Report on Academic Integrity - BMP3003 Further Academic Skills 2021

This report provides a comprehensive overview of academic integrity, its importance in higher education, and the implications of academic misconduct. It defines academic integrity based on five pillars: honesty, fairness, responsibility, respect, and trust. The report discusses how academic integrity promotes critical thinking, rewards deserving candidates, and maintains institutional integrity. It also explores the negative consequences of academic misconduct, such as suspension and career limitations. Furthermore, the report includes a reflection on the process of developing a game for Project 2, highlighting challenges like technical skill gaps, creativity limitations, and teamwork issues. It also reflects on skills gained during the academic year, including time management and critical thinking. The report concludes that understanding and practicing academic integrity is crucial for students' academic and professional success. Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers for students.

Academic Integrity
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Define academic integrity................................................................................................................3
Discussion on the importance of academic integrity in higher education.......................................4
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct...........................................................................5
Section 2...........................................................................................................................................6
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in producing the game for
Project 2...........................................................................................................................................6
Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those emphasized in producing
your game.........................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
2

INTRODUCTION
Academic integrity refers to moral code and ethical policies that are required to be
followed in the university. Academic integrity includes the fundamentals of teaching, learning
and researchers at the university. Adequate knowledge about the concept of academic integrity in
students will ensure that they follow all the required university norms in their academic work
(Eaton and et. al., 2021). Through implementation of academic integrity in the university, the
academic misconducts will be removed and students will present original content in the
university. Section 1 of this report covers the importance of academic integrity in higher
education and implications that are faced due to academic misconduct. Further Section 2
revolves around the difficulties that were encountered during the process of game creation. It
also covers different skills that were developed during the process of game creation.
MAIN BODY
Define academic integrity
Academic integrity is the process in which the student is required to present their work
with complete honesty without conducting any kind of misconduct. This helps in imparting
knowledge in the students regarding the academic culture and policies which are implemented in
the university. The major problem that is resolved by academic integrity is plagiarism which is a
major issue faced by the university. The concept of plagiarism refers to usage of someone else’s
work in the academic writing and representing that piece of work as your own. This misconduct
can happen intentionally or unintentionally by the student, therefore it is essential for the student
to get educated on the topics like academic integrity and different types of academic misconduct.
A proper code of conduct is established by university that the student must follow in order to
maintain academic integrity in university (Paraschiv, 2020). The concept of academic integrity is
based on five pillars and values; these five pillars represent the overall concept behind academic
integrity. The five pillars are further discussed below: Honesty- This refers to the values that must be derived while doing academic work, the
student must present all the academic projects and work with complete honesty without
any type of academic misconduct or such dishonest activity.
3

 Fairness- This refers to the completion of objective without any usage of unfair
practices, the work that is represented by the student should be their own creation and
they are not allowed to copy or use work of any of their friends and classmates. Responsibilities- The student should be responsible for the work that they are
representing in the university and they are also responsible for their own set of learning
that they will accomplish during their module learning. Respect- The student is required to respect the work of other writers and students, usage
of other’s work and representing it as their own set of work is considered as a
misconduct. Trust- This refers to the belief of the person in the work and the values that are followed
during the work. In the academics, it is essential for the students to show the factor of
trust in the work that they are presenting in the university. (Medway, Roper and Gillooly,
2018).
Discussion on the importance of academic integrity in higher education
Academic integrity is one of the most essential concept in higher education which protects
the integrity and values of student in the university. It helps the student in terms of delivering
good academic content to the tutor. It helps in identification of correct sources so that the original
writer would be credited for their piece of work. This helps in writing content on own and
presenting the original piece of working without any type of plagiarism.
Academic integrity is essential as it ensures maintaining of image in university, this
generates an atmosphere of trust and discipline. Academic misconduct is one of the major issues
that are faced by the university as many students do different types of activities which are against
the concept of academic integrity. Lack of integrity in the work is one of the major issues that are
generally faced by the universities during their module. The student must follow this code of
conducts in order to maintain the decorum of institution (Al Sulaimi, Al Nuumani and Al
Bassami, 2021). Integrity can be practised by the students by applying different set of techniques.
Brings focus on skills and critical thinking: In comparison to the other writing patterns and
styles the academic writing helps a student to learn structured form of writing. Also this helps a
person to think critically and acknowledge new ideas as when person work with honesty and
fairness the new ideas are developed. Also if the student works with academic integrity there is
4

brighter and prosperous future and career growth as person gains exclusive knowledge and skills
when performs with academic integrity.
Deserving candidate is acknowledged and rewarded: when is the academic course a person
performs and writes the assessments in exams with academic integrity there is a fair judgement
of performance. This results into right scoring of the student’s performance and excellence
providing a honest, responsible and respectable feedback in the form of reward and recognition
(Knight, 2018). This is important in higher education in motivating the students to work hard to
gain achievements and also to work with integrity. This also protects the rights of gaining
deserving opportunity for the efforts and hardwork.
Discuss the implications of academic misconduct
There are several consequences and implication due to the academic misconduct, few of
them are falsification, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, unauthorized collaborative and the other
forms of academic dishonesty. The result of these consequences sometimes ends up in
suspension from the institute. There are several rules and codes that are set up by the university
which every student most follows in order to maintain the academic integrity. Academic
misconduct is highly unethical practice carried by the individuals in the academic setting
therefore these are not acceptable and carry some serious implications (Купрата and Менсо,
2020). The implications of the academic misconduct are highlighted below:
 When a person commits academic misconduct it can cause person's suspension from the
particular academic year or more. In relation to the tutor the academic misconduct could
lead towards the suspension of teaching license. Basically is can be end to career and
education resulting into failure of the growth and learning.
 As the consequence of academic misconduct can result as debarred or loss of
participation in the particular project or activity at the academic course thereby leading
towards demerit of losing career growth and development opportunity.
 Attempts of misconduct by teachers results as the permanent or yearly revocation of the
teaching licenses. This may also cause loss of job otherwise there are serious implications
like facing lawsuits against the judging and teaching by unfair means.
 Academic misconduct has a very negative implication on the victim as they are
disadvantaged due to other person’s unfair actions of stealing or copying of work. So this
swaps the victim and sometimes of the person that has conducted the academic
5

