National Academic Integrity Week was celebrated at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) last week with several events taking place for both staff and students. The week began on Monday with a keynote presentation by Professor Mary Davis, Academic Integrity Lead at Oxford Brookes University, entitled ‘Shaping Cultures of Inclusive Academic Integrity: Working with Student Academic Integrity Champions’. This session focused on ways to build institutional cultures of academic integrity through a strong focus on inclusion in policies and practice. She advocates for the development of specific roles for students as champions of academic integrity who can help to ensure academic integrity is relevant, engaging and meaningful to all students. Click here to watch Prof Davis’s presentation.
On Tuesday, Dr Hazel Farrell, Academic Lead for Generative AI at South East Technological University (SETU), delivered a keynote presentation called ‘Shared Responsibility: Building a Coherent Approach to AI and Academic Integrity’. In this session, Dr Farrell explored how to move from initial reactions to the use of Generative AI in higher education, towards a more cohesive approach to responsible and meaningful AI integration. Click here to watch Dr Farrell’s presentation.
Student supports around academic integrity were also promoted during National Academic Integrity Week, with a PowerPoint slide directing students to a variety of supports shared at the beginning of lectures, and business cards directing students to the MIC Academic Integrity Microsite distributed throughout the college. In addition, MISU, supported by LEAD, ran a social media campaign around academic integrity, which highlighted the importance of academic integrity and encouraged students to think about what academic integrity means to them. The student-created video gained over 12,000 views across TikTok and Instagram over the week.
The core aim of National Academic Integrity Week is to promote ethical learning practices and cultivate a shared institutional culture underpinned by the five fundamental values, defined by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), as honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. The week highlighted the importance of upholding high standards of academic integrity and to further develop practices and supports for staff and students to assist them in their academic endeavours.
Discussing the importance of supporting students through the promotion of academic integrity, Dr Katherine Whitehurst, Director of Teaching and Learning, said "When people discuss academic integrity, they often are actually discussing academic misconduct. But here at MIC, we know that academic integrity is about more. It is about demonstrating responsibility, fairness and honesty through one’s work and one’s participation in their studies. By embodying academic integrity, students are developing strong values and habits that will help them to succeed in their future careers. In supporting students to understand academic integrity, MIC is not just helping students today, but we are helping to shape the graduates and the workers of tomorrow."
Professor Niamh Hourigan, Vice-President of Academic Affairs at MIC, noted “In an era where the impact of Artificial Intelligence on academic integrity has become such a source of concern, Academic Integrity Week is a really important opportunity to bring staff and students together to explore why academic integrity is so important in promoting fairness in assessment. Students are making huge sacrifices to attend higher education as the cost of living rises and promoting academic integrity means that all students can experience a fair system of assessment where their genuine efforts and hard work are fully rewarded. Here at MIC, we will continue to work in partnership with students to development modes of assessment that are fair and allow students to demonstrate their range of skills and abilities.”
Outlining the ways in which MIC encourages academic integrity amongst its students, Dr Geraldine Brosnan, Director of Student Life at MIC, said: "All undergraduate students here at MIC participate in a mandatory generic skills programme during their first semester, which includes expert-led seminars on academic writing. These sessions promote an understanding of academic integrity and encourage good academic practice throughout their studies."
To access MIC’s Academic Integrity Microsite please click here. The microsite contains easy to access resources for both staff and students, such as guidance on Generative AI, academic integrity risks and supports, strategies for integrity, and links to MIC’s Academic Integrity Policy and other relevant documents.
