ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY 

The Ministry of Education “promotes and encourages a consistent approach to academic integrity and student responsibility” and supports the establishment of effective communication expectations, “including timely submission of schoolwork and avoiding plagiarism” (Ministry of Education, 2011). As outlined by the Ministry of Education, student plagiarism is the “unacknowledged use of someone else’s words, ideas or creations as one’s own whether deliberate or accidental. It is the process of taking another person’s work, ideas or words, and using them as if they were your own. Plagiarism includes copyright infringement, as well as the use of non-copyright materials, such as copying a paper written by a family member or friend and using it as if were your own”; conversely, academic integrity is the “evidence of one’s own learning through demonstration of responsibility, honesty, trust, and respect (Academic Integrity and Student Responsibility: Guidelines, 2011).    Academic integrity is a shared educational value in education. The International Centre for Academic Integrity defines academic integrity as a commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage. RCSD staff are expected to align assessments with these six values while students are expected to demonstrate academic integrity in their work. Both staff and students have a shared responsibility when it comes to creating a culture of academic integrity.     Actions such as cheating, plagiarism, submitting the work of a friend, parent, or a purchased paper (internet) will be addressed in proactive ways. Students are provided education within their courses from their teachers and the teacher-librarian regarding the appropriate referencing of materials (MLA for language courses and APA for social science courses). Referencing tools that support student learning include, but are not limited to Ref Works, Noodle Tools, OWL by Purdue, Citation Machine, and Turnitin.    Consequences for this act will be determined by the specific circumstances, exercising progressive discipline; however, a student can expect to receive a verbal or written warning, partial marks for original work with no marks for plagiarized portions, incomplete grade code flags, and/or the expectation to re-do.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have presented both opportunities and challenges for educators. AI tools, via programs and algorithms, generate and revise many kinds of products. It is a teacher's responsibility to communicate assessment expectations, and this includes when and if AI tools can be used. Using an AI tool, when not advised, may lead to consequences outlined above.  

Additional information about ways that undermine academic integrity:

  • Plagiarism - This may involve failure to cite another author's work, include insufficient in-text citations,  paraphrasing without sufficient acknowledgement, and direct word-for-word copying. Simply put, students present work done by someone else as if it is their own.
  • Collusion - Working in groups (online, in person, or electronically) or sharing information/work with other students (past or present) when not instructed to do so by your teacher.*
  • Recycling or Resubmitting Work - Involves submitting work that was already submitted to the class or another class. Re-submitting an assignment, even if it is your own, breaches academic integrity.
  • Exam Cheating - Bringing in outside resources, copying, using unapproved textbooks/websites or communicating (online, in person, or electronically) with someone during an exam is considered cheating. It is always best to clarify with your teacher about what you are allowed to bring in or how you can communicate.*
  • Contract Cheating - Getting someone else/a third party to complete your work or part of it, write your exam or pass someone else off as yourself. This also includes uploading answer keys or support documents to group chats or external websites/programs.*
  • AI and Chat GPT type websites - The use of artificial intelligence websites is not frowned upon when using them to gather ideas, help formulate thoughts or to help you get started. Like contract cheating, using AI or sites like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Quillbot, etc. compromises academic integrity when students copy and paste information and try to pass it off as their own.  This is not plagiarism because it is not coming from someone else, but at the same time it is not a student's original work. When the information is not used to further student learning and simply to copy and paste something, this is a breach in academic integrity. This applies to partial work being copied or an entire piece of work from AI. It is up to the teacher to decide on how they will proceed. Teachers are using a holistic grading approach when looking at similarities or at student's intentions who use AI. In the end, it is up to teacher's discretion in terms of consequences.*

*Definitions and Info adapted from TEQSA and La Trobe University
** Info adapted from Turnitin 



Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence Pre-Quiz

In addition to this information, courses will have an Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence Pre-Quiz near the beginning of their courses. Students must complete this quiz (not a part of their grades) before they move on with their coursework. This is meant as an information and education piece for students to learn what is acceptable in terms of Academic Integrity and Artificial Intelligence. 


if you have any questions about what is or is not acceptable, please reach out to your specific course teacher.