MOOC on Academic Integrity will help students avoid cheating

MOOC on Academic Integrity will help students avoid cheating

University of Auckland academic Dr Jason Stephens decided to study why students cheat after he was surprised by the number who admitted doing it, despite believing that it’s wrong.

“As educational psychologist interested in students’ intellectual and ethical development, this incongruity between belief and behaviour is of great concern to me,” Dr Stephens says.

This concern inspired Dr Stephens to develop the Achieving with Integrity project shortly after completing his Ph.D. studies ten years ago. The project offers both schoolwide and classroom-based programmes for promoting academic integrity in secondary schools.

Now Dr Stephens, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education’s School of Learning, Development and Professional Practise, is the lead educator of a four week MOOC titled “Academic Integrity: Values, Skills, Action.” Designed primarily for university students, the MOOC aims to help students understand the meaning of academic integrity and to develop the values and skills needed to avoid academic dishonesty.

As Dr. Stephens sees it, universities are “voluntary associations, so students coming in have an obligation to understand and honour the values and rules of the university to which they voluntarily have joined.

“And the University has an obligation to educate students about these values and rules as well as to prepare them with the skills needed to be responsible community members and successful learners.”

Prior to joining the Faculty of Education in May 2012, Dr Stephens was an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut.

Dr Stephens’ is accustomed to lecturing to rooms full of students, but the process of being filmed for the MOOC took some getting used to.

“I was a bit more anxious trying to get the lines right in front of the camera and knowing it’s going to be there for the world to see, whereas a lecture theatre of 400 students doesn’t really faze me.”

“It was new to me and not easy, but I’m really thankful to be offered the opportunity. I’m particularly grateful for the excellent support provided by my colleagues at the University’s Library and Learning Services and Media Centre. While I might be the most visible contributor to this MOOC, its development and production was truly a team effort.”

The Academic Integrity MOOC starts on November 10. So far nearly 5,000 people have enrolled, and you’re invited to do so as well.

For more information go to: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/academic-integrity

ENDS

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