Importance of Academic Integrity in Higher Education and Game Development

This report discusses the importance of academic integrity in higher education, including its implications and the skills learned during the academic year. It also reflects the steps involved in game development and the difficulties faced during the process.

Academic Integrity

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................1
An understanding of Academic Integrity.....................................................................................1
Importance of Academic Integrity in higher education of an individual.....................................1
Implications of academic misconduct..........................................................................................2
SECTION 2 .....................................................................................................................................3
Reflect the step taken by individual and what are the difficulties faced in producing the game.3
Reflect the skills learned during the academic year and which are emphasized in producing the
game.............................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The term Academic integrity is a fundamental learning which means avoiding
misconduct such as plagiarism and cheating (Bultas and Et. Al., 2017). The majority of
educational establishments uphold academic integrity, as evidenced by their mission statements,
policies, honour codes and procedures. Academic integrity enable students and professors to
make new ideas, creative work and knowledge and at the same time respecting the work done by
others. It provides a chance of success to students by performing their task with honesty.
This report highlights the importance of academic integrity, implications of academic
misconduct. It reflects the steps which are being taken while producing a game and difficulties
faced during the phase. It also reflects the skills which are being developed by the students
during their academic year.
SECTION 1
An understanding of Academic Integrity
The term academic integrity refers to dedication and indication of moral behaviour and
honesty by an individual in their academics (Chankova, 2020). It simply means giving credit to
other people for their ideas, skills and work at the university level. When an individual fails to
provide acknowledgement to work of other than it is considered as plagiarism. Academic
integrity involves a set of six fundamental values such as trust, responsibility, courage, fairness,
honesty and respect. Academic integrity enables a student to make ethical decisions, follow
instructions and ask questions if required.
Importance of Academic Integrity in higher education of an individual
Academic integrity is important for an individual or students in maintaining honesty and
improving their skills, knowledge, etc. It is important for students to foster new and original
ideas, attribution in their academics. The importance of academic integrity for a student is
explained below:
Improves skills and knowledge of students: Academic integrity empower a student to
perform the task on their own will. This helps the student to explore new learning and develop
their skills and knowledge which can be applied in the academics.
Creates learning opportunity for students: The learning opportunities of students are
taken away by the use of shortcut solutions such as test banks, plagiarism and contract cheating.
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When students don't do the work on their own than they are not able to put their original
thoughts on the paper. Students loose opportunity to receive feedback which can support them in
their learning journey. Academic integrity helps enable the students to perform any work with
their own efforts and knowledge which improves their learning.
Creation of new ideas: When students perform their own task, they creates and put new
ideas in their work. It improves the capability of students to build new ideas and do their work
with more creativity (Cronan, Mullins and Douglas, 2018).
Creates accurate assessment of student learning: If a student does not answer on its own
than it creates difficulty for teachers to evaluate the assessment and provide feedback. It becomes
difficult to make changes in teaching curriculum. Academic integrity enable a student to present
their learnings in their work which is evaluated by the professors and according changes are
made to the curriculum if required.
Creates respect for learning: The misconduct in academics disrespects works of other
individual and break down their trust. Academic integrity enables the student to acknowledge
and give credit to others for their work which creates positive mindset in individuals.
It makes students self dependent: Academic integrity empower an students to perform
their task with own capability. Performing task by own capability of an individual allow them
not to depend on help of others in order to complete their task.
Builds honesty in students: Academic integrity helps to build honesty in students as it
allows them to provide credit to other individuals for their work done. This builds honesty in the
students and a positive approach towards others.
Implications of academic misconduct
The term academic misconduct refers to an action which helps a student to gain help
from work of others and take unfair academic advantage (Latopolski and Bertram Gallant, 2020).
The consequences of academic misconduct such as cheating, unauthorised collaborations,
plagiarism etc. can have serious impacts on students. Academic misconduct leaves negative
impact on the students and supports them in dishonesty. The implications of academic
misconduct are explained below:
Creates difficulty in changing curriculum: When a student use cheating , plagiarism
method than it creates difficulty for the teacher to give accurate feedback on performance. The
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teacher is unable to understand the requirement for changing the curriculum which affects the
learning of student.
Restricts skill development of a student: When a student copy work of other they does
not use their will in doing the work. The students does not improve their skills while they copy
work of others as they gets content without any performing any research.
Resubmission of work: If a student do academic misconduct in their work and found
guilty that they can be punished through resubmission of work with new content (MacLeod and
Eaton, 2020). The student can be punished with assigning double task or to complete the task in
less time period.
No learning outcomes: When students completes work without any research on their
own than their learning outcomes from that project becomes zero. The students stop learning as
they are able to do their work without applying own knowledge.
Suspension or warning letter: If a student conduct any academic misconduct than the
university of institute can issue a warning letter or can suspend the student.
SECTION 2
Reflect the step taken by individual and what are the difficulties faced in producing the game
Plagiarism is becoming a major problem among the students at universities. Educational
games are support to various concepts of teaching with following discipline (Orr, 2018). The use
of educational games can result in getting successful learning as they tend to be more interactive.
The students feels more interactive and engaged while playing games due to which they pay
more attention to it. The steps in designing a game are described below:
Set objectives for the game: It is the first step of game development in which clear
