S.06-144

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY ?

MEMORANDUM

To:

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Senate

From: ?

Dr. Robert Gordon, Chair

Senate Committee on Academic Integrity in Student Learning

and Evaluation

Re: ?

Annual Report: 2005 - 2006

For Information

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Date: ?

November

10th

2006

I am pleased to submit the Annual Report of the Senate Committee on Academic Integrity in

Student Learning and Evaluation for 2005 - 2006.

Introduction

The Senate Committee on Academic Integrity in Student Learning and Evaluation is charged,

by Senate, with the following responsibilities:

1.

To promote academic integrity and honesty in course work and evaluation

processes.

2.

To establish procedures that support, improve and ensure the standards and conduct

of examinations and to update these procedures as necessary.

3.

To develop and update as necessary, a recommended statement on academic

honesty for use in course outlines.

4.

On an annual basis, to liaise with the University Board on Student Discipline and

the Senate Committee on Disciplinary Appeals to ensure the currency of policies

and procedures dealing with academic integrity and, when appropriate, recommend

to Senate revisions to the policies as required.

To review and, where appropriate, make recommendations to the Senate Graduate

Studies Committee on supervisory practices that will promote academic honesty

and integrity.

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6. ?

To review and, where appropriate, make recommendations to the relevant office or

committee on revisions to graduate regulations or guidelines that will promote

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academic honesty and integrity concerning intellectual property, authorship and

confidential research.

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7.

To consider other issues relating to the general question of academic integrity as it

applies to courses and evaluation of student performance.

8.

To report annually in October to Senate on activities in the preceding year.

9.

To report to Senate in May 2008, and recommend whether the Committee should

continue or whether its responsibilities be transferred to another Committee (or

Committees) or Senate.

The Committee is chaired by Dr. Robert Gordon who is the Director of the School of

Criminology and a faculty senator. Dr. Alton Harestad is the Vice-Chair elected by the

Committee. Dr. Sean Zwagerman is a faculty member at large. There is a vacancy for a

second faculty member at large. Other members are Ms. Josephine Wong (undergraduate

student), Ms. Camilla Sears (graduate student), Dr. Diane Whiteley (Student Services) and Ms.

Elaine Fairey (Library). The secretariat is Ms. Jo Hinchliffe. Mr. Douglas Grant is the

alternate representative for graduate students.

This report covers the period September

30th

2005 to September

30th

2006.

The 2005 - 2006 Action Plan

SCAISLE has held monthly meetings since the Fall of 2005, except in the months of July and

August.

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In the Fall of 2005, the Committee developed an Action Plan for 2005 - 2006 based upon both

the Committee's listed responsibilities and the recommendations of the Task Force on

Academic Honesty and Integrity. A copy of the timelines for the Action Plan is attached.

Many of the tasks were completed by September 3

01h

2006. Those that were not completed are

carried forward into the coming year.

The Committee believes strongly that the initial and continuing education of students, faculty

and teaching support staff is the key to preventing and reducing instances of academic

dishonesty across the campus; consequently, a great deal of time has been spent exploring and

developing appropriate strategies. Academic honesty statements have been drafted and tested

and are now ready for circulation to students and to faculty/teaching assistants. In addition, the

Committee has drafted and tested a one page document addressing the issue of ethical (and

unethical) tutoring, which is ready for circulation. These documents will be posted on the

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The administration of the system for dealing with academic dishonesty cases has also been

reviewed and areas that need improvement have been identified. A new, multi-copy, academic

dishonesty report form has been drafted to assist faculty in accurately and more easily

reporting cases to Chairs and Directors, and to the Registrar's office. This draft is still being

tested for comprehension, ease of use, etc. A second report form is being developed for use by

Chairs and Directors who may wish to refer cases to the U.B.S.D. The Committee has also

discussed ways of receiving, storing, analyzing and releasing information about students who

violate the Code of Academic Honesty.

The University's Code of Student Conduct has been reviewed and a new version,

amalgamating and amending the existing T10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 polices has been drafted. The

draft is being further revised to accommodate new student conduct issues and concerns (e.g.,

hazing, the possession of firearms on campus, and vexatious complainants). The revised Code

was developed as a result ofajoint meeting of the Committee and representatives of UBSD,

SCODA, the Ombudsperson, the Registrar's Office, and the President's Office. This proved to

be an excellent exchange of ideas and concerns and another joint meeting will be scheduled in

early 2007.