dishonesty is remains safe and covered causing trouble to others opportunities and career
growth. Thereby taking unfair advantage and leisure of others rewards and efforts
(O'Rourke Dr, 2019).
Section 2
Reflect on the steps you have taken, and difficulties encountered in producing
the game for Project 2
In the process of making the game, I encountered some difficulties those where my lack of
creativity and problem-solving skills, because while the game development I needed to come up
with the innovative ideas that can make the game the most creative. I was more looking forward
to build a game where students can learn from and they can learn about academic integrity. The
need to study these topics was to prevent them from academic misconduct (Cronan, Mullins and
Douglas, 2018). Some of the main difficulties I encountered throughout the game process are
discussed below:
Lack of Technical skills: In this game making process the key skill required is the
technology expertise, as I need to construct a game that has improvisation of attractive AI and
implements all the other technology based features. I need to develop a game to help students
understand the concepts of plagiarism and academic integrity faster. But, I analyzed that I have
lack of technical skills that was huge barrier for my game development process.
Lower Creativity - Games must be engaging, attractive and fun to attract more students, but
also need to serve the purpose of educating students about academic integrity. But due to my lack
of creativity I was facing huge issues in making the game eye catching making it boring and less
appealing to the students. This is being huge issue for me as this may result into the failure of
the game.
Lack of team working: as the part of the project of developing an academic integrity game
it was a team based task. But, I observed that I have been more like individual rather than being a
supportive and collaborative team member. This lack of skill cause different issues such as
ineffective communication, bad decision making, low peer to peer learning and much more
causing harm to my other skills as well.
6

Reflect on the skills you have learned this academic year and those
emphasized in producing your game
Game Designing is a task that has helped me learn different concepts and skills through
which I can achieve multiple goals both academically and professionally (Amigud and Lancaster,
2019). During game designing, I managed to learn different skills, some of which are highlighted
underneath:
Time Management Skill - I developed this skill during game development process as I needed
to gain personal learning and development while making the game. In the process of game
designing related to plagiarism and academic integrity, I was required to perform and accomplish
several sets of tasks in a particular allotted time. I set up a schedule which helped me to develop
time management skills simultaneously. Thus, through the learning of this skill I also learned to
maintain the time schedules for the better accomplishment of the work. This was really helpful
for me as this is the transferable skill that will be useful to me in future as well.
Critical Thinking Skills – Brainstorming is one of the skills that I developed during creation of
game, as I was hoping to develop the idea that has huge potential of delivering the creativity in
the game. Along with this, I was also required to develop a game that would educate students
about the topic of academic integrity and misconduct. In the process of creating this game, I
encountered several sets of problems that were solved by applying critical thinking skills in the
process (Adachi, Tai and Dawson, 2018). I have come up with ideas to make the game successful
and fulfill the purpose of introducing the concept and further deterring any type of academic
misconduct in the university.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the academic misconduct is the main issue in the
academic setting like university, academic course and other institutions. Designing of game
regarding the academic misconducts and integrity was one of the most beneficial task as it helped
in learning new set of skills which will be useful in academic and professional life. This helps the
student to perform their academic actions with integrity and also protect myself from the
academic misconduct. The game learning is the effective technique for the skill development in
the academic setting. Also, the games designing activities is helpful in terms of bright future of
the students.
7

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adachi, C., Tai, J.H.M. and Dawson, P., 2018. Academics’ perceptions of the benefits and
challenges of self and peer assessment in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education, 43(2), pp.294-306.
Al Sulaimi, H., Al Nuumani, W. and Al Bassami, Z., 2021. Academic Integrity in Virtual
Learning during the Pandemic COVID-19: Case Study of Oman. Bayan College
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 1(02).
Amigud, A. and Lancaster, T., 2019. 246 reasons to cheat: An analysis of students’ reasons for
seeking to outsource academic work. Computers & Education, 134, pp.98-107.
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 and et. al., 2021. Reflections on the first year of integrity hour: An online community
of practice for academic integrity. Canadian Perspectives on Academic Integrity, 4(1), pp.4-
13.
Knight, M., 2018. The Problem of Plagiarism: Finding Ways to Promote Academic Integrity in
the Classroom. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 81(3), pp.279-280.
Medway, D., Roper, S. and Gillooly, L., 2018. Contract cheating in UK higher education: A
covert investigation of essay mills. British Educational Research Journal, 44(3), pp.393-
418.
O'Rourke Dr, K., 2019. Academic Integrity in the Post-Truth, Fake News Era.
Paraschiv, R., 2020. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND ABILITIES FOR ONLINE LEARNING.
LESSONS FROM COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Jurnalul Libertății de Conștiință, 8(1), pp.799-
807.
Купрата, Н. and Менсо, І., 2020. Academic plagiarism and self-plagiarism as elements of
violation of academic integrity.
8

9