Importance of Academic Integrity in Higher Education and Reflecting on Academic Skills Learned Through Game Production

This article discusses the importance of academic integrity in higher education and the implications of academic misconduct. It also reflects on the steps taken and difficulties encountered during game production, and evaluates the academic skills learned through the process. The subject is academic skills and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

FURTHER ACADEMIC
SKILLS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1.....................................................................................................................................3
An overview including a description of Academic integrity.......................................................3
Discussing importance of academic integrity in higher education..............................................3
Explaining implications of academic misconduct.......................................................................4
SECTION 2.....................................................................................................................................4
Reflecting on the steps taken and encountering difficulties........................................................4
Evaluating the skills that were learned during the game.............................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Academic skills are defined as one of those strategic abilities that a person have and
utilized to obtain desire outcomes on time, without making any major mistakes. The current
assignment will be divided into two sections, as section 1 will define overcome of academic
integrity, its importance in higher education and implications of academic misconduct.
Furthermore, lastly section 2 will reflect on stages that have taken to produce the game for
project 2 and difficulties encountered in overall process. It will also justify reflective statement
that is based on competencies learned during academic years and those skills that emphasized in
process of producing game.
SECTION 1
An overview including a description of Academic integrity
In the world of education, academic integrity is defined as action of avoiding plagiarism,
which is quite essential for individual learner to avoid by being honest in their academic work
that they do at specific university (Gottardello and Karabag, 2020). It also defines as
demonstration of and commitment to be honest and conduct morale behaviour. This action is the
most relevant at education extent as it related to offering credit to other learners while utilizing
their ideas in appropriate and understanding manner.
By having academic integrity, a student may conduct ethical practices in term of acting
honestly and fairly when they engage in academic work or activity with other people, who are
also accountable to accomplish task on time and achieve common aim.
Discussing importance of academic integrity in higher education
It is quite important for the students to take academic integrity term into their
consideration while taking higher education, because it helps them to conduct one of those fair
activities that contributes to make their work presentable and understandable, without any
plagiarism that may put direct impact on effectiveness and efficiency of learners (Fatemi and
Saito, 2020). This concept is beneficial and essential for scholars in term of permitting them to
build new as well as creative ideas, useful knowledge and creative works while acknowledging
and respecting the work of others. Furthermore, it can be said that academic integrity is
significance because of several reasons (Eaton, 2021). For example, it may offer individuals
peace of mind by knowing that they trust in doing the right things. It is important for all in term
of providing values to scholar’s degree.

Explaining implications of academic misconduct
Academic misconduct term refers to any action or practice that has been conducted by a
person to gain unfair academic benefits. Inappropriate copying, cheating and plagiarizing of
existing text books are the best examples of forms of academic misconduct. The major
implication of the academic misconduct is penalties from the university can be applied. This is
particularly because of the reason that when the person conducts academic misconduct then they
are liable for punishment. Hence, as a result of this, it might be possible that they have to pay
some penalties to the university. In addition to this, another implication of academic misconduct
is that it will create the environment which will not be conducive to effective learning
environment. Hence, this might cause some negative impact over the working of other students
as well and they might thing of doing academic misconduct.
SECTION 2
Reflecting on the steps taken and encountering difficulties
Steps taken in game:
Initially, I researched about several games for student that will lead to have academic
integrity & honesty. I decided to propose a game of dart & arrow so that students can have an
idea about their aim in life and how to achieve it. Further, with the help of my research, I
analysed that to play this game individually, it will take a lot of time, so I divided the class of 20
into small groups of 5 students each. This helped in completing the game well in stipulated time.
In addition to this to teach students about academic integrity, I decided to put each
question for each no. on dart which has to be answered by student who will throw an arrow
(Patra and Das, 2019). This helped me to prevent academic misconduct and provide a good
learning experience to students. I asked different teams to draft questions for opposing teams.
Further, in order to have competitiveness in the game, I decided to give marks / points to
each team every time they answer questions correctly.
Difficulties faced:
The major difficulty that I faced in this game was of lack of team-work because students
were playing individually without much caring about the whole team. Each student wanted to
succeed without giving attention to team-mates. There was no co-ordination among team
members. For working in team, the most essential aspect is to have coordination and
synchronization. But in the present game this was the major problem. Hence, as a result of this

the working and playing of game was not effectively being undertaken. Thus, this resulted in
non- accomplishment of the objectives of the game.
Another difficulty that I examined was that students did not formulate any proper
strategies that could help them to win game. They were blindly throwing the arrows without
focusing on darts which lead to missing the opportunities (Cronan, Mullins and Douglas, 2018).
They were making strategies individually to win game which proves to be defective for whole
team. Rather here the team members must have focused on effective planning such that people
would have framed good team work strategy and try to win the game with a focus on team
working.
Students were not communicating clearly with team members which again lead to
difficulties in winning the game. Without proper communicating with each other, team cannot
win. In addition to this, students hardly tried to engage with other students and were mentally
and physically involved in themselves without concerning about other team members. Thus, I
learnt that miscommunication is the major issue which the students faced at time of playing the
game. This miscommunication can result in many different negative impact as in case people
will not be working in proper and effective manner then this will not result in proper attainment
of the objectives.
Students were more focused on winning the game rather on understanding the usefulness
of game in real life. I also examined that the competition level went so high that they forgot the
main learnings from game. Also another major problem being encountered was that each student
was trying to make his/ her own strategies of winning the game which eventually lead to
conflicts and tension in team. Students started fighting over this which was very difficult to
resolve. Moreover, some team members tried to dominate others.
Evaluating the skills that were learned during the game
After proper analysis and execution of game, I learned that effective planning is required
to properly execute the game. Without planning of activities in advance, one cannot achieve the
goals (Tran, Huynh and Nguyen, 2018). A person should have complete knowledge and
understanding about game before he starts playing it.
Further I also evaluated that good strategies must be formulated before starting the game
which helps in reducing the chances of mistakes. If one does not know how to win the game, he

