My colleague, Roswita Dressler and I have just had a new paper published. It all started when I was at an academic integrity conference a couple of years back. I was sitting next to a colleague who works in a language other than English (LOTE). The colleague suggested that contract cheating (e.g. essay mills and other forms of outsourced academic work) was a problem of the English-speaking world, asserting that there simply wouldn’t be enough of a market in other languages.
I thought to myself, “Challenge accepted!” I recruited Roswita Dressler to help me undertake a small-scale pilot study. We both have a background in language teaching and between us, we have some level of proficiency in about four languages. We were also curious about the market for academic outsourcing for younger audiences, in elementary, middle and high school.
The questions that guided our project were:
What evidence exists that online providers offer academic work in languages other than English?
To what degree are K-12 students targeted by these online providers?
We framed our study specifically within the Canadian context.
Our results showed that not only do commercial contract cheating companies market to specifically to students in Canada, they target children as young as Grade six (approximately 11-12 years old). And yes, we found strong evidence that contract cheating happens in languages other than English (ten of them, in fact).
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on contract cheating published in Canada.
The Alberta Teachers Association is the publisher and copyright holder of this article. They have given us permission to post the article in our university’s digital repository. You can access a copy of it free of charge from here:
Eaton, S. E., & Dressler, R. (2019). Multilingual essay mills: Implications for second language teaching and learning. Notos, 14(2), 4-14. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110695
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Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the Werklund School of Education or the University of Calgary.
Note: This is an early-stage concept draft intended for sharing for developmental feedback.
Direct questions about this proposal to Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton – seaton (at) ucalgary.ca.
Background
The MEd certificate in Academic Integrity is an opportunity for those interested in this topic to develop as scholars of the profession in a learning community of like-minded students. Situated within the Leadership specialization, students will explore academic integrity through a leadership, policy and governance lens, while also developing an evidence-informed approach to the pragmatic aspects of academic integrity such as case management. Students will examine their personal and professional notions of academic integrity, as situated concepts within institutional and systemic contexts, deepening their understanding of how professional practice related to academic integrity is nested within institutional policies and procedures and how these are related to quality assurance from a systemic perspective, such as ministries of education and/or higher education.
MEd Certificate
The MEd (Master of Education) is a course-based pathway which provides students with a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice in two topic areas, plus additional research methods courses.
Each certificate is based on a topic area comprised for four (4) courses. The MEd Certificate is a pathway to a Master of Education (MEd), Interdisciplinary route, but a graduate level certificate is awarded upon the successful completion of a 4-course certificate, so even if participants choose only to undertake the 4-course topic, they can still be awarded a graduate-level certificate.
Learning Goals and Expected Outcomes
There are three overarching learning goals of this proposed certificate:
This certificate will increase awareness of the role of academic integrity in educational contexts.
It will assist those who have academic integrity as a component of their professional portfolio in furthering discussion and learning about integrity, ethical decision-making, case management and policy.
It will assist current and future educational leaders to envision and develop a personal theory of integrity that enhances the learning experiences of students, while remaining cognizant of institutional policies and procedures, as well as larger systemic realities.
The four (4) courses for this certificate will be developed in consultation with internal and external stakeholders.
Possible formats
Option 1: Completely online format – All four (4) courses offered online using asynchronous (D2L) and synchronous (Zoom) learning technologies. Students could be physically located anywhere in the world and would not be required to come to the University of Calgary for any component of the certificate.
Option 2: Blended – Two (2) courses offered on-campus during an intensive two-week residency in July. This would require students to physically be in Calgary during the mandatory two-week residency. The residency would be followed by two (2) additional courses offered online in the subsequent fall and winter terms.
Anticipated timeline
We do not have an exact timeline for the launch of this program yet, as it would need to receive approval at a number of levels. However, given the amount of interest and support we have at this early stage, it is reasonable to anticipate that it may be available by September 2020.
