Academic Integrity: Importance, Implications of Misconduct, and Game Development

This report discusses the concept of academic integrity, its relevance to higher education, and the implications of academic misconduct. It also reflects on the steps taken and difficulties encountered in developing a game to prevent plagiarism. The report emphasizes the importance of honesty, trust, responsibility, respect, and fairness in academic communities.

Academic Integrity

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Section 1 ..........................................................................................................................................1
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity.................................................1
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher education ...............................2
Discussing the implications of academic misconduct.................................................................3
Section 2 ..........................................................................................................................................4
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in producing the game.........4
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those emphasized in producing
your game....................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
References:.......................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The concept of academic integrity demonstrates the moral and honest behaviour
commitment in academic setting. The broad academic community and university are based on
norms of conduct and shared values that include honesty, fairness and responsibility (Al-Farsi
and et. al., 2022). Academic integrity puts these values into practice around honesty in work at
the university, fairness to others and responsibility for learning is assumed through adherence to
scientific conventions. The report is drawn up in two sections. In Section 1, the topics covered
are related to the Academic Integrity explanation, its relevance to higher education and the
implications of academic misconduct. Section 2 reflects on the steps and difficulties encountered
in creating a game. In addition, a reflection is given on skills that were learned during the
production of a game.
Section 1
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity
The academic integrity supports in maintaining standards and legislation of academic
value of education in respect to behaviours like avoiding of plagiarism, cheating etc. The
academic integrity is act of displaying fairness and honesty in educational activities. By focusing
on ethical code any sort of academic misconduct is controlled and knowledge by creating dta
between users (Awdry 2021). The moral code of conduct is applied by the teachers, educatee and
other people for taking sense of responsibility, honesty, respect in the academic data behaviour.
In the practice of academic integrity teaching, research and services are three elements. The term
integrity defines to adhering of individual character with moral and ethical principles. It is being
consider as academic misconduct, when there is no follow up of integrity rule by person and
attracted towards the penalty. Previously, the academic integrity was associated to honour code
that was monitored by scholar and focuses on pride, power, duty and self-esteem. This consists
of five core values that are as follows-
 Honesty- The truthful attitude is shown regarding ideas and knowledge which value
demand of student behaviour and used by them. In such scholar conducts their own
research for the creation of own knowledge. The development of trust is encouraged by
honesty as educatee follows instructions of their professors and work is conducting on
own name without having any unauthorised help (Zeljic 2021).
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 Trust- To avoid the errors all members are required to follow fairly rules, regulations and
policies. This helps in development of relations with peers, instructors that are based on
actions. It helps students and researchers in collaboration, information sharing and new
ideas are circulated without any fear with the help of trust. The trust is promoted by the
students with preparation of work that is honest, thoughtful and genuine (Azmat and et.
al., 2021).
 Responsibility- Members of the academic community are responsible to themselves and
to one another to protect the integrity of scholarship, research and teaching. It inspires
others to adhere to academic integrity standards in the group. The responsible persons are
responsible for their own actions and work to discourage and prevent wrong doing of
others.
 Respect- The respect for oneself and for others is shown in the academic communities.
Respect for oneself means without compromising one's own values, the challenges are
tackled. Respect for others shows the appreciation of different opinions and the
appreciation of the need to question and refine ideas. Respect is shown by students when
they are valued and when they take the opportunity to gain new knowledge by playing an
active role in their education and doing the work to the best of their ability (Castaño and
et. al., 2021).
 Fairness- It includes components of certainty, transparency, clear and reasonable
expectations. Members such as faculty and students of academic community have right to
expect fair treatment and also have a duty to treat others fairly. With fairness and respect
students do their original work and follows the guidelines of academic integrity which
helps in creating security feeling and to real owner credit is given for real data.
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher education
The academic integrity in high education is very important as this helps in creating
knowledge in individual behaviour with trust and honesty in order to gaining of better reputation.
There is a development of academic skills for students in educational approach. Freedom is
given to students and staffs for the development of new information and concepts by directing
high level research on courses (Filingeri and et. al., 2021). The polices and procedures are
promoted by addressing allegation of misconduct which brings importance of academic integrity.
This has a significance in offering of training and guidance to scholars and personnel for
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development of better practices in order to maintain academic and research integrity. On the
standards of the courses university is needed to be trustworthy and consistent by which
confidence of community is created who are graduating their degrees. The academic integrity has
importance in offering value to student degree as employers prefers high graduates with high
personal integrity. Academic integrity helps protect against dire consequences that lead to
serious problems such as dropping out of school or university, and receiving fines or fines. It is
also important to establish peace of mind by doing the right thing and acting consistently on
those beliefs. The act of integrity helps to reduce the stress in life and leads to more productive,
happier, and healthier.
Discussing the implications of academic misconduct
The academic misconduct defines to any sort of cheating which is occurring in respect to
formal academic exercise. The university takes scientific misconduct seriously and ensures that it
is dealt with appropriately and efficiently (Yorke and et. al., 2021). It is also known by the name
of academic dishonesty, fraud related to multiple acts by students who violate expected norms of
the educational establishment, school, or university. It is plagiarism, fraud, etc. The types of
academic misconduct are as follows:
 Cheating- This takes the form of crib notes or the sharing of information among students
who are re-evaluating an exam. It's about absorbing or sharing information that is used to
determine academic outcomes. It involves copying other work from the student test,
using materials such as textbooks, taking notes without the professor's consent in the test,
etc.
 Fabrication- In formal academic exercises it is an misrepresentation of data,
information, or quotations. In the research, the false claims are made including the
selective submission of results against the exclusion of inconvenient data to generate
bogus data (Harper and et. al., 2021). It often occurs in the natural sciences, where
students evolve or change observational data. In research, listing a cited source that is not
actually used is also an fabrication.
 Plagiarism- It is defined as a close suggestion of the language and thoughts of other
authors who present them as their own original work. It involves using another person's
thoughts, ideas, or scriptures and sharing one's name without having an adequate source
of approval and without the Creator's permission.
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 Collusion- This is related to two or more students acts working together on a individual
project. In the assessment task, cooperation with the other students without permission or
helping another student to cheat is also counted as an Collusion. It is a matter of
plagiarism that has an unauthorized and unassigned participation of the students in part of
the assessed work (Hay, I. and Israel, M., 2021).
The academic dishonesty in university has implication of imposing penalties on the
offensive scholar. The effect of academic dishonesty leads to the failure of intellectual property
like plagiarism, which amounts to stealing someone else's work that was created by someone else
without permission. The instructor is unable to assess the student's performance or the
assessment of the students' knowledge, skills and applications when students cheat or plagiarize
in academic activities. It is for this reason that institutions grant accreditations to those who don't
really deserve it, which has serious practical implications for the workplace. The external
sponsors approve projects to the university, which are awarded to the students by the faculties, in
order to offer the opportunity to work on real problems (Vazquez and et. al., 2021). If students in
such a case cheat, forge or fabricate data in the projects, sponsors can take formal action against
the university, which can result in fines, the loss of future projects, etc., loss of opportunities for
other students in the future.
Section 2
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in producing the game
In this day and age, educational competition has grown in prominence, but there is a lot
of academic misconduct by students in universities. Students carry out the activities of academic
misconduct to achieve the goals with little effort and are considered illegal practice. To avoid
plagiarism and academic misconduct at work, I thought of creating a game that would help
students improve their knowledge and skills. While developing a game, I came across a lot of
ideas and picked the best ones that students can enjoy and be interesting. The name of the game
is “plag pro”, which is designed to keep students interested in their own projects without copying
content with full interest and fun. I designed the software that requires students to enter their
personal information to play the game. In this game, the content of the project is adapted to the
age and class of the students. In order to expand the knowledge and get the students to write their
content in their own words, I have developed different images that are tailored to the specific
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content and thus help to avoid academic misconduct. The pictures help provide further
information if the student cannot copy and paste their content. I designed this game to be free to
play, but there is a certain amount of money charged for the updated version. In order to play the
game, I have set a minimum number of players who will play and get an extra.
Difficulties-
When producing the game, I faced with the problem of choosing a game from various
alternatives and giving it a name. In developing the software with player privacy, I struggled
with design, tech, graphics, etc. I had issues choosing some graphics and images that needed to
match the selected content. I also faced the problem of how the game is played, no. the players
required to play this game, etc. I also came up with a content selection issue that needs to be
matched with the age and class of students.
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those emphasized in
producing your game
Each individual focuses on their academic skills, which will help analyse, learn and
understand the new aspects. The skills will help the individual in development his or her personal
and professional life. In developing a game, I brought a lot of skills with me, some of which I
already possessed and some developed that helped me to make the game efficient and attractive.
I developed the presentation skills that helped me present the thoughts and ideas effectively. I
also acquired power point skills by creating the presentation which includes several pictures,
diagrams and text to make the content easier to understand. This skill has helped me preset the
game for students so that they can easily understand it. I have developed the research skills that
demonstrate the ability to search, organize, and use specific information. This ability helped me
expand my knowledge of various subjects and provide better solutions to a problem. I already
had the writing skills that helped me write the game with correct grammar and vocabulary to
make it easier to understand.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from above that academic integrity is an crucial conception in which pupil
must learn for their betterment in professional life. Students can work with much honesty and
integrity to achieve the purposes. It is more relevant to give recognition to other people and at the
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same time to use their ideas at the university level. The contribution of others is recognized.
Academic integrity is the moral code or ethical policy of science.
References:
Books and Journals
Al-Farsi and et. al., 2022. Systemic Review and Meta-analysis of the Intellectual Integrity of
Children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1. World Neurosurgery, 157, pp.69-74.
Awdry, R., 2021. Assignment outsourcing: moving beyond contract cheating. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(2), pp.220-235.
Azmat and et. al., 2021. Strengthening impact integrity in investment decision-making for
sustainable development. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal.
Castaño and et. al., 2021. Implementing remotely proctored testing in nursing
education. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 16(2), pp.156-161.
Filingeri, and et. al., 2021. It is time to be" cool" about maintaining skin integrity. Journal of
tissue viability, pp.S0965-206X.
Harper and et. al., 2021. Detecting contract cheating: examining the role of assessment
type. Higher Education Research & Development, 40(2), pp.263-278.
Hay, I. and Israel, M., 2021. Caring about research ethics and integrity in human geography.
In Research Ethics in Human Geography (pp. 23-41). Routledge.
Vazquez and et. al., 2021. Can we stay one step ahead of cheaters? A field experiment in
proctoring online open book exams. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental
Economics, 90, p.101653.
Yorke and et. al., 2021. Contract cheating and blackmail: a risky business?. Studies in higher
education, pp.1-14.
Zeljic, K., 2021. Research integrity awareness among biology students–Experience from the
University of Belgrade. Accountability in research, 28(6), pp.331-348.
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