Academic Integrity and its Importance in Higher Education

This report discusses academic integrity, its importance in higher education, and the consequences of academic misconduct. It also reflects on the skills developed while producing a game for Assignment 2. The report is divided into two sections, with the first section discussing academic integrity and its value, and the second section reflecting on the steps taken and difficulties encountered in producing the game. The skills developed include communication, time-management, creativity, coordinating, leadership, conflict resolution, and research skills.

BSc (Hons) Business Management with
Foundation
BMP3003
Further Academic Skills
Academic Integrity
Submitted by:
Name:
ID:

Contents
Introduction 3
Section 1 3-5
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity
4
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher
education 4
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct 5
Section 2 5-8
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in
producing the game for Assignment 2 5
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those
emphasized in producing your game 6
Conclusion 8
References 9

Introduction
Academic integrity can be understood as the moral code of conduct or moral
plan of action of academia which allows scholars and teachers the immunity to
generate new and original ideas, creative works and knowledge and respect as well
as comprehend the activity of others. The Educational institution will react to
academic misconduct in a consistent, clean, transparent, together with timely way.
This report will be grouped into two sections (Al-Haque, 2021). In section one, the
academic integrity and its value will be highlighted. It will also show the
consequences of academic misconduct in the environment of higher education. In
section two, there will be a reflective part in which steps taken in the game
production will be discussed, apart from this, skills and knowledge that have been
developed will also be a part of this report.
Section 1
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity defines the anticipations that pupil, faculty members,
researchers, apart from this, all members of the University act with honesty,
respect, fairness, trust, together with responsibility. In UK, higher education
scholars are anticipated to maintain the academic integrity during their education and
studies. A significant manner of upholding the the academic integrity is by contacting
the school or faculties if the students having study issues or difficulties and working
with them on remedies (Barr, 2021). Learning and studying caters the knowledge
anticipated of a scholar from the course but any type of cheating comprehend that
the learner could miss the pivotal professional knowledge, along with the practice
that the student require to succeed in the future career.
Five pillars of the Academic Integrity-
 Honesty: It defines the abilities and demonstrate student's contribution in a
fairy way.
 Trust: It helps in building strong relationships. It is ingrained where all
members are doing their best work, where policies, along with structures are
clean and all members will be fumed fairly.
 Fairness: Every appendage should have belief that they be judged and
fumed fairly by the aforesaid standard as all others in the university.

 Respect: It lets members or scholars' viewpoints and perceptions to be
shared. Graduates showcase the respect by listening perceptions of others,
be on time, meet deadlines and so forth. On the other side, tutors will show
respect by listening ideas, thoughts and views of graduates, also give
appropriate and honest feedback (Eaton, Crossman and Edino, 2019).
 Responsibility: It refers the understanding of answerability and agency in
regular actions and in the work.
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher
education
Academic integrity is very important in generating new ideas, for the students
as well as for the University.
For the students-
For the students, academic integrity indulges an opportunity of success by
performing academic work and tasks with an honest behavior. It is pivotal for the
students or graduates to neglect the work bad outcomes such as not succeeding in
the task or being asked to leave the college. As the pupil are spending their time and
contribution during their higher education, it can be a stepping stone to attainments
in the chosen career or domain.
For University-
The way graduates and faculties work and learn at University influences how
others see the University. So, it is a requirement to be consistent as well as authentic
in its standards for the assessments and courses so that others can have the
assurance in the people take degree from the college. This is the reason, it becomes
important for the University to take concerns related with academic dishonest or
misconduct seriously (Eaton and et.al., 2021). Moreover to this, when the person
passed out from the college, the University will be proud of keeping high standards
that achieved, comprehending that the learning was based on the fundament of
honor and trust and the certificate will be regarded.
For new ideas-
It is very essential for the graduates to identify the sources in an exact manner
in academic assignments because it enables the teacher to mark the work and see
where the opinions are generated. It symbolised the way how new ideas are

assembled. It also helps in giving credit to the original writers and authors whose
ideas or knowledge have been used in the work.
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct
Academic misconduct can be defined as the variety of foul that fall out in
relation to a formal academic writing. The University or any educational institution
takes all reported academic misconduct on sincere note and views to make sure that
they are dealt with suitably and promptly. Some common instances are plagiarism,
collusion, cheating, personation, deceit, falsification and so forth.
Consequences of Academic Misconduct-
 Loss of intellectual property: Academic misconduct such as plagiarizm is
equivalent of thieving the property of someone's else. An original work such
as design, opinion, writing, euphony, art and many more formed by somebody
is the “currency” for that individual and when another individual exploits it
without approval, resulting loss of intellectual property, likely income and
recognition.
 Social consequences: The moral consequences of cheating or dishonest
behavior, covering the “habit forming” nature of cheating and cheating's
decline of difficult work, candor and integrity (Ellis and et.al., 2020). The
habitual cheating nature shows that the person who cheat in academic
activities and sense they can free with it while may go along to darnel at
office, in personal life and other life aspects of life.
 Legal consequences: At times, educators and tutors include graduates in
tasks given to the college by extraneous sponsors (government agencies,
businesses and professional organizations) to cater learners with a chance for
working on real-life difficulties. If the graduates cheat, falsify, plagiarism or
fabricate the info in such tasks, then advocate can take any legal actions
against the college. These acts could be loss of future activities, fines, sues
and many more.
Section 2
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in
producing the game for Assignment 2