Feedback Questions
At this point, we are seeking feedback from various stakeholders on these particular points:
Which of the two possible formats (online or blended) is most appealing? Why?
What are some key topics or courses you would like to see included in this program? Why?
What resources (books, articles, etc.) do you see as being foundational for courses offered in this certificate?
For questions about this proposal or to add your name to the mailing list contact:
Dr. Sarah Elaine Eaton, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, seaton (at) ucalgary.ca
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This blog has had over 2 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!
Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the Werklund School of Education or the University of Calgary.
I am pleased to share this digital archive of materials and artefacts from the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, which took place April 17-18, 2019 at the University of Calgary
The program contains the full schedule from the 1.5-day event, along with information on the keynote and feature sessions; 23 peer-reviewed papers; 5 posters; and 3 interactive workshops. Unlike other programs that include only a schedule and brief description, our program also includes full abstracts for each presentation, making this a useful artefact from the conference that serves to document the topics discussed and the research occurring across Canada on various topics related to academic integrity.
The slide decks archived here are shared with the permission of the author(s). We have only posted those we received permission to share, so it is not a complete list as some authors opted not to share their slides.
We are grateful to everyone who presented and shared their knowledge at the symposium. We also offer our thanks to colleagues at the University of Calgary Library and Cultural Resources who took the time to post these materials in our institutional digital repository.
Program and Abstracts
Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity: Program and Abstracts. (2019). In S. E. Eaton, J. Lock, & M. Schroeder (Eds.). Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110293
Pre-conference session
Bretag, T. (2019). Academic integrity and embracing diversity. Pre-conference keynote presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110278
Keynote presentations
Bretag, T. (2019). Contract cheating research: Implications for Canadian universities. Keynote address presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110279
Bretag, T. (2019). Academic integrity: A global community of scholars. Keynote address presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110280
Crossman, K., Paul, R., Behjat, L., Trifkovic, M., Fear, E., Eaton, S. E., & Yates, R. (2019). Engineering integrity: Using text-matching software in a graduate-level engineering course. Paper presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110670
Dressler, R. & Eaton, S.E. (2019). Multilingual essay mills: And other forms of contract cheating in languages other than English. Paper presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110327
McKenzie, A. (2019). Enhancing academic integrity through quality assurance. Paper presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110296
Openo, J. (2019). The international dimension of academic integrity: An integrative literature review. Paper presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110295
Workshops
Ridgley, A., Miron, J. B., & McKenzie, A. (2019). Building a regional academic integrity network: Profiling the growth and action of the Academic Integrity Council of Ontario. Paper presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110308
Singleton, P., & Ricksen, M. (2019). Your guide to recognizing various forms of plagiarism and gaining insights from technology. Workshop presented at the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity, Calgary, Canada. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/110294
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This blog has had over 2 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!
Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the Werklund School of Education or the University of Calgary.
The other day I was talking with Dr. Tracey Bretag about her upcoming visit to Calgary for the Canadian Symposium on Academic Integrity. We were talking about the topics of her keynotes for the symposium and our conversation wandered around to contract cheating. I commented that contract cheating is poorly understood, in my opinion, by many faculty members and administrators in Canada. I commented that there are people on our campus who have never heard of it, or don’t believe it to be a widespread. I said that the importance of developing of academic integrity literacy was really important.
And there it was, a term that captures the idea of bringing together the values that underpin the values we are trying to teach our students on campus, with foundational skills we need our students to learn as part of academic literacy.
Weideman offers a comprehensive yet concise definition of academic literacy in this blog post. His definition includes skills such as understanding a variety of academic vocabulary in context, making distinctions between essential and non-essential information and knowing what counts as evidence (Wideman, n.d.). The skills Weideman describes are essential for success in numerous educational contexts.
I would add that academic integrity literacy necessarily goes beyond the development of skills to include an explicit understanding of the values that underpin integrity and a conscious commitment to upholding those values.
What is the difference between academic integrity and academic misconduct?
This is a question that people ask me often.
