Dear faculty,

With Winter quarter exams and grading period approaching, I wish to call your attention to several new resources that our SCU Faculty Collaborative for Teaching Innovation, Library, and Office of Student Life staff have developed regarding Academic Integrity, including a newly revised SCU Academic Integrity Website.

As many of you are aware, the turn to online education during COVID-19 has resulted in a nationwide increase in academic integrity violations. Student use of course sharing websites like Chegg and Course Hero during assignment preparation and exams presents an unprecedented challenge for faculty who must now learn how these sites operate and how to control the course content that is being shared there. This year faculty must be more adept than ever at communicating to students their expectations for the use of online resources for assignment preparation and during exams. Recent research indicates that effective teaching practices -- including acknowledging that cheating occurs and encouraging academic integrity as a part of ethical, intellectual and vocational development -- are effective at preventing academic integrity violations.

At my request and in response to faculty need, the SCU Library has prepared a timely and useful resource, a LibGuide on Academic Integrity. This guide is designed to aid faculty and students in understanding the new landscape of course sharing websites, and to provide guidance and resources on a variety of related topics ranging from copyright protection to student mental health and academic support services. The guide also provides quick links to SCU policies and procedures pertaining to Academic Integrity, including the text of the Academic Integrity Pledge, relevant sections of the Student Handbook and Undergraduate Bulletin, and procedures for reporting violations of academic integrity. 

I hope that you will find these resources useful, particularly as you discuss your expectations for student academic conduct in your class in advance of the exam period. The SCU Academic Integrity website and LibGuide on Academic Integrity are living documents and we welcome your feedback. Please send comments and suggestions for improvement directly to me. 

Thank you again for your hard work on behalf of our students during this challenging time. I wish you a successful close to the quarter.

Sincerely,

 

Kate Morris
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs