Academic Integrity for Students

Cheating is the use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to: 

• any use of books, texts, notes, calculators, applications, electronics, websites, programming code, computers, communication, and conversation with others that is restricted or forbidden during academic exercises
• Copying on tests or final examinations
• Acquiring a portion of assigned academic work from another person or source, or acquiring a copy of or information about a test or exam

Research on academic integrity is often focused on text-based disciplines, as are the related policies and procedures of most colleges and universities. This can cause confusion for both students and educators in regards to what would be considered academic misconduct in programs with math courses/components. The following sections, however, provide strategies for helping students in non-text based fields to learn with integrity and avoid academic misconduct.

• Students sharing their answers with other students when such sharing is not allowed – also see collusion
• Students buying answers from online sources during a test – also see contract cheating
• Students looking for and/or finding their test/answers online – also see contract cheating
• Students using a math app when such apps are not allowed – also see test cheating

• Discuss academic integrity with your instructor
• Discuss acceptable use of math apps with your instructor
  • Does use of an app prevent your achievement of a learning objective, and involve “cognitive offloading” (Dawson, 2020)
• Do not share your work with other students unless approved by your instructor
• Ask instructor for clarification on what “open-book” or “Google” means for a test or other assessment
• Do not provide access to, upload, distribute, sell, trade, or copy any of your course materials
• Do not share tests, exams, or assignments with others
• Do not bring or access unauthorized materials during tests
• Use assessment integrity checklist

• Ask instructor for examples of what students can and can’t share (Sutton & Taylor, 2011)
• Collaborate only with classmates specified by your instructor, and only in the manner which your instructor specifies
• Complete assessments which are assigned individually on your own
• Ask for help from Assiniboine support staff, including your Student Success Advisor, the Learning Curve, and the Library
• Access Math Check early assessment and other supports at Learning Curve

• Work with program-specific math peer tutors

References

Dawson, P. (2020). Cognitive Offloading and Assessment. In: Bearman, M., Dawson, P., Ajjawi, R., Tai, J., Boud, D. (eds) Re-imagining University Assessment in a Digital World. The Enabling Power of Assessment, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41956-1_4

Sutton, A., & Taylor, D. (2011). Confusion about collusion: working together and academic integrity. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(7), 831-841.