One of the biggest challenges towards achieving the goal of Academic Integrity in the South Asian education sector is the lack of awareness in students in this aspect. Most of the school curriculum(read assessments) relies on rote learning and hence students do not develop either the awareness or the skills to write with originality or integrity. As they enter the higher education sector, they are suddenly faced with the expectation to research and write with integrity without ever having received any formal training on how to do the same. The obvious outcome is that a lot of them resort to means and methods that are not aligned to the principles of Academic Integrity. The respected panel members(from both the secondary and higher secondary education sectors) for a recent Turnitin event on “Fostering Integrity in the Indian Education Landscape” expressed a similar concern where they said “To enable a culture of Academic Integrity, our education system (starting from schools) has to move away from rote learning & memorizing skills and adopt a culture that will encourage creativity and original thinking & writing skills.”

So what is the solution for educators that can enable them to impart the required skills to their students, despite sticking to the core curriculum as guided by the education board?

1. Educators need to incorporate awareness sessions around Academic Integrity from very early on (school onwards) irrespective of whether the curriculum demands the same or not. Since the practice of academic integrity is not a one time activity, this awareness needs to be reinforced at every level, even after the student reaches the higher education space. Along with awareness, it is also important to inculcate writing skills (like citation formats, etc) and soft skills (like time management through a research process). 

    Keeping in mind the fact that educators already have a lot to take care of and     considering that this may not be a part of the curriculum of all the education     boards in the country, Turnitin has quite a few resources that educators can     leverage(as a whole or in parts) to meet this objective.

    Pro Tip: If you're not sure where to start, try our instructor and student facing     videos as an easy way to begin.

    2. Incorporate a system of continuous assessment in your instructional strategy     that can help you understand how well your students have learnt and also provide     timely feedback to the students so that they can self-correct themselves as they     learn. A system of continuous assessment (with data insights) can provide useful     indicators that can show how much the student has progressed towards the     learning objectives and what measures are required to correct the course (if any). 

    3. Try to design the assessments in a way that can help students learn as an     outcome of the process and not merely a process of comparing grades. Also, it is     important to have at least some assignments that can encourage students to think     original and write with integrity. Can we design different assessments for students     who are at different levels of understanding (even if they are in the same class)?

    4. Help students learn how to work in groups; collaborate with each other, divide     the work and manage the time given to complete the task. It is important for the     students to understand that all group members may not be able to contribute     equally; however they will need to give the due credit to all. 

    5. Make students aware of the different kinds of plagiarism. At the school level, it     is important to impart this awareness to parents as well. Talk about contract     cheating and how it starts from home. Contract cheating or “ghost writing” is when     someone else writes on behalf of the student and the student submits that work     with his/her own name. So what happens when a parent or any family member is     trying to help the school going student at home by writing a part or the full     assignment? It is very important for the parent to realize that while this “help”     might get her child a few extra points in school but is damaging his/her chances of     being successful in higher education where original thinking and writing will be of     high value. 

    6. It is also important for educators to differentiate between text similarity,     unintentional plagiarism and deliberate academic misconduct. The key here is     intent as well as skills and the lack of either may lead to a problem. Educators play     a critical role in reviewing student work and coming up with a conclusion on how     much of the text similarity was intentional and how much is deliberate. We do     understand that this can be tricky; here is some guidance from Patti West Smith,     Director of Customer Engagement, Turnitin.

    7. Educators can come together and form a set of standards and guidelines for     students to follow when it comes to research and original writing. While the UGC     provides some guidance for higher education, there is barely any set of uniform     standards for school students.

    8. Last, but not the least, it is very important for students to understand that they     will have to own their work. While educators and parents can provide the support     and guidance, the onus is on them to practice the principles of Academic Integrity     and connect with their teachers/guides whenever they are in doubt on what is     acceptable and what is not.

    The practice of academic integrity and original thinking/writing is a continuous     process and does not start or end with one assignment or class. While educators     play a critical role in imparting the required awareness and skills to the students at     every stage, parents and the society, at large, are also equally responsible for     emphasizing the importance of practicing academic integrity at all levels.