Enhancing student awareness of academic integrity in an accessible and inclusive manner

A collection of practical resources aimed at improving student learning by considering the accessibility and inclusion dimensions of academic integrity have been produced through a QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project, led by Oxford Brookes University.

The project, which is being carried out in partnership with Bloomsbury Institute London, University of Southampton and University of Westminster aims to promote student awareness of academic integrity through the development of teaching resources that can be used to support in-class discussions. 

The first set of resources includes a range of interactive games and activities for use with students as well as several staff-facing resources such as a template for developing inclusive and accessible teaching resources, a glossary of academic integrity terms, and a staff workshop on awareness raising of inclusion in academic integrity.

Dr Ailsa Crum, QAA’s Director of Membership, Quality Enhancement and Standards commented: ‘Raising awareness of academic integrity through education is a key preventative measure that institutions can employ to reduce the risk of academic misconduct. The resources produced by the project team provide a range of innovative and engaging teaching tools that can support staff-student discussion on this important topic.’

Dr Mary Davis, Project Team leader, Oxford Brookes University, stated: ‘Our project is dedicated to improving student learning about academic integrity through inclusive and accessible practice. We are delighted to share our project teaching resources, for use with both staff and students, in order to raise awareness of the need for inclusion in academic integrity.’

The project will later also produce a range of student videos to help students retain core academic integrity messaging, a model for developing student academic integrity champions and the project team will host a dissemination event for QAA Members.

All of the resources are available through the project web page, and an interactive infographic provides an overview of the resources that have been produced. 

Academic integrity is one of QAA’s membership themes for 2022-23. We will also publish an updated version of our Contracting to Cheat Guidance for members later this month, reflecting the recent introduction of legislation to criminalise essay mills in England.