DE LA DISPOSICIÓN Y TRANSFERENCIA DE RECURSOS

1. Academic cheating is defined as representing someone else's work as your own. It can take many forms, including sharing another's work, purchasing a term paper or test questions in advance, paying another to do the work for you.

2. Statistics show that cheating among high school students has risen dramatically during the past 50 years.

3. In the past it was the struggling student who was more likely to cheat just to get by. Today it is also the above-average college bound students who are cheating.

4. Seventy-three percent of all test takers, including prospective graduate students and teachers agree that most students do cheat at some point. Eighty-six percent of high school students agreed.

5. Cheating no longer carries the stigma that it used to. Less social disapproval coupled with increased competition for admission into universities and graduate schools has made students more willing to do whatever it takes to get the A.

6. Grades, rather than education, have become the major focus of many students.

7. Fewer college officials (35 percent) believe that cheating is a problem, in this country than do members of the public (41 percent).

Distance Education Report – 2011/2012 | 41 Appendix I is a list of Best Practice Strategies to Promote Academic Integrity in Online Education,

developed by partnership of WCET, the Instructional Technology Council (ITC), and the University of Texas TeleCampus. This list is based on “Institutional Policies/Practices and Course Design Strategies to Promote Academic Integrity in Online Education,” produced by WCET in February 2009 and updated in April 2009. In May 2009, the Instructional Technology Council surveyed its membership to invite feedback and additional strategies to enhance the WCET work. The five categories of the strategies are identified in the process graph below.

The Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges (Academic Senate) has demonstrated significant leadership in the area of academic integrity through the adoption of eight resolutions on the topic and the development and publication of the paper, Promoting and Sustaining an Institutional Climate of Academic Integrity, by its Educational Policies Committee in the spring of 2007.

This Academic Senate paper is in response to two resolutions from the Fall 2005 Plenary Session concerning academic dishonesty:

• Resolution, 14.02, "Student Cheating," sought clarification on a System Office legal position that limited the ability of local faculty to fail a student for a single incident of academic dishonesty. • Resolution 14.01, "Student Academic Dishonesty and Grading," required the Academic Senate to

investigate faculty legal and professional rights and obligations with regards to dealing with academic dishonesty, including options for grading, disciplinary action, definitions of academic dishonesty, a statement of best practices, and an explanation of student rights.

While not specific to the topic of distance education, the paper discusses the need for a culture of academic integrity that enriches the educational experience of students and faculty and, indeed, all individuals associated with the college as employees or community members. The paper recommends that colleges involve all constituent groups, particularly student leaders in developing and promoting policies and procedures supportive of a climate of academic integrity. Students have key responsibilities and protections provided by Title 5 51023.7 and have the potential to raise awareness throughout an

Institutional Context and Commitment Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Support Student Support Assessment and Evaluation

42 | California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

institution concerning academic integrity. The paper includes examples of policies and procedures that have been adopted at several colleges. Central to all discussions of academic integrity is the importance of due process and the protection of student rights.

Suggestions for promoting a climate of academic integrity are provided, along with examples of policies are applied to such issues as test taking, technology, distance education, Internet use, group work, and maintaining the integrity of graded assignments. Emphasis is placed on the roles of classroom faculty, library services, counseling, and the need to institute mandates for information competency as a means of creating and sustaining a culture of academic integrity. The Promoting and Sustaining an Institutional Climate of Academic Integrity paper is located at the following URL:

http://www.asccc.org/node/175013.

The Academic Senate in its ongoing efforts to address academic integrity between 2005 and 2008 adopted eight resolutions addressing the issue of academic integrity:

• Fall 2005, 14.02 - Student Cheating

• Fall 2005, 14.01 - Student Academic Dishonesty and Grading

• Spring 2007, 19.02 - Adoption of Academic Integrity Paper

• Spring 2007, 19.03 - Resolution to Amend Adoption of the Academic Integrity Paper

• Spring 2008, 14.03 - Academic Integrity

• Fall 2008, 02.02 - Academic Integrity and the Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 2008

• Fall 2008, 13.03 - Academic Integrity Resource Library • Fall 2008, 14.01 - Academic Dishonesty

Accreditation Related Issues and Distance Education

The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) is responsible for assuring that colleges meet the

requirements of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 regarding distance education. The commission has begun to more consistently review college distance education programs as a part of their accreditation visits. Earlier in this report there was discussion about the areas that the review would be focusing its attention during those reviews.

Higher Education Opportunity