Academic Integrity Research

1. Design and development for integrity

This theme includes research that informs or evaluates:

• Student academic integrity resources, guidelines and initiatives including the student Academic Integrity Module and other extra-curricular academic integrity resource;
• Staff development for academic integrity, including the development of indicators that assist in detecting integrity breaches and co-designed strategies or solutions to academic integrity issues;
• Curriculum and assessment design for academic integrity including curriculum and assessment designed to connect academic and professional integrity; and curriculum and assessment designed to reduce the risk of integrity breaches;
• The use of tools and technologies for curriculum or assessment design or delivery and/or detection of academic integrity breaches;
• Benchmarking of curriculum and assessment design or tools and technologies for curriculum or assessment design or delivery and/or detection of academic integrity breaches; or analysis of the relationship between assessment design and/or tools and technologies and academic integrity or misconduct in practice and/or academic integrity or misconduct outcomes;
• Partnerships in academic integrity, including partnerships with students and/or industry and community partners in the co-design, co-development, co-delivery or co- credentialing of student academic integrity resources and initiatives and/or curriculum or assessment design for academic integrity.

2. Academic integrity policy and procedures

This theme includes research that:

• Contributes to informing, documenting or benchmarking policies and procedures related to academic integrity or misconduct;
• Examines the relationship between policies and academic integrity or misconduct in practice and/or academic integrity or misconduct outcomes.

3. Academic standards, quality and integrity

This theme includes research that investigates links between academic integrity and academic standards and quality, including any patterns of misconduct, with the aim of improving or informing practice and policy in academic integrity.

4. Institutional practice

This theme includes research that investigates the impact of institutional factors on academic integrity, including for example subject and class sizes, staffing patterns, or workload models.

5. Challenges to integrity

This theme includes research that investigates current and emerging challenges to academic integrity and strategies to address these; including use of tools and technologies in breaches of integrity, and/or design and remediation strategies to address these.

6. Academic integrity practices and experience of integrity

This theme includes research that investigates student, alumni or staff experience of academic integrity and/or breaches of integrity, including:

• Student and staff conceptions of academic integrity or aspects of academic integrity practice;
• Individual and structural constraints on maintaining or acting with integrity;
• The relationship between personal, academic and professional integrity;
• The relationship between academic integrity practices and academic performance, for example the academic integrity practices of high or low performing students;
• The relationship between academic integrity practices and learning characteristics and/or wellbeing, for example: the relationship between self-regulated learning and academic integrity practices;
• The relationship between academic integrity practices and learning characteristics and/or wellbeing, and/or access to academic support and/or wellbeing services;
• The impact of integrity breaches on learning, teaching, institutions or professional practice;

Swipe right to report academic misconduct (H15295).

This applied research project aims to build school and institutional capacity through recommendations, strategies and good practice examples of detection and reporting of academic misconduct, based on a survey of academic misconduct reporting practices in the schools of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences; Engineering, Design and Built Environment; Law; Nursing and Midwifery and Social Sciences, including subjects and programs in these schools offered by third party providers (TPPs). The project will propose improvements to detection and reporting processes. Findings, recommendations and strategies from the project will developed in consultation with Schools/TPPs through SAC and/or L&T committees, MTALCs, and with Governance and Compliance Officers (and TPP equivalents) and OGS through the Academic Integrity Working Party of Senate Assessment Committee. (Lead investigator: Dr Jen Tindale)

Working with generative Al to promote sustainable development and lifelong learning (H15656)

Case studies and good practice examples are needed to assist higher education providers in exploiting the use of AI for the common good in education (UNESCO, 2023) and in mitigating the risks associated with inappropriate use of generative AI including risks to academic and professional integrity. This research will inform a set of authentic case studies on the use of generative AI to promote integrity, sustainable development and lifelong learning at Western Sydney University. Case studies will inform learning and teaching, curriculum design, curriculum partnerships and professional learning at Western. Research outputs arising from the project will contribute to an understanding of how generative AI can contribute to integrity, sustainable development and lifelong learning across the sector. (Lead investigator: Dr Jen Tindale)