Assessments and Academic Integrity

The recent semesters presented significant challenges for adapting assessments and maintaining academic integrity, and many of those challenges will continue. If you have ideas or recommendations for addressing assessments and academic integrity, please contact Dennis Shea.

Remember that the role of faculty in academic integrity should be proactive and educational. Faculty are expected to provide an environment that encourages and supports academic integrity and helps students learn how to act with integrity. The first step is to design your course and your assessments within the course to support integrity as the best option. Set a learning environment that encourages and enhances integrity – speak personally about why integrity matters to you, design a student honor code, or have students complete the academic integrity training. Additional suggestions for course and assignment design for integrity are shared below. When you believe a student may have violated academic integrity, your first step is to have a conversation with the student. Your role is to educate them on the importance of integrity in academics and for their future professional life. Don’t draw a final conclusion until you have given the student the opportunity to meet and speak with you. And we encourage faculty to talk with Associate Dean Dennis Shea prior to talking with the student to review the process.

If you conclude that a student has violated academic integrity, we encourage faculty to report ALL violations, no matter how minor. You may make the sanction for a violation appropriate for the situation. Failure to report minor violations means that a student may violate academic integrity many times without an opportunity to address the pattern of questionable actions. We want to create an environment where students learn from their mistakes and understand the importance of building strong habits of making the right choices.

HHD links

•  Refer to the material on academic integrity in the HHD Teaching Strategies Canvas module.
• Guidance for faculty on academic integrity in HHD

University links

• Penn State’s Keep Teaching web site has suggestions on assessments and academic integrity for faculty
• If you will be teaching or conducting exams through use of Zoom or other remote technologies, Penn State encourages faculty to make use of webcams optional for classes, but there is an exception for assessments, with advance notice and options for students who do not have a webcam.

Exam Proctoring

Exam proctoring through both Zoom and Examity is available. Costs for the latter will need to be discussed with your department and the college. Faculty can also take advantage of testing security options in Canvas to reduce the likelihood of violations. Experience during the pandemic resulted in many faculty trying to consider alternative assessment methods instead of  high-stakes exams. The Keep Teaching website and the Schreyer Institute for Teaching and Learning have ideas for adapting assessments.