objectives are set regarding the purpose of producing the game. Setting objectives helps the team
to know where they want to reach or what they want from developing the game.
Planning: It is the second step which involves what activities are to be taken up in
regards to develop the game. Proper strategy will be formulated and all steps will be
systematically set to avoid duplication of work, or misinterpretation of work. The target audience
is identified in this step and game is designed according to the regulations of university.
Organising: It is the third step which involves collecting knowledge and applying it to
different activities of the plan. There are various coding which can be used for development of
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game among which C++ is being used. Acquiring of license from the authorities to develop the
game because without any certification activities cannot take place. The various resources are
being arranged like funds, software, coding programmes, etc.
Development of game: It is the last step which involves implementation of plan and
following the steps accurately to get desired results. The proper procedure of game is developed
which is to be followed while playing the game (Robinson and Glanzer, 2017).
Developing a game is not an easy task, it has lot of problems and involves difficulties in
producing a game. The difficulties which are faced during game development are mentioned
below:
University regulations: The regulations of an university can be a big problem in
developing the game. The game must be developed according to the rules and regulations of the
university so as to implement it in the learning of student. The game development team was
facing difficulty in understanding the regulation of university and designing the game according
to it.
Requirement of funds: Developing a game requires huge funds, there was shortage of
funds with the game developing team. They acquired funds from bank and implemented their
plan to achieve the set objectives.
Collection of data: Collecting the required data is main step involved in development of
game. Without any information game cannot be developed, The game development team faced
problems while collecting data for interpretation. This data can be used in the process of
developing the game. Collecting of information plays a major role in the whole process, without
accurate information the process cannot be taken ahead.
Creating right working environment: A right working environment is required for
formulating the work plan. An individual needs to create compelling narratives and keep the co
workers at the centre. There must be proper availability of information with the team in order to
formulate the plan. If there will be no right working environment that individual will feel
demotivated and will not be able to concentrate.
Reflect the skills learned during the academic year and which are emphasized in producing the
game
It is very important for students to develop their skills and knowledge to get opportunities
and perform tasks (Sefcik, Striepe, and Yorke, 2019). Improvement of skills and knowledge
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increase the confidence of a student and empower them to move towards success. Developing
skills enhance the creativity of students and explored to new experiences. The skills learned
during_ the academic year are presented below:
Time management: IT is the process of dividing the time between specific activities and
priorities. Time management is important for every individual in order to perform the task on
time (Tatum and Schwartz, 2017). Time management skills help in improving the performance
of an individual and produce better work. Time management skills helps to reduce stress and
clarifies the goals. I learned time management in my academic year which helped me a lot in
developing the game. I was able to complete the assigned task on time because of having better
knowledge of managing the time.
Communication skills: These skills are needed to speak appropriately among people,
have effective listening, presenting ideas appropriately. Better communication skills allow
individuals to have better understanding of information accurately and quickly. I improved my
communication skills in the academic year which helped me in effective communication with my
team during game development. Working in a team requires proper communication between
members to avoid any problems.
Coding skills: Coding is a computer language which is used to provide instructions to
computer (Tatum, 2022). Coding is important for individual to learn as it includes creativity,
problem, solving ability and critical thinking. I gained some knowledge of coding during my
academic year which helped me in developing the game. Developing the game requires coding
skills to produce the designed game.
CONCLUSION
From the above information it has been asserted that academic integrity is the process of
learning which involves avoidance of misconduct in completing any task. Academic integrity has
several importance such as it improves skills and knowledge of students, creates learning
opportunity, creation of new ideas, create accurate assessment, creates respect for learning,
make students self dependent and builds honesty in a student. Academic misconduct creates
implications such as creating difficulty in changing curriculum needs for students, restricting
the skills development of students, no learning outcome, resubmission of work, issue of warning
letter or suspension of student. The steps involved in game development includes setting
objective, planning, organising and game development. The skills which are improved during the
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academic year and has emphasized in the game development are time management,
communication skills and coding.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Bultas, M.W. and Et. Al., 2017. Crossing the “line”: college students and academic integrity in
nursing. Nurse education today. 56. pp.57-62.
Chankova, M., 2020. Teaching academic integrity: The missing link. Journal of Academic
Ethics. 18(2). pp.155-173.
Cronan, T. P., Mullins, J. K. and Douglas, D. E., 2018. Further understanding factors that explain
freshman business students’ academic integrity intention and behavior: Plagiarism and
sharing homework. Journal of Business Ethics. 147(1). pp.197-220.
Latopolski, K. E. and Bertram Gallant, T., 2020. Academic integrity. DM Waryold & JM
Lancaster (Ed, 2nd edition). Student Conduct Practice: The Complete Guide for Student
Affairs Professionals. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
MacLeod, P. D. and Eaton, S. E., 2020. The paradox of faculty attitudes toward student
violations of academic integrity. Journal of Academic Ethics. 18(4). pp.347-362.
Orr, J., 2018. Developing a campus academic integrity education seminar. Journal of Academic
Ethics. 16(3). pp.195-209.
Robinson, J. A. and Glanzer, P. L., 2017. Building a culture of academic integrity: What students
perceive and need. College Student Journal. 51(2). pp.209-221.
Sefcik, L., Striepe, M. and Yorke, J., 2019. Mapping the landscape of academic integrity
education programs: what approaches are effective?. Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education.
Tatum, H. and Schwartz, B. M., 2017. Honor codes: Evidence based strategies for improving
academic integrity. Theory Into Practice. 56(2). pp.129-135.
Tatum, H. E., 2022. Honor codes and academic integrity: Three decades of research. Journal of
College and Character. 23(1). pp.32-47.
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