AHA!Academic Honesty Assistance

Lisa Callagher (AUBS Tamaki Division)

Peter Smith (MER)

Lynne Mitchell (BBIM Librarian)

Agenda for today’s presentation

• What is AHA!

• Why does UoA need an academic honesty tutorial?

• How is AHA! designed, delivered and assessed?

• Results from the pilot study

• Where should AHA! go?

AHA!• Interactive self-paced tutorials and on-line assessmentsIt’s purpose:• To introduce students to the role of university • To induct students into UoA’s academic environment,

including our implicit expectations, policies, processes and practices

• To provide practical research, noting-taking and referencing skills

• To encourage academic honesty and reduce plagiarism

Academic honesty as a higher education issue

• Plagiarism is a significant issue in higher education (Hauptman, 2002., Campbell, Owens Swift and Denton, 2000)

• A number of factors are attributed to its ‘increase’ – Digital sources, electronic paper mills and the Internet

(Born, 2003., Park, 2003)

– Changing student demographic and economic reasons for participating in higher education (McCabe et al, 1992-1999)

Academic honesty at UoA

• Recent research (Mills, in progress) from UABS reports students awareness of and participation in plagiarism

• Existing procedures to guard against cheating and plagiarism ( Guidelines: Conduct of Coursework) http://www2.auckland.ac.nz/teachingandlearning/Documents/Coursework%20Conduct%20Guidelines.pdf

• Concerned with action not intent of the action– Policy that outlines process ‘after the event’

Addressing plagiarism through learning and teaching

• Academic honesty is socially constructed knowledge (Payne and Nantz,1994)

• Students must experience institutional values in order to understand why they are different from other institutional and social settings (Hauptman, 2002)

Design principles• Students engage themselves in the context and

values that underpin academic honesty at UoA• Students learn in their own time, pace and space• Students transfer their understanding of academic

honesty directly into other aspects of their academic life

• This is achieved in a resource (people, time, $) sustainable model

AHA! Delivering these principles

Core modules1. The Academic Environment2. Academic Honesty3. University of Auckland Policy

– Including study strategies to avoid plagiarismAdditional module4. APA referencing style (currently available)

• Accessed from Cecil, available 24/7– Lo-speed option available– Interactive with pop ups, true/false questions,

interviews, student-oriented ethical scenarios

AHA! Assessment

• Formative assessment embedded in modules– True/false questions– ‘To go.. for more information’– Ethical questions to ponder

• Summative assessment– Multi-choice quizzes at end of each module

Results of pilot study in MGMT.101

• Traditionally referencing was taught in a one hour tutorial and supported by dept document on referencing

• This semester 982 stage I students were required to complete 3+1 modules and gain at least 80% in each quiz prior to submitting a 20% essay

Qualitative evidence

• Number of student’s failing the assignment because of plagiarism (i.e. getting zero):– Without AHA 8.5%– With AHA 5.5%– That’s a difference of about 30 people

• Quality of referencing and citation– “Much improved”, “significantly better”

Quantitative evidence: Intra-Course

To put it another way

Quantitative evidence: Inter-Course

Student perceptions

“It should be made compulsory in every courses at the University of Auckland.”

“make my reference more correct and fast”

“I found it very helpful for preparing reference list for essay writing.”

Where should AHA! go?

• Our Vision:

AHA! is actively used by all courses within the University of Auckland

• Currently negotiating with library services to take over marketing and management of AHA!

• Investment in product likely to be demand-driven– Discipline staff needed to adapt AHA! and implement

in classes