Title: Arizona State University Library Tutorials – Academic Integrity
URL: https://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/academic-integrity/story_html5.html
Creator: Lisa Kammerlocher
Editors: Bee Gallegos, Deirdre Kirmis
Narrator: Shane Hunt
Contributors: ASU Library Online Tutorials and Learning Team (Sam Dyal, Bee Gallegos, Ashley Gohr, Janice Hermer, Dennis Isbell, Lisa Kammerlocher, Deirdre Kirmis, Marc Mason, Kevin Pardon, Tammy Wolf)
Institution: Arizona State University
Interviewees: Bee Gallegos & Deirdre Kirmis
Interviewer: Brad Sietz
Description (provided by the author)
Academic Integrity is an interactive web-based tutorial that teaches students about academic integrity and the consequences of academic dishonesty. It features an interactive game with academic integrity scenarios, a 10-question quiz at the end that can be graded, and a script of the tutorial.
Q: In last month’s interview on ASU’s MLA Citation Style tutorial, you discussed that the creation of an online badge system spurred your library to gradually replace/update your online tutorials. Did you have a previous Academic Integrity tutorial that you used as a baseline for this new one, or did you start from scratch?
Tutorials in the learning badges system covered basic concepts such as identifying a topic, developing a research question, differences between searching the open web versus a database, citing sources, etc., but the Academic Integrity and Plagiarism tutorials were on our “list” to complete in the second round. A number of faculty were excited and supportive of learning badges and what was covered in them, but academic integrity and plagiarism were of great interest to them also. Discussions within our group and with faculty were the baseline for developing the Academic Integrity tutorial from scratch.
Q: Was this tutorial developed before, during, or simultaneously with the MLA Citation tutorial? Did that timing have any benefits or drawbacks?
The MLA and Academic Integrity tutorials were in development at approximately the same time and there was some cross-discussion but essentially they were separate projects. A number of factors contributed to this tutorial not being completed sooner; these include wanting to develop the basic conceptual core tutorials first, lack of technical support, and we struggled with how to present difficult information in a format that would be received positively by students and faculty.
Q: Was the same team of developers and librarians used? If there were some differences, what—if any—coordination went on with the other tutorial developers?
Since we have a small group, we usually have a lead person or a small group of 1-3 individuals working on each tutorial. Because both tutorials were developed in late summer into the fall semester, one librarian developed each one. There was discussion about each tutorial among the two developers and another librarian who gave feedback on each.
Q: At ASU, integrity is defined as “a character-driven commitment to honesty, doing what is right, and guiding others to do what is right” and academic integrity is “act(ing) with integrity in educational pursuits.” Do students learn about this concept anywhere else before they would be expected to take your library tutorial (e.g., at first-year experience orientation; during an initial meeting with their academic adviser)?
We know the tutorial is used in the required freshman orientation course, ASU 101, which has a unit on plagiarism and academic integrity. A number of the scenarios used in the Battleship game part of the tutorial were from real-life examples shared in that course such as using the same paper in multiple courses.
Q: How have instructors been using the tutorial?
The tutorials are used with a variety of students across the curriculum and at different levels. Some instructors use the tutorial in a flipped environment whereby students go through the tutorial on their own, followed by in-class discussion. The Academic Integrity and Plagiarism tutorials are often paired together or the two may be paired as a unit with one of the citation tutorials [MLA or APA] and the more general Citing Your Sources tutorial.
Q: The tutorial has a page that lists twelve Academic Integrity “Do’s and Don’ts” such as “Do submit your own work to professors” and “Don’t use ideas from internet sources without proper attribution.” How did you come up with this list?
The University Provost’s website has information on academic integrity. One section lists 14 items in “Student Obligations to Academic Integrity”. Selected items from this list were turned into “DO” and “DON’T” statements for use in the tutorial.
Q: How did you determine the tone of the tutorial? As the tutorial points out, academic integrity violation sanctions, in certain instances, can be quite serious (e.g., expulsion from the university), but often they fall far short of that, particularly if it’s a first-time honest mistake.
In discussing academic integrity, we present information from the university pointing out that most students do not violate these rules out of malice but rather by mistake because they are unaware. Our purpose is to say that while the consequences of making these mistakes are very serious, they can be avoided by learning more about academic integrity. The tutorial has both positive and negative statements [Do’s & Don’ts], which we think help balance the seriousness of the subject, but also the Battleship game with real life scenarios helps present serious consequences in a somewhat lighter format.
Q: You use an online summative quiz, modeled on the classic board game “Battleship,” to assess the students on short situational examples about academic integrity. How did you come up with this idea? Were there any particular challenges to implementing it?
We used Articulate Storyline for this tutorial. Storyline users can share projects and ideas in a section called E-Learning Heroes; someone shared the Battleship template on a different topic there. As a group we have shared an interest in educational gaming so the template was modified for use in this tutorial. We felt it would be easier to present difficult and serious information in a game-like environment rather than a “lecture” format. Initially there were some minor technical issues with modifying the template to our needs so that the visual formatting and scoring mechanism worked correctly.
Q: Do you utilize any of the data you receive from the tutorial (e.g., how often students get a particular question correct) to modify the tutorial or perform any assessments?
To date, we have not analyzed the quiz data for student performance, but we are in the early phases of collaborating with the e-learning faculty to conduct an in-depth analysis of student learning. In the meantime, we offer both students [through a link in some of our tutorials] and faculty [direct contact] the opportunity to provide feedback on the tutorials and accompanying quizzes.
Q: If you had the chance to start over and recreate this tutorial, what would you do differently?
A number of our team members are supportive of integrating educational gaming into our tutorials so generally we are satisfied with the final product. The interactive activities embedded in most of our tutorials are an aspect of gaming, but this is the first tutorial where gaming is the primary vehicle for delivery of the information. To date, feedback from faculty has been positive; I am aware of only one instructor who voiced some concern about using a game format for the Academic Integrity tutorial.
