Academic Integrity RN to BSN Option Student Tutorial Slide 1 Title Slide Hello, Chamberlain RN to BSN option students. Welcome to our Brainshark Student Tutorial on Academic Integrity I am Amy Minnick, one of the Associate Deans of for the RN to BSN Option. Associate Deans, faculty members (instructors), our Program Dean and our Director have some important information to share with you about academic integrity. We appreciate your time in reviewing this tutorial. We will review integrity in general, professional integrity and academic integrity. Information will be provided about how to decrease your chances of an Academic Integrity violation. Let s get started, shall we? Slide 2 What is Integrity? A good place to start is with a couple of definitions of integrity in general. According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary: Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and fair; the state of being complete or whole; a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values Other words for integrity include goodness, honesty, morality, righteousness, uprightness, and virtue. Really, Integrity applies to all aspects of our lives. This includes both personal and professional interactions. Nurses value integrity when we care for our patients so this same dedication to integrity applies to the academic setting. I don t think there is one of us who would disagree with either of these definitions. Slide 3 What is Personal Integrity? If we turn our attention to personal integrity, Messinger has provided us with a nice definition. Personal integrity very simply is when a person says what they mean, means what they say, and does what they say they will do. Who would disagree with this? Slide 4 Examples of Personal Integrity Some examples of personal integrity that we really take for granted include but are not limited to: Returning to a store to pay for something for which you failed to pay Returning money when you notice someone dropped it without expecting a reward Avoiding gossiping or talking badly about someone Keeping your promises
Not taking advice on how to cheat on your taxes. Not letting someone else take the blame for something you did. Aren t these all examples we learned as children? Slide 5 What is Professional Integrity? Professional integrity goes one step further. According to www.nursetogether.com, as nurses, we must keep these ideas in mind: Integrity comes into play in everything we do. In fact, it s more than everything we do, it s everything we are. Having a high level of integrity is one of the most important characteristics we can possess, not only in the work setting, but also in our personal lives. It is a core value in nursing, a choice and something we can nurture. Integrity is modeled all around us, yet its value in our society seems to be underrated. Coming from a place of integrity means being truthful and honest. It means being reliable. It means trying to build rather than break, help rather than hurt, connect rather than crumble. Coming from a place of integrity means being authentic the same you, whether people are watching or not. We will not always be right or do right, but when we have integrity we step up. We accept responsibility for our actions. We feel remorse. We have an understanding of what went wrong and why it happened so that we can put a plan in place to ensure it won t happen again. Slide 6 Questions About Professional Integrity As students in our RN to BSN option, some questions may come to your mind as you ponder integrity in general and professional integrity specifically. Actually, professional integrity applies to all professionals. Think about these questions and how you might respond if asked: Is sharing a paper the same as sharing a patient s pain medication in the clinical setting? If everyone speeds, does it make it okay? Or, is it still illegal and punishable by the police? What if researchers didn t maintain integrity? Would we have any reliable data to base our society on? In our ever apparent social media environment, remember that cameras are everywhere. So integrity matters and this is true in the academic setting as well. Slide 7 Most Trusted Profession in the US! Did you know that Americans periodically respond to surveys on the most trusted profession in the United States? Gallup polls are commonly administered. Americans have been asked to rate the honesty and ethics of various professions annually since 1990, and periodically since 1976. Nurses have topped the list each year since they were first included in 1999, with the exception of 2001 when firefighters were included in response to their work during and after the 9/11 attacks. Since 2005, at least 80% of Americans have said nurses have high ethics and honesty. Two other medical professions medical doctors and pharmacists tie this year for second place at 65%, with police officers and clergy approaching 50%. These are awesome statistics for us to consider.
Slide 8 5 Core Values of Integrity When thinking further about integrity, five core values come to mind. These are: Honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Think about each of these for a moment. What do each of these values mean to you as an individual and how does each impact decisions you make in your life? Slide 9 What is the Academic Integrity Policy at Chamberlain? This background discussion about integrity brings us to more specifics and that is the Academic Integrity Policy at Chamberlain. The purpose of the Academic Integrity Policy is to have ideas and learning form the core of the Chamberlain community. In all centers of education, learning is valued and honored. No learning community can thrive if its members counterfeit their achievements or seek to establish an unfair advantage over their fellow students. Chamberlain College of Nursing academic standards are based on the pursuit of knowledge and assume a high level of integrity in every member of the Chamberlain community. When this trust is violated, the community suffers injury and must act to ensure that its standards remain meaningful. Academic integrity directly relates to the work you do as a student with Chamberlain College of Nursing. Frankly, it applies to everything you do as a Chamberlain student. Slide 10 What is Plagiarism? Any discussion about Academic Integrity would not be complete without information on plagiarism. Plagiarism is a term that is common in academic settings. Chamberlain is no different. As a Chamberlain student, it is your responsibility to become familiar with the policies and procedures outlined in the student handbook. But, these items are what are considered academic integrity violations as specified in the student handbook: A submitted paper or other written assignment that contains word for word passages of others work without proper acknowledgment Paraphrasing the work of others, including specific information or ideas that are not properly acknowledged/credited Two or more submitted papers, that contain a resemblance decidedly beyond the bounds of reasonable coincidence Slide 11 What is Plagiarism? As we continue to review what the handbook provides us, plagiarism is considered when a submitted assignment that contains data or conclusions which, upon questioning, the student cannot explain, support or demonstrate direct knowledge. Self plagiarism is using one s previously published work without referencing the publication.
Think about this.the Bottom line is.plagiarism is CHEATING! As nurses, we do not want to be considered a cheater whether in our practice settings or the academic setting. Would you agree? Slide 12 What is Collaboration? Collaboration is a hot term in healthcare these days. But what does collaboration mean in the academic setting? You might be surprised to learn that collaboration is: Any act of two or more students actively cooperating on any assignment when the instructor has not expressly permitted such activity. Course assignments are to be completed individually by each student, without collaboration with anyone else unless the assignment specifically states that collaboration is allowed or required. Slide 13 Some Examples of Plagiarism Are. Here are some examples of plagiarism that you may not have considered previously. Copying and pasting information or using the exact words of a source even if this is cited (unless quotation marks are used). Excessive copying even if contained within quotation marks is also unacceptable. Submitting another person s work as your own. Sharing your work with others in any manner (i.e., sharing with a friend or uploading a paper to a public website). Self plagiarism And, we want to make it very clear that plagiarism in any form, is CHEATING! Slide 14 Does Plagiarism Apply Only to Assignments? You may ask.does plagiarism only apply to written assignments? No, plagiarism can occur in both the discussions and assignments. All work submitted to Chamberlain College of Nursing is to be your own original work with proper citations. Slide 15 What Will Happen if Your Instructor Suspects an