Maintaining academic integrity in online learning is challenging. In asynchronous classes, students complete their work when it fits into their schedule. The teacher isn’t watching over them as they complete assignments and assessments. When students submit work, a teacher must determine if it is authentic and if it shows their understanding of the content and outcomes to be achieved. This is a challenging part. How do we, as teachers, determine this?
Before students can proceed with my online courses, they must read through a lesson and pass a “quiz” to demonstrate their understanding of the importance of Academic Integrity. The lesson contains information about:
- What is academic integrity?
- The importance of academic integrity
- The values associated with academic integrity.
The lesson and pre-quiz aim to educate students about the importance of submitting their own work. Although each student is required to complete the lesson and quiz, this does not mean that we don’t come across work that is copied, plagiarized, or generated through AI.
After watching Dr. Kouros’ lecture, I realized how little I knew about AI. The possibilities with AI seem endless. So, how do we, as educators, deal with AI’s ever-changing capacities? How do we educate our students about the biases, misinformation, and inaccuracies that exist when using AI?
Throughout my career, I have encountered situations in which a student’s academic integrity has been questioned. Whether they were writing the answers on their hands, copying from other students, using work that was not cited, or copying and pasting from the internet, students must always be reminded of the importance of completing their own work and showing what they have learned.
When it comes to AI, I have so much to learn! As an educator, I must acknowledge the new technologies that exist and teach my students (and myself!) how to use them appropriately. This requires me to have an open mind, and to realize that you never truly, stop learning.