The University's Code of Faculty Ethics has been subjected to a preliminary review. Work on

this Code will begin in earnest in 2006 - 2007 and in consultation with SFUFA.

The Committee has conducted a review of examination standards and procedures and, in

partnership with the Registrar's Office, has developed a new set of policies and procedures for

the conduct and supervision of examinations, especially those to be held in the gymnasium.

The Committee has also conducted a review of the uses and value of Turnitin.com

. The review

is incomplete and this work will be carried forward in the 2006 - 2007 Action Plan.

Committee members have offered workshops on academic dishonesty issues for new faculty

and teaching support staff, and have participated in academic dishonesty workshops at other

institutions. Committee members will offer workshops to academic units on request. The

Chair of the Committee has also given media interviews on academic honesty issues.

2006 - 2007 Action Plan.

The Action Plan for the coming year is attached.

Task 1, the completion of the revisions to the Code of Student Conduct will be completed by

the end of May 2007. This involves an amalgamation of three existing policies, the addition of

new policies to deal with new areas of concern, and a redrafting of some of the academic

dishonesty provisions which are currently rather vague. Once this has been completed, the

entries in the University Calendar addressing academic honesty issues will be amended.

Task 2, a review and revision of the Faculty Code of Ethics will be completed by the end of

May 2007 and will be conducted in consultation with SFUFA. The reviewers will build upon

some preliminary work that was undertaken in 2006.

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Task 3, finalizing the currently drafted incident report forms for faculty and for chairs and

directors will be completed by March

30th

2007. A multi-part form should reduce the amount

of paperwork that is required to report cases of academic dishonesty and thereby encourage

faculty (and department heads) to report cases.

Tasks 4 and

5

will put into action the Committee's plan to recruit and train/educate faculty in

each department who will act as academic honesty resource people for their department and

their colleagues. These resource people will be responsible for educating and assisting their

colleagues with the interpretation and implementation of policy including the annual training

and education of new faculty and teaching support staff. The system will be administered and

coordinated by a designated staff person in the Registrar's Office who will also be responsible

for receiving, filing and analyzing reports of academic dishonesty, organizing and delivering

the training of new departmental resource people, organizing bi-annual, campus-wide meetings

of the resource people, and issuing periodic bulletins on developments in the area of academic

dishonesty. The Committee will develop a resource kit for departmental representatives

including an adaptable power-point presentation to be used for training new faculty and

teaching support staff.

Task 6 will involve a review of ways of dealing more effectively with on-line essay banks such

as "Cheathouse.com

," including a review of the legal options.

Task 7 is a continuation of the review of Turnitin. corn which was initiated in

2005.

It is clear

that this service is used by some faculty in a handful of departments and that it is used for more

than just the prevention and detection of academic dishonesty. A faculty survey will be

conducted in conjunction with SFUFA to determine the extent to which it if a valued resource.

Task 8 is focused on ensuring that academic integrity is entrenched in the process of graduate

supervision. The Committee's work on this task began in 2005 and is piggy-backing on an

initiative originating with the Dean of Graduate Studies office. The Dean's initiative is slated

for completion in 2007.

Task 9 will commence in the New Year and will consist of short, monthly, hard copy and e-

bulletins to all faculty and teaching support staff about developments in policy and practice

affecting academic dishonesty issues. The bulletins will include information on the types and

techniques of dishonest practice and are intended, in part, to alert faculty to the latest "fads" as

well as suggest ways of preventing and detecting dishonesty.

Task 10 will be initiated as soon as possible and will involve a review of the extent to which

academic dishonesty is an issue in high schools and the ways in which this can be stopped

(e.g., by conducting workshops for Grade 12 teachers during their professional days). The

need for this issue to be explored is highlighted by the results of the Hughes/McCabe study that

shows that most university students who engage in academic dishonesty learned how to do it in

high school.

The Committee has a recommended shelf life of three years. It is anticipated that its tasks will

be completed within that time frame.

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