Integrity advocates differentiate academic integrity from academic misconduct for a couple of reasons. First, misconduct casts a negative lens on the issue, where as a focus on integrity shifts the conversation to a more positive and supportive view. Second, misconduct focuses on unacceptable behaviours or actions that can result in penalties.
Ryerson University explains this key concept: It is the student’s responsibility to know what is expected of them in university.
Memorizing a list of behaviours or skills could seem like an easy way to understand these expectations, but the concept of integrity is more complex than that. It is about taking responsibility for one’s actions and understanding what is acceptable and what is not.
When Julia Christensen Hughes came to our campus in 2017 to talk about academic integrity, she reminded us integrity is rooted in personal code related to morals and values, but misconduct is a violation of laws and standards of practice. She emphasized that values drive behaviour.
Others have mentioned the notion of academic integrity literacy before me. Karanauskienė and colleagues mentioned the term in their paper at a 2018 conference and in another short paper in 2018, as well. However, to the best of my knowledge, no one has yet offered up a concise definition of the term, so let me offer this one:
Definition: Academic integrity literacy is an inseparable combination of values, behaviours, ethical decision-making and skills necessary for academic success.
This is a preliminary definition and we need to talk about and develop further, but it is a place to start.
Here’s a quick video I put together for visual interest:
I’ll wrap up this post by sharing that I’ve just signed a book deal to explore into academic integrity more deeply. I’ll keep you posted on that in future posts, and you can be sure I’ll be digging into this notion as I write.
References
Christensen Hughes, J. (2017, November 24). Understanding academic misconduct: Creating robust cultures of integrity. Paper presented at the University of Calgary, Calgary.
Karanauskienė, D., Česnaitienė, V. J., Emeljanovas, A. n., Miežienė, B., & Mejeryte-Narkeviciene, K. (2018). Educating academic integrity: Obscure forms of academic misconduct at the institutions of higher education. Paper presented at the International Academic Conference, Dresden.
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This blog has had over 2 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!
Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the Werklund School of Education or the University of Calgary.
I’ve been working on a national research project with my colleagues, Jenny Miron and Laura McBrearity, at Humber College to look at what programming and supports Canadian post-secondary institutions provide to students to help them learn about academic integrity. We reviewed the websites of public higher education institutions across the country to better understand how academic integrity information is shared with students and faculty across campuses. We recently presented our findings at the conference of the International Center for Academic Integrity in New Orleans. Here’s a quick overview of our session:
Miron, J. B., Eaton, S. E., & McBrearity, L. (2019). Academic Integrity (AI) Tutorials in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions: A National Overview. Paper presented at the International Center for Academic Integrity, New Orleans, LA.
The team at Humber College created this excellent visual infographic highlighting our methods (search strategies), lessons learned and key findings:
We have not published the full findings yet, though we plan to do so soon. Because there is so little research available about what kind of support (e.g. education, tutorials, modules) offer on academic integrity to Canadian post-secondary students, we wanted to make these preliminary results available now.
You can download a high quality version of this infographic here:
Miron, J. B., Eaton, S. E., & McBrearity, L. (2019). Searching Public Websites within Canadian Higher Education: Academic Integrity Tutorials [Infographic]. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1880/109916
Share or Tweet this: Academic Integrity (AI) Tutorials in Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions: A National Overview
This blog has had over 2 million views thanks to readers like you. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” it or share it on social media. Thanks!
Sarah Elaine Eaton is a faculty member in the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of the Werklund School of Education or the University of Calgary.
My colleague, Roswita Dressler and I have just had a new paper published. It all started when I was at an academic integrity conference a couple of years back. I was sitting next to a colleague who works in a language other than English (LOTE). The colleague suggested that contract cheating (e.g. essay mills and other forms of outsourced academic work) was a problem of the English-speaking world, asserting that there simply wouldn’t be enough of a market in other languages.
Posted by Sarah Elaine Eaton, Ph.D. 
The other day I was talking with 
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