Academic Integrity: Importance, Implications, and Game Development

This article discusses the importance of academic integrity in higher education, including its role in maintaining ethical norms and codes of conduct. It also explores the implications of academic misconduct and reflects on the steps taken and difficulties encountered in producing an educational game. The skills learned during the game development process are highlighted, along with their emphasis on time management, communication, and critical thinking.

Academic Integrity

Table of Content
Table of Content..............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................3
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity............................................3
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher education...........................4
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct.................................................................5
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................5
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...............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Academic skills are defined as the skills which help in creating and generating the
strength to have professional standards in career and education (Cirino and et.al., 2017). The
report will analyze that how academic integrity will help in assessing process of workings of
University and to follow ethical norms and code of conduct. Also, importance of academic
integrity will help in realizing fact that it is very necessary in higher education. Along with this,
implications of academic misconduct will be assessed. On other hand, steps taken in producing
game will be mentioned and described that how game is being developed in form of reflection
along with difficulties which will be encountered while making game. This is also further noted
that skills that I will learn while developing game in academic year.
SECTION 1
An Introduction including a description of Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is defined as the moral and ethical code or moral policies which are to
be followed in the academia. Academic integrity basically means putting the honest values in the
academic work being done at the university (Sheard and et.al., 2018). This includes being fair to
others, following the conventions of scholarship and taking responsibility for learning. This
denotes that it is the University’s responsibility to provide award for the honest conduct of work.
On the other hand, it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they cooperate with the laws
and policies of academic integrity by –
 Not presenting the other people’s work as their own.
 People conduct research ethically by following the University’s regulations effectively.
 The information which is being used by the people denting it that where it comes from.
 Information usage should be in an appropriate manner which assures privacy laws and
copyright.
 To report the research truthfully.
Therefore, through this the University is able to analyze the performance of the individuals as
how much they are loyal and trustworthy in their research and work (Denisova-Schmidt, 2017).
By following academic integrity, the University has to follow some rules and policies which
denote that the work is being done in a resourceful manner. The wider academic community and
University is build on shared norms and values followed by the behavior which includes

responsibility, fairness and honesty towards the work which is being performed for the research
study.
This also helps in ensuring the regulations and policies in the research of the University play
an important role for maintaining the academic integrity. Ethical code of conduct and norms are
to be followed while performing research work done for University. The academic work done at
the University should be performed in such a way that it delivers sincerity of work.
A discussion of the importance of academic integrity in higher education
Academic integrity is important in higher education or University because it helps the
students to learn and guides them about the core values and norms that are applied to everything
when the student enters into the University and seeks higher education. Also, it helps in guiding
to their academic projects (Sefcik and et.al., 2019). The academic integrity follows four steps to
what are the main ingredients which are – respects, responsibility, trust and fairness. Universities
give special attention to academic integrity. And in this, the Universities follows strict code of
regulations and rules which are be followed by the staff members and the students. And if any
one of the individual whether a staff member or the student who does not follow the rules and
regulations then they bound to be punished under the law. The Universities provide with
whatever information which is to be reached to the students and is necessary and guides them
wherever necessary.
Academic integrity provides high academic standard ideas of the University and helps in
reflecting the reputation on the same side. Academic integrity is also important for the campus
reflection which becomes the attention for the society as whole. The colleges makes the
academic integrity aspect as an important form in which the teachers, students, parents and the
entire society contributes towards making a good impression towards the University as they are
the assets (Chauhan and et.al., 2018). In addition to all these statements, academic integrity adds
value to the degree trained by the students. Along with this, the most important thing about
academic integrity is that it ensures students learning quality for the future. Therefore, this is
how academic integrity plays an important role in the lives of students and Universities or higher
education. Academic integrity has proved to be most effective and efficient forms through which
Universities can improve their processes.

Discuss the implications of academic misconduct
Academic misconduct is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to formal academic
exercise. The University is responsible for all the misconducts and reports incidences seriously
and ensures that the matters are dealt with penalties and punishments. Academic misconduct
includes collusion, falsification, plagiarism, cheating, personation, deceit. There are many
implications of academic misconduct. Most obvious implications are penalties Universities
impose on the offending student (Parnther, 2020). Some of the other consequences of the
misconduct include breaking the serious ethical, moral, academic and social concerns. When
students plagiarize or cheat in the academic activities the University and the instructors are not
able to assess and evaluate the performance of student. The skills, knowledge and other
behaviours are then misled by the cheating and their misconduct due to their behaviour. And due
to this behaviour the educators lose their enthusiasm and their morale declines due to such
factors which do not promote effective and clear honesty patterns of studying at the University.
Along with this, the educational atmosphere at the University vanishes away and affects the
quality of education the University provides to the students. Therefore, academic dishonesty or
misconduct has long term societal consequences.
Penalties and punishments are being given to the student who behaves unfairly and
dishonest to the University and the academic society at large scale (Grira and et.al., 2019). The
academic misconduct in the University creates the process also disturbed relationships between
the teachers and the students due to such misbehaviour of students when they indulge into any
fraudulent which affects their reputation as well as University’s reputation. Therefore, to ensure
that the University maintains the record of the no offensive misconduct followed by any student,
it should take concerns for providing the better education of following the moral and ethical
codes of conduct while the students seek education from the University effectively.
SECTION 2
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in producing the game for
Assignment 2
Learning based games are being introduced as part of the students’ game studies in order to
avoid academic misconduct and plagiarism. Intruder is a type of game which helps students to