With my personal experience, it can be said that producing the game was
difficult task for me, although it was exciting as well because I got the chance to
learn new things and knowledge. My tutors asked me and other four to five members
to produce the game for the students so that they can learn the value of academic
integrity and bad consequences of dishonest behavior. I decided to lead the team of
mine so that effective game could be produced. The game could be played on
computer systems so that I had to develop some technical skills in order to know the
short-keys for the ease in game (Gaižauskaitė and et.al., 2020). The game included
some questions related with academic integrity which had to answer by the students
to know the knowledge and ideas about the same. Each question had options of four
in which the correct answer should be attended by the students with an intent to get
the marks, otherwise they will get the negative marks. If the students also caught
red-handed in doing cheating or falsifying the data, then could not be able to attend
the classes while expel from the University. This was important to teach the lessons
of academic misconduct so that students will not do the same in near future or in
professional life which might affect their whole life, including their family members as
well. There were some difficulties and problems faced by me while designing the
game. I faced the difficulty to acquire knowledge about the value of academic
integrity as I had to research about the concept so that the aim of such game could
be accomplished. I also faced some issues in coordinating with team members as I
was unable to assign the task to the right team member as per their skill or
knowledge. Miscommunication was happened between me and my team members
due to which several complexities were faced in the game production. This also
resulted in conflicts as it affected the game and task (Gervais, 2020). Time-
management skills were poor in me as I was not able to know which step should be
taken first in order to complete the game and meet the deadlines provided by
teachers. Therefore, all such things were complex in the game production but it was
a greater opportunity to me to know my key areas and weak points to grow and
enhanced.
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those
emphasized in producing your game

The game production was gave me the chance to grow personally and
professionally. Due to which, various skills, knowledge and abilities are developed
and further will help to complete any task with more efficiency (Weinthal, Larrondo-
Petrie and Zapata-Rivera, 2019). The skills which I have developed are discussed
underneath:
user
 Communication skills: The game production had helped me to improve my
communication skills in order to talk and share things with my team-members.
This skill helped me to delegate the responsibilities to each team-member by
communicating with them about their interests. It also let me to solve queries
and problems.
 Time-management skills: As the game was supposed to complete on time
while meeting the due dates so that late charge could be not applied. It has
been sensed that this skill will allow me to do work on time or before time as
further in my professional life the good impression will be delivered by me on
seniors (Olijhoek, 2021).
 Creativity: The game production required to me build creative skills within me
so that I could be able to produce the game which is attractive and matched
with the aim i.e. enable students to learn the value of academic integrity.
 Coordinating skills: This skill was also important for me to develop in order
to get coordinated work by me and team members. The coordination is also
important so that an effective game could be produced for the students.
 Leadership skills: It was also important for me to grow in my leadership skills
so that I could be able to lead, direct, influence and motivate other members
in the team (Suditu and Safta, 2021). I realized that this skill was also help me
to focus and grow in other areas as well such as problem-solving,
motivational skills and so forth.
 Conflict resolution skills: As the game production was the task of four to
five members, there were many times the conflicts had been increased
between all members due to which the game was also affected. This game
was allowed me to develop conflict resolution skills in order to resolve issues
between followers (Rettinger and Gallant, 2022). I listened each and every
perspective in a well manner so that I could conclude the things and then
resolve so that I could be fair to everyone.

 Research skills: The game design also required me to identify various
sources and information so that effective and relevant game could be planned
(Sanni-Anibire, 2021).
Conclusion
From the above study, it can be said that academic integrity enables an
individual to do their work with more honest behavior and attitude so that bad
consequences of academic misconduct can be avoided. This is important for both
personal and work life. Academic misconduct involves cheating, fabrication and
falsification of data, plagiarism, personation and many more. All such things should
be kept in mind to avoid the negative implications in higher education. Game
production indulges the chance of developing several skills and qualities within the
person.

References
Al-Haque, R., 2021. Insights on Academic Integrity Policy Development: Crafting
Policy Catered to Your Institution. Canadian Perspectives on Academic
Integrity, 4(2), pp.34-34.
Barr, L., 2021. Shifting the Stories around Academic Integrity: How Critically
Reflective Educators Create Empowered Student Learning. Canadian
Perspectives on Academic Integrity, 4(2), pp.70-70.
Eaton, S.E., Crossman, K. and Edino, R., 2019. Academic Integrity in Canada: An
Annotated Bibliography. Online Submission.
Eaton, S.E. and et.al., 2021. Contract Cheating in Canada: National Policy Analysis
Project Update and Results for 2021. Canadian Perspectives on Academic
Integrity, 4(2), pp.24-25.
Ellis, C. and et.al., 2020. Does authentic assessment assure academic integrity?
Evidence from contract cheating data. Higher Education Research &
Development, 39(3), pp.454-469.
Gaižauskaitė, I. and et.al., 2020. Academic Integrity Self-Evaluation Tools. ENAI
Report 3B-3E: revised version.
Gervais, L., 2020. Academic integrity and student support during COVID-
19. Canadian Perspectives on Academic Integrity, 3(2), pp.18-19.
Olijhoek, T., 2021, August. How the Publish or Perish Culture Compromises
Academic Integrity. In International Conference on Academic Integrity and
Plagiarism 2021.
Rettinger, D.A. and Gallant, T.B. eds., 2022. Cheating Academic Integrity: Lessons
from 30 Years of Research. John Wiley & Sons.
Sanni-Anibire, H., 2021. A student perspective of academic integrity. Canadian
Perspectives on Academic Integrity, 4(1), pp.135-135.
Suditu, M. and Safta, C.G., 2021. Student's perceptions of ethics and academic
integrity. Journal of Educational Sciences & Psychology, 11(2).
Weinthal, C.P., Larrondo-Petrie, M.M. and Zapata-Rivera, L.F., 2019, October.
Academic Integrity Assurance Methods and Tools for Laboratory Settings.
In 2019 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.