KnowPlag: Game Design for Academic Integrity and Consequences

This assignment details the design of a game called "KnowPlag," aimed at educating students about plagiarism, academic integrity, and academic misconduct in a fun and engaging manner. The game involves dividing a class of 20 students into four teams, where they answer questions related to topics such as academic integrity, plagiarism, consequences of plagiarism, and academic misconduct using a spinner board. Correct answers earn points, while incorrect answers deduct points, and teams can challenge each other to answer questions. The game promotes competition and enthusiasm while reinforcing the importance of academic honesty. The reflection highlights the skills developed during the game's creation, emphasizing the need for ethical research practices, proper data handling, and acknowledgment of sources to avoid plagiarism. The assignment includes references to various academic sources that discuss plagiarism and academic integrity.

Introduction
Plagiarism happens when someone passes off someone else's
work as their own without acknowledging the source of the
ideas (Manoharan and Ye, 2020). Academic misconduct
occurs when students use unethical academic practices such
as obtaining material from the internet, cheating, and so on
to get an unfair academic advantage.
Game Design
Working of the game “KnowPlag”
The game which is proposed to enhance students knowledge of plagiarism is fun and a
group activity. This will help students learn about plagiarism and its consequences in a fun
manner. This game may be played by the students of class room having strength of 20
students. The said activity would include 4 teams of 5 students where all the students shall
actively be participating in the game. There would be a board spinner having 5 division,
containing topics:
• academic integrity
• academic misconduct
• Plagiarism
• Consequences
• Bonus
Students have to spin the spinner and where the spinner stops, they have to answer the
question relating to the topic on which the spinner stops. Bonus basically is the advantage
which a team gets to choose from their own the above mentioned topic of their own choice.
The questions will be asked by the teacher of the class with whom they are playing the
game. Each team member will be given chance turn wise. On every correct answer 10 points
will be awarded and if answered wrong, then 5 points will be deducted from the team
points. In case the team answer the question wrongly or do not know the answer of that
particular topic, they may challenge any other team to answer the question. If another team
gets the answer right, they will be awarded with 5 points but if they fails too, 5 points will
be deducted from their total score points. The process will continue till the right answer is
received. This will help in increasing the competition and enthusiasm with the students.

Instructions for playing the
game “KnowPlag”
1. The game starts with forming 4 teams of 5
students each in a classroom of 20 students.
2. chance by chance every team will spin the
spinner board.
3. on whatever topic the spinner stops, students will
have to answer the question on the said topic
selected.
4. upon answering correct answer 10 points will be
awarded and on not answering or in case the
question was wrongly answered, 5 points will be
deducted. the team will also get a chance to
challenge other team for the same question.
5. if the other team to whom the challenge is given
is successful to answer the question, they will be
awarded with 5 points and upon their failure, 5
points will be deducted and the same question
will be given as a challenge to the other team and
the same will repeat.
Game Design Why academic integrity at
University is so important
1. recognizing others' contributions
2. Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else's
work.
3. Working on intellectual projects in a morally
sound manner.
4. Conduct research while conforming to the policies
of the university.
5. Providing correct data to guarantee that the study
carried out is reliable.
References
• Bretag, T., 2020. Introduction to A Research Agenda for Academic Integrity:
emerging issues in academic integrity research. In A Research Agenda for
Academic Integrity. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Kamali, N., Abadi, A.T.B. and Rahimi, F., 2020. Plagiarism, fake peer-review,
and duplication: predominant reasons underlying retractions of Iran-affiliated
scientific papers. Science and Engineering Ethics, pp.1-9.
• Kumar, A., 2021. Plagiarism: Injurious to the academic health of the researcher
and research!. Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology, 25(2), p.91.
• Manoharan, S. and Ye, X., 2020, November. On Upholding Academic Integrity
in Online Examinations. In 2020 IEEE Conference on e-Learning, e-
Management and e-Services (IC3e) (pp. 33-37). IEEE.
• Sopova, D., 2020. Trends in the academic integrity development of future
specialists in European Universities. Znanstvena misel, (43-2), pp.18-24.
• Tindall, I.K. and Curtis, G.J., 2020. Negative emotionality predicts attitudes
toward plagiarism. Journal of Academic Ethics, 18(1), pp.89-102.
Reflection on the skills used to produce the
game “KnowPlag”
Although it was a fantastic experience, developing a game to teach kids
about academic integrity and how to prevent academic dishonesty was a
struggle for me. I'm overjoyed to have been given this opportunity.
During the course of writing this report, I learned that in order to avoid
academic misconduct, various skills connected to academic integrity
must be developed.