cannot win that game. Correct strategies of how to aim an arrow on dart and how to answer
question in envelope must be framed in order to win game. With this I learnt that proper planning
relating to the activities is very important for the person. This is particularly because of the
reason that when the proper planning is ensured than people can work in proper and effective
manner. Hence, for getting success the most essential aspect is the proper planning as this will
provide an outline of whole working and will result in effective attainment of the objectives of
the business.
I also learned that there should be proper communication between team members so that
strategies can be formulated with proper discussion with other members. Each team member
should be given a fair chance to speak and clearly state his/her viewpoints about strategies so that
he/she does not feel left out from group (Jamieson and Howard, 2019). A thorough discussion
about game strategies & policies to win the game among team members proves to successful.
Along with this, proper communication will outline the better and effective analysis of the
situation and it will be attained in proper and effective manner.
In addition to this, I also learned the skill of time management which is very important in
any type of game. Managing the time effectively and answering the questions correctly is much-
needed in any kind of game. Moreover, I also realized that person should remain focused &
attentive towards his game in order to win it.
I further analysed that team games cannot be played individually and team work is
required to win the game. A respectful and trustful relations must be developed among team
mates and all relevant information must be shared with other relating to the game.
I also evaluated the skill that an individual with good aiming shots must be given a
chance earlier to set a strong foot in the game and giving tough competition to other teams. This
will help in earning the points faster and easier.
I also analysed that team must appoint a leader who is capable of being one so that he can
provide necessary directions and motivation and can lead a team towards success. A team with a
good leader will have extra benefit strongly communicate with others and giving proper
guidance to correctly aim at the shot. The team leader can further establish certain rules and
regulation to be followed by team-mates. This will help in reducing the conflicts and tension
among group and will promote healthy team relations.

Moreover, I also realized that team members come from different cultures and religions
and it is very important to maintain integrity and cultural values among team members so that no
one feels offensive about his cultures. This is particularly because of the reason that many a
times a person unknowingly may hurt any other person based on the fact that they do not have
any knowledge of other culture. Hence, from this I learnt that having a basic knowledge relating
to the cultures is very essential for the person to possess.
In addition to this, I also learnt that the use of critical thinking skill is also very important
for the business in order to manage the work in proper manner. The reason underlying this fact is
that when the game need to be designed then it is very crucial for the person that they must also
undertake critical thinking for designing the steps of the game. This is particularly because of the
reason that when the critical thinking will be present then person will effectively evaluate the
working and then finalise the steps of game (Tran, Huynh and Nguyen, 2018). Hence, from this I
learnt the critical thinking skill is very important and not only at the time of designing game but
also in other activities and life as well. the reason pertaining to this is that without critical
thinking no work can be attained.
However, with the help of this game design I also learnt that being honest is very
important in the present environment. Along with academic integrity the person has to keep
integrity in each and every activity which is being performed by the person. The reason
pertaining to the fact is that when the integrated and authenticated practices are being followed
then this assist the company in analysing and evaluating the things in proper and effective
manner.
CONCLUSION
From above discussion, it has been concluded that students have gained the benefits of
higher education by taking academic integrity and misconduct as they key concepts into their
considerations. The procedure of game production has enabled individuals to develop and learn
research as well as other academic skills that have provided essential benefits to them in the
recent time and future also in term of increasing their performance and productivity level.

REFERENCES
Book and Journals
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.
Eaton, S. E., 2021. Building Collaborative Networks to Support Academic Integrity: Keynote
address for Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN) Academic Integrity Inter-
Institutional Meeting 2021. Canadian Perspectives on Academic Integrity. 4(1). pp.116-
129.
Fatemi, G. and Saito, E., 2020. Unintentional plagiarism and academic integrity: The challenges and
needs of postgraduate international students in Australia. Journal of Further and Higher
Education. 44(10). pp.1305-1319.
Gottardello, D. and Karabag, S. F., 2020. Ideal and actual roles of university professors in academic
integrity management: a comparative study. Studies in Higher Education. pp.1-19.
Jamieson, S. and Howard, R., 2019. Rethinking the relationship between plagiarism and academic
integrity. Revue internationale des technologies en pédagogie universitaire/International
Journal of Technologies in Higher Education. 16(2). pp.69-85.
Patra, S. K. and Das, A. K., 2019. Finding Facets of Academic Integrity and Plagiarism through the
Prism of a Citation Database. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information
Technology. 39(2).
Tran, U. T., Huynh, T. and Nguyen, H. T. T., 2018. Academic integrity in higher education: The
case of plagiarism of graduation reports by undergraduate seniors in Vietnam. Journal of
Academic Ethics. 16(1),. pp.61-69.
1