Academic integrity case scenarios for NURS1001 for Assessment 2
Scenario One: Pressure to share
Kai has arrived in Australia to undertake the Bachelor of Nursing program at Flinders University. Despite some initial homesickness and nervousness around being new to the Australian culture, Kai is now settling in well and has found a nice group of friends at university, some of whom are from Kai’s home country. A few of Kai’s friends are taking the same topics this semester and they are meeting up regularly to talk about how they are progressing with the content and assignments.
Following one of these meetings a fellow student takes Kai aside and asks for help. They state they are very overwhelmed with their studies, are very time poor and their written English language is not as advanced as Kai’s. They are having trouble with the latest essay assignment for this topic, which is due tomorrow. They state they are desperate and request to review Kai’s completed essay to provide some pointers for their own paper. Kai has concerns that this could potentially lead to some issues with academic integrity but feels sorry for them and obliged to support a fellow country person.
Questions (please address and answer all 3 questions within your response):
1. What are the specific example/s of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements that might arise from this situation?
• Explore the scenario, then list and define the specific examples of failure to meet student academic integrity requirements relevant to this scenario
2. If an academic integrity issue is suspected, and determined, following submission of both papers, what are the implications for both Kai and the other student?
• Briefly discuss the process of investigation that occurs following a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements. Things to consider might include:
o What are the responsibilities of each student involved?
o What are the roles and responsibilities of the First Reviewer (Topic coordinator)? o What are the roles and responsibilities of the Second Reviewer (Academic Integrity Officer or Dean of Education)?
o What is the aim of the Academic Integrity Register?
o What are the implications of subsequent determinations of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements?
• What are the potential consequences following determination of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements for each of the students involved?
• What other issues might arise from this scenario?
3. How might you manage this situation should it occur during your studies?
• What are the circumstances/impacting factors that have led to this situation (from both student’s perspectives)?
• How might you personally address these circumstances/impacting factors should they occur during your studies?
• What information, resources and support services offered by the university might be useful to assist you in a situation such as this?
Scenario Two: Three heads are better than one
Casey, Taylor, Alexandra and Drew are all studying first year nursing together at Flinders University. They met at orientation during an ‘O week’ activity and have been firm friends and ‘study buddies’ ever since. The group catch up regularly on campus to have lunch where they discuss their studies and life in general. They help each other out with aspects of the curriculum they find difficult allowing them to broaden their understanding of various topics. They will often work together completing pre tutorial activities and meet to talk about the topic readings and share their findings.
All members are undertaking the same first year topic this semester. This topic has an end of semester online quiz as one piece of assessment. Whilst the students are not in the same classes, they will all need to complete the same quiz within the same time frame, for the topic. The assessment is an ‘open book’ quiz that is open for a prescribed number of days, and students are required to undertake the quiz in their own time. It is clearly stated in the Statement of Assessment Methods (SAMs) that students are expected to complete this quiz individually, on their own, and not in collaboration with other students.
Whilst discussing the quiz at the latest get together of the group, Casey and Drew have stated that they are going to Casey’s house and plan to complete the quiz together. Alexandra, whilst raising concerns that this might not be the correct thing to do, has expressed interest in joining them to complete the quiz. Taylor is concerned with the plan and raises the question of whether this may constitute a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements. Casey is adamant that all will be well stating ‘three heads are better than one, and how will they ever know?’
Questions (please address and answer all 3 questions within your response):
1. What are the specific example/s of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements that might arise from this situation?
• Explore the scenario, then list and define the specific examples of failure to meet student academic integrity requirements relevant to this scenario
• How does collaboration differ from collusion in the context of academic integrity?
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2. If an academic integrity issue is suspected and determined following completion of the quiz, what are the implications for the students who have completed the quiz together?
• Briefly discuss the process of investigation that occurs following a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements. Things to consider might include:
o What are the responsibilities of each student involved? o What are the roles and responsibilities of the First Reviewer (Topic coordinator)? o What are the roles and responsibilities of the Second Reviewer (Academic Integrity Officer or Dean of Education)?
o What is the aim of the Academic Integrity Register?
o What are the implications of subsequent determinations of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements?
• What are the potential consequences following determination of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements for each of the students involved?
• What other issues might arise from this scenario?
3. How might you manage this situation should it occur during your studies?
• What are the circumstances/impacting factors that have led to this situation (from both student’s perspectives)?
• How might you personally address these circumstances/impacting factors should they occur during your studies?
• What information, resources and support services offered by the university might be useful to assist you in a situation such as this?
Scenario Three: How do I paraphrase that?
Jay is completing first year nursing studies at Flinders University after completing many years of formal education at school and a vocational training organisation. Jay has a written essay assignment due at the end of the week. It is a very busy time for Jay as there are a number of competing priorities impacting upon study time, including work and family commitments.
Jay has adopted a strategy to undertake essay writing that has worked well in the past and sets about commencing the essay. Jay has realised that this essay covers some similar key discussion points with a paper Jay submitted for another topic in the previous semester. A quick online search around the key terms has provided Jay with a large amount of relevant and easy to understand information. Jay has also found some good passages from the topic’s core textbook and a journal article, authored by the class tutor. In the past Jay has been praised for including the tutor’s publications and viewpoints within written assignments.
Jay commences writing the essay reusing sections of the previous semesters paper that align with the relevant sections of the current assignment. Jay determines the relevant sections of the online research material and copies and pastes selected passages to the essay document. Jay then quickly reviews the relevant sections from the textbooks and the tutor’s journal article. Upon finding passages that align with the core discussion points included in the paper, Jay types the information into the document verbatim.
Jay takes some time to change the wording of the copy/pasted pieces of text using the synonyms function on Microsoft® Office Word, in addition to making some other minor word and phrase changes to reflect Jay’s own narrative style. Jay finalises the essay and uploads it with minutes to spare prior to the due submission time.
The following week Jay receives an email from the topic coordinator of the topic requesting a meeting to investigate a suspected issue with academic integrity in the submitted essay. Upon meeting with the topic coordinator, Jay is very confused around the issue at hand, as this is how Jay has always completed essay assignments, and it has never been a problem before.
Questions (please address and answer all 3 questions within your response):
1. What are the specific example/s of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements that might arise from this situation?
• Explore the scenario, then list and define the specific examples of failure to meet student academic integrity requirements relevant to this scenario
2. If a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements is determined following investigation, what are the implications for Jay?
• Briefly discuss the process of investigation that occurs following a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements. Things to consider might include: o What are Jay’s responsibilities in relation to academic integrity?
o What are the responsibilities of each student involved? o What are the roles and responsibilities of the First Reviewer (Topic coordinator)? o What are the roles and responsibilities of the Second Reviewer (Academic Integrity Officer or Dean of Education)?
o What is the aim of the Academic Integrity Register?
o What are the implications of subsequent determinations of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements?
• What are the potential consequences following determination of a failure to meet student academic integrity requirements relevant to this scenario for Jay?
• What other issues might arise from this scenario?
3. What are some of the impacting factors that have led to Jay’s decision to complete the essay this way, and how might you manage this situation should it occur during your studies?
• What are the circumstances/impacting factors that have led to this situation?
• How might you personally address these circumstances/impacting factors should they occur during your studies?
• What information, resources and support services offered by the university might be useful to assist you in a situation such as this?