Academic Integrity conference to cover more than plagiarism
Although the compromise of academic integrity has its roots in the typical definition of plagiarism-- the act of a student deliberately forgetting to cite their sources, technology and the constant grip of the World Wide Web tempts students from middle school through college to illegally download music, steal ideas from partners in in-class group presentations and fail to cite other students’ work. Faculty may also unknowingly cross the ethical divide, by presenting student work in class without first seeking permission.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Grayson H. Walker Resource Center and the UTC Instructional Excellence Committee are sponsoring a conference for parents, teachers and concerned citizens to explore the topic of academic integrity on Saturday, October 28, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at the UTC University Center Auditorium. Registration for this event is not required, and it is open to the community.
“There is a lot of confusion among students as to citation in academic writing, including what needs a citation and who should be cited in specific circumstances,” said Jason Griffey, Assistant Professor, Reference and Instructional Technology Librarian at the UTC Lupton Library. “My feeling is that if we continue teaching the specifics of what, who, and how, we’re missing the real issue. Students need to understand why we insist on citation, and the purpose and goals of this very specific sort of writing.”
The speaker will be Dr. Don McCabe, Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers University, and founding President of the Center for Academic Integrity, who has invested over fifteen years of extensive research on college cheating. He has surveyed over 135,000 students at more than 140 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. He has also surveyed over 30,000 high school students in the United States during the last five years.
Following McCabe’s presentation, discussion groups will cover:
- educating faculty, students and the community about the definition of academic integrity
- consequences of a lack of academic integrity
- how to create policies and procedures that work
- encouraging academic integrity in the collegiate system.
Surprisingly, an estimated 75% of students have cheated at least once during their collegiate career. Since 1997, The Center for Academic Integrity, a consortium of over 400 colleges and universities based at Duke University, has been studying these trends in colleges and universities across America. The Center for Academic Integrity strives to teach five fundamental values to campuses across the nation: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.
McCabe’s work has been published widely in business, education and sociology journals. McCabe received a Bachelor of the Arts in Chemistry from Princeton University in 1966. He has an M.B.A. in Marketing from Seton Hall University (1970), and a Ph.D. in Management from New York University (1985).
McCabe has worked for over 20 years in the corporate world before joining Rutgers in 1988. His last corporate position was Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Devro, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.
For more information, visit the website.
October 19, 2006