, and shared responsibility.

Practical Strategies for Promoting Academic Integrity

1. Design Authentic and Transparent Assignments

• Focus on Learning: Align assignments with clear learning objectives and explain their purpose to students.
• Promote Reflection: Include components that ask students to reflect on their learning process, such as journals, exam wrappers, or “process memos” alongside their final work.
• Encourage Application: Use real-world tasks, case studies, and project-based learning to create meaningful, original assignments that cannot easily be outsourced or replicated by AI.
• Scaffold Assessments: Break larger assignments into stages (e.g., proposal, draft, revision) to make learning visible and reduce last-minute panic.

2. Build a Culture of Academic Integrity

• Explicit Conversations: Begin the semester with an open discussion about the value of academic integrity and how it connects to professional and personal success. Avoid punitive language and frame integrity as essential to learning and growth.
• Revisit the Conversation: Reinforce integrity expectations throughout the semester. For instance, provide quick reminders before assessments and highlight resources like tutoring or writing centers to support students.
• Set Clear Policies: Clearly articulate what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable use of tools such as AI. Include specific examples in your syllabus.

3. Use Low-Stakes and Varied Assessments

• Incorporate frequent, low-stakes quizzes, assignments, and in-class activities to reduce pressure.
• Offer multiple formats for students to demonstrate their learning, such as presentations, portfolios, or creative projects.
• Design assignments that require students to integrate personal experiences, in-class discussions, or unique data sets, making it difficult to use generative AI or other shortcuts.

4. Thoughtfully Navigate AI Tools

In the age of artificial intelligence, instructors face new challenges and opportunities when it comes to promoting academic integrity. Rather than avoiding AI, Lang encourages educators to adapt thoughtfully and focus on learning outcomes:

• Set Clear Guidelines: Include a syllabus statement on appropriate AI use. For instance, students might be permitted to use AI for brainstorming or revising, but not for generating final work without attribution.
• Integrate AI Into Learning: Encourage students to engage critically with AI. Assign tasks that require evaluating AI-generated content for accuracy, bias, and relevance.
• Strengthen Reflection: Ask students to articulate their own thinking process when completing assignments. For example, require annotated submissions that highlight how they used AI responsibly, or reflections on what they learned through the process.

The CTE offers workshops and consultations on navigating AI tools, helping faculty maintain academic integrity while preparing students for a world where these technologies are ubiquitous.

5. Foster Strong Connections With Students

Students are less likely to cheat when they feel seen, supported, and accountable to their instructors. Consider the following strategies:

• Be approachable and responsive in all communications.
• Use individual check-ins—via office hours, emails, or short surveys—to demonstrate care for students’ progress and well-being.
• Provide timely, constructive feedback that emphasizes improvement and mastery rather than just final grades.
• Create opportunities for informal connection through class discussions, group projects, and shared reflections.

CTE Resources for Supporting Academic Integrity

The Center for Teaching Excellence is committed to helping faculty address academic integrity through course design, transparent teaching strategies, and evidence-based approaches to student learning. Support options include:

• Consultations: Meet one-on-one to refine your syllabus, design authentic assessments, or develop AI-resilient teaching strategies.
• Workshops and Webinars: Explore topics like teaching essentials, alternative grading and integrating AI tools thoughtfully.
• Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs): Join interdisciplinary groups to tackle shared challenges, such as promoting academic integrity in the AI age.

A Balanced Approach: Integrity, Learning, and Trust

Promoting academic integrity is not about building barriers—it’s about creating a classroom culture where integrity and learning naturally align. By addressing underlying issues like student motivation and course design, fostering relationships with students, and thoughtfully integrating new technologies, instructors can reduce academic dishonesty while enhancing student engagement.

As Lang reminds us, our focus should remain on teaching strategies that prepare students not just to complete assignments, but to think deeply, act ethically, and grow as learners.