Academic Integrity and Game Design: Steps, Challenges, and Skills Learned

This report discusses the importance of academic integrity in higher education, the meaning of academic integrity, and the implications of academic misconduct. It also reflects on the steps taken to develop the game and challenges faced in its production, and the skills learned in the process of game design and development.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................4
SECTION 1..........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 describing the meaning of academic integrity............................................................................4
1.2 understanding the Importance of academic integrity in higher education..................................5
1.3 Discussing the implications of academic misconduct................................................................6
SECTION 2..........................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Reflecting on steps taken to develop the game and challenges faced in its production.............6
2.2 Skills learnt in the process of game design and development....................................................7
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The academic integrity defines that the students belonging to the intellectual or academic
setup should adhere to the code of conduct and the fair practices set up by that particular institution.
Breach of the practices is regarded as an act if malpractices that has been committed by the
students. Generally, these practices are laid down by the teachers, professors and the research heads
of that particular place. The following report will discuss the description of the academic integrity
and its importance in the higher education. Besides, this the report will also discuss the reflective
writing on the steps that have been taken and difficulties encountering In producing game for the
project 2. At last the report will discuss the academic skills learned in academic year that has
emphasized on producing the game.
MAIN BODY
SECTION 1
1.1 describing the meaning of academic integrity
The academic integrity is defined as the value based principles that need to be followed by
the students in that particular institution (Eaton, and Turner, 2020). These are more commonly
referred as the code of conduct or the policy of ethics that institution incorporates in its structure
and that need to adhere. The academic integrity involves the expectation of the teachers, students
and the researcher that says that students of the institution should act with honesty, trust and the
respect. Breaching the academic integrity in the organization is known as the academic misconduct
or the academic dishonesty. The academic dishonesty includes plagiarism which simply means the
act of cheating and copying done by the students in the organization (Awasthi, 2019). It is directly
copying and pasting information of others. Plagiarism is major academic misconduct that can only
be avoided by the proper academic principles codes. The proper principles ensure the maintenances
of misconducts and honest submissions by the students. Not only this, it also ensures that due credit
is given to the student that work hard for his project submissions.

The academic integrity upholds the commitment of students towards their projects with
trust, honest and the respect (Stoesz and Eaton, 2022). The basic mandatory framework regulated in
the academic structures in the higher education institutions helps them in protecting their reputation
as the students becomes an important part of the institution while studding in the school. Actions
done by them helps to increase academic integrity of the course and that in turn impact the
reputation of the institution in the future. The academic integrirty is not just the theoretically
planned out framework but rather it is written in the format that actually helps leaner while learning
in the educational institution and in understanding the importance of these ideals which will helps
them in future as well.
1.2 understanding the Importance of academic integrity in higher education
According to the para above, the concept of academic integrity involves adhering to all the
moral codes and the ethical principles that the students needs to infuse daily good practices in them
(Lowe and et.al., 2018). With the increasing technology, the students in the education institution are
raising their unfair practices and that's why the academic integrity are becoming an important
concept for all the institutions and the importance of academic integrity are as follows-
The importance of academic integrity for university-
The university needs to be consistent to raise the students number in the university and it
also needed to increase the standards of the university. The way the students behaves in the
institution directly affects how other view the university from the outside. The proper academic
integrity helps the university to gain the confidence of the students who graduate from their school.
All the university takes very serious steps towards those held liable for the academic misconduct in
the institution.
The importance for academic integrity in new ideas-
The academic integrity helps institution in increasing creativity that will help them to
generate new ideas. This is done by avoiding plagiarism by giving proper credits to the students
helping university to create new ideas. Students by following all the guidelines helps them to
incorporate new ideas and research on different work as they will get acknowledgement for the
same. The way of assessment a student designed will test and develop his knowledge as well.
The importance of academic integrity for students-
It helps students by giving them fair chances of success by doing their own assessment with
the honest attitude in the institution. Is also important for the students to avoid the consequences of
failing is the exams and assessments. The time and efforts given in following all the major

assignments is going to set up the foundation of professional practice and the knowledges.
1.3 Discussing the implications of academic misconduct
The academic misconducted defines that the students cheats in the all the forms though
various imaginable and the possible methods (Guerrero-Dib, Portales and Heredia-Escorza, 2020).
The first implication it has is on the society as the academic misconduct becomes the part of
student's life. Academic misconduct becomes the habit of students which in turn decreases their
value on whatever profession they choose in the future. The boundaries of the academic misconduct
is widespread in a way that it covers not only the institution framework of the students but also all
the working environment where the students will work in the future. The diverse unfair practices
like the contract cheating, using unauthorized devices, data theft can become part of their life which
is neither good for them nor for the place they are working.
The other implication is being that the students will be accused of the crime he has been
committed. The companies can fire serious case on the person conducting such misconduct in the
organization. There are times when institutions also becomes the part of unnecessary nuisance
created by the individual which leads them to their reputation loss. The future of student impacted
by their misconducts reduces their self-esteem, individual dignity and the confidence which has
serious impacts on not only in their life in the school but also in their career.
SECTION 2
2.1 Reflecting on steps taken to develop the game and challenges faced in its production
The game that has been selectively designed for the purpose is 'Spin the wheel'. By its name
itself, it can be observed that it is a very popular game that has no confinement on the age boundary
of the player. It means that it can be played by any member of differing ages (Troussas and et.al.,
2020). The production of this game design involves several steps. Some of the major ones have
been discussed below along with the various kinds of difficulties and challenges that had been dealt
with in this particular production. Following are the steps :
 The ideation process: One of the main and foremost step that was taken in the design of this
game was that of formulation of a specific idea that was relevant enough to cater to the
purpose of this game which is gamification of academic integrity (Plass and et.al., 2020).
 Planning development: Once the proper idea has been created, it becomes imperative to
develop a planned structure that defines and guides the steps criteria of the game and how it

needs to be played. It mainly comprises different resources such as human, monetary, IT-
based, etc.
 Necessary resource organization: After collecting the required resource forms it is
important to compile them in an organized manner such as the financial resources will go
into setting the budget of game design and the human potential will be hired for the work
processes. The IT equipments are used for technological induction of the mentioned game
(Anastasiadis and et.al., 2018).
 Production element: This step generally consists of the actual process of production where
the specific ideas for the game of spin the wheel is put into motion. Basically it means
converting theory into practice. All the organized resources are compiled together in order to
reach the gamified effect that is coherent in nature.
 Game testing: This step is very much significant because the game that has been designed
needs to be tested so as to check whether it is working as per the requirements or not. Any
occuring defects are then resoved and altered.
 Game launch: In case of zero errors, the finalized game is then launched publicly and is
declared fit and suitable for the developers' and designers' satisfaction. It is then announced
as a specifically designed game for creative learning.
In the process of working on and completing the above mentione steps there also occurred
certain challenging moments that needed to be dealt with in the context of the game development.
The foremost problem that surfaced was to situate the necessary know-how of the game that is
required of its players. As it has already been stated above that spin the wheel game is not restricted
to any age limits and is open to all groups of people, that's why this became a conflicting situation
as it was to be decided which groups were to be deemed as the proper playing range. It was
seemingly challenging to design the game accordingly to the varying aspects of all the players along
with ensuring that appears interesting too.
2.2 Skills learnt in the process of game design and development
There are a numerous amount of skills that I had the opportunity of learning through
designing and developing the structre of this specific game of Spin the wheel. The first one of the
many skills that I got to know is the art of decisiveness which means taking appropriate decisions at
the right time for the right purposes. This is very important in each and every sphere of life and I
can relate to it very much as during the process of this game development I myself had to take

several decision at critical junctures of the designing process such as measuring which kind of
resources need to be allocated at which places or how much budget needs to be financed in
accordance to the essentially wanted materials for the game design completion. I also learnt the skill
of proper allocation of the procured resources in conjunction with many small and big intermediary
problem solving conditional states such as technological repairment, continuous upgradation of
elemental knowledge, etc (Eaton, 2021).
All these above mentioned learnings and many more qualitative virtues are bound to help
facilitate my skill enhancement as these will not only offer me a profound overview of new things
but it will also help in inclining my knowledge gaining interests towards the right direction.
Personally I believe that it will upgrade and encourage me towards building a good team
atmosphere which is very much important for a cohesive work structure. This trait, if fully
developed, will prove extremely integral in the development of academic and professional
confidence, work ethic and integrity, and team leadership skills (Sousa and Rocha, 2019). In the
upcoming future growth scenarios all these aquired skills will have a positive and illuminating
effect on my resume and job applications as al around the globe people are interested in hiring thos
individulas who exhibit mutual trust, understanding, co-dependency, and hard work. Also,
commitment is the key to reach the position of excellence in whichever field I choose to enter with
the help of the skills that I can master from this game design project. One of the more intriguing
aspects that I found while this game production process was that a team is consisted of varying
members with diverse personalities and characteristic talents and this has made me more patient in
listening to my team members and motivating them too.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report above that the conceptual knowledge and understanding
of the element of academic integrity is vital to all the educational institutes and bodies including
both the students and the teachers. A proper practical approach towards the daily use of academic
discipline and maintenance of work originality is one the most required and appeciated virtues that
can be improvized by the required members through the validated route of games specifically
designed for the very same purpose. The aforementioned report has accurately described the
definitions, importance, and value of such games for upholding academic integrity at higher
education levels. It also discussed the steps and challenges of the process as well as various skills
that were learned during this entire process.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anastasiadis, T., and et.al., 2018. Digital game-based learning and serious games in education.
International Journal of Advances in Scientific Research and Engineering. 4(12). pp.139-
144.
Awasthi, S., 2019. Plagiarism and academic misconduct: A systematic review. DESIDOC Journal of
Library & Information Technology. 39(2).
Eaton, S.E. and Turner, K.L., 2020. Exploring academic integrity and mental health during COVID-
19: Rapid review. Journal of Contemporary Education Theory & Research (JCETR). 4(2).
pp.35-41.
Eaton, S.E., 2021. Plagiarism in higher education: Tackling tough topics in academic integrity.

ABC-CLIO.
Guerrero-Dib, J.G., Portales, L. and Heredia-Escorza, Y., 2020. Impact of academic integrity on
workplace ethical behaviour. International Journal for Educational Integrity. 16(1). pp.1-18.
Lowe, M.S., and et.al., 2018. Promoting academic integrity through a stand-alone course in the
learning management system. International Journal for Educational Integrity. 14(1). pp.1-
11.
Plass, J.L., and et.al., 2020. Handbook of game-based learning. Mit Press.
Sousa, M.J. and Rocha, Á., 2019. Leadership styles and skills developed through game-based
learning. Journal of Business Research. 94. pp.360-366.
Stoesz, B.M. and Eaton, S.E., 2022. Academic integrity policies of publicly funded universities in
western Canada. Educational Policy. 36(6). pp.1529-1548.
Troussas, C., and et.al., 2020. Collaboration and fuzzy-modeled personalization for mobile game-
based learning in higher education. Computers & Education. 144. p.103698.