[2024] Academic Integrity Tutorial: The Big Picture

Reflect on a time when you faced a challenging situation as a student that might have led you to consider taking a shortcut. Why was the shortcut necessary, and how did you rationalize your behaviour?

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Shortcuts can be actions taken to save time or effort that bypass the expected learning process or circumvent the requirements of an assignment.

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Consider the following scenarios and try to rank them based on their impact on your learning and growth. Which scenarios would you say, have the most detrimental consequence and which ones the least?

• Skipping class to avoid a discussion or presentation
• Copying answers from a friend's homework
• Quoting a passage of text without proper citation
• Purchasing a paper from a 'homework help' website
• Using ChatGPT to generate lab results or an essay

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Now, take a moment to reflect on your ranking. Why do some acts of academic misconduct seem less serious than others? How might these actions amount to 'cheating yourself'? Examine your thought process. How did you rationalize your choices? Consider the impact rationalizations might have on your academic progress and your potential.

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Rationalizations are justifications or excuses students make to defend or minimize the consequences of engaging in academic misconduct or taking shortcuts.

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