address their trouble spots (De Classe and et.al., 2019). It has been designed to identify the
plagiarized ways.
Steps taken in producing the game is –
 In the initial starting, I was required to install the game and sign up using my personal
details which is done through email id, name etc.
 I can only proceed to the game when I follow the policies and regulations and agree with
it.
 After these two steps I am provided with instructions on how to play the game along with
the game sequence.
 This game tutorial indulges plagiarizing, paraphrasing and proper citations.
 In the first level, I am introduced to the respective University to which I belong along
with the friends.
 Then suddenly the campus of the university is being attacked by the intruders and they
spread over all the premises of the college. For the survival, I have to kill the intruders as
I am left alone and I don’t want to be attacked by these intruders.
 Therefore, the next step which I take is killing all the intruders with the gun which are
spread in all over the campus.
 And each time I kill an intruder I am asked a question to which I have to answer. And
these questions are related to my academic syllabus.
 My each correct answer will kill the intruder one by one.
 This game has 14 levels and the subject from which the question arises is geography,
G.K., english literature & grammar, history and mathematics (Dewi and et.al., 2017).
 When I crack the fourth level that is the last level, I get the certificate from the University
for completing the game successfully.
Moreover, I have produced this game to identify needs of students. I searched the game on
internet and created my own steps which helped students in making their move in game get their
certificates through it. And for producing this game, I took help of an expert who added help in
making the game more effective and efficient.
Difficulties encountered in producing game occurred on some low and high notes. The
main difficulty which I found in producing the game was that system was not strong enough to
support game with its various levels. But when I research for system details that how can I make

game, internet gave me easy and convenient options to make game work so that it could reach
the thousands of other students so that they can get benefit from it by achieving certificate with
their studies.
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those emphasized in producing
your game
There are various skills that I have learned this academic year and those skills which
emphasized in producing my game (Akcaoglu and et.al., 2019). These skills are described as
follows –
 I have learned that time management is an essential aspect which should be considered as
an import part of life and I also realized this while developing the game.
 I also learned that it is very necessary to set the priorities and goals which helps in
making the work more easy and effortless.
 Effective communication skills were needed for the game which I had improved in the
course while making the game.
 Exchange of ideas and knowledge between the teacher and the students was an important
part of the game which I made it happen to improve it more.
 Reasonable solutions to the answers were being framed by me in such a way that it
engages the students in increasing their critical thinking abilities and basic skills which
are required for the game (Bediou and et.al., 2018).
 I have also learned that brainstorming, revising and drafting with the team work are the
key elements in developing the game.
 As I designed the game, therefore, I took the responsibility through which process and
techniques I have planned and incorporated the game.
 Also, long-term goals have been taken into consideration while developing the game, this
included complex learning processes and will make the students in dealing with the
challenges they face while playing the game and can take quick decisions and achieve
results effectively and efficiently.
Therefore, by analyzing the game on a full circle, these are the skills which had learned while
developing the game. This is the most common skills which one could learn from the game
which has been developed by an individual. These on the positive notes helped me in making
some quick decisions which later on benefited the game, me and the students who played this

game. It was a type of educational game which also provided the questions and the answers were
only those which will help the students to learn and know about.
Through this, the students would be able to gain knowledge and this would also create an
interesting aspect for them that they incorporated such educational game (Parong and et.al.,
2017). This also helped the University in making certificates and providing them to the students
who successfully played the game and achieved a good result by passing all the four levels which
were there in the game. Therefore, this game helped me in taking some better decisions for my
life and whole on the professional backgrounds that I created and developed this game
successfully this academic year. This also made the process of being punctual on time.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from above report that academic integrity helped in assessing process
of workings of University and to follow ethical norms and code of conduct. Also, importance of
academic integrity helped in realizing fact that it is very necessary in higher education. Along
with this, implications of academic misconduct were assessed. On other hand, steps taken in
producing game were mentioned and described that how game was being developed in form of
reflection along with difficulties which were encountered while making game. This was also
further noted that skills that I had learned while developing game in academic year.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akcaoglu, M. and et.al., 2019. Teaching systems thinking through game design. Educational
Technology Research and Development.67(1).pp.1-19.
Bediou, B. and et.al., 2018. Meta-analysis of action video game impact on perceptual,
attentional, and cognitive skills. Psychological bulletin.144(1).p.77.
Chauhan, P.K. and et.al., 2018. Peer-based interventions on academic integrity: assessing
immediate and long term learning. Journal of Academic Ethics.16(2).pp.133-149.
Cirino, P.T. and et.al., 2017. An introduction to the special issue: Contributions of executive
function to academic skills. Journal of learning disabilities.50(4).pp.355-358.
De Classe, T.M. and et.al., 2019. The play your process method for business process-based
digital game design. International Journal of Serious Games.6(1).pp.27-48.
Denisova-Schmidt, E., 2017. The challenges of academic integrity in higher education: Current
trends and prospects.
Dewi, R.S. and et.al., 2017. Using Communicative Games in Improving Students' Speaking
Skills. English Language Teaching.10(1).pp.63-71.
Grira, J. and et.al., 2019. Rationality and Students' Misconduct at University: Empirical
Evidence and Policy Implications. International Education Studies.12(3).pp.10-23.
Parnther, C., 2020. Academic misconduct in higher education: A comprehensive review. Journal
of Higher Education Policy And Leadership Studies.1(1).pp.25-45.
Parong, J. and et.al., 2017. Learning executive function skills by playing focused video
games. Contemporary Educational Psychology.51.pp.141-151.
Sefcik, L. and et.al., 2019. Mapping the landscape of academic integrity education programs:
what approaches are effective?. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education.
Sheard, J. and et.al., 2018, January. Informing students about academic integrity in
programming. In Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Computing Education
Conference (pp. 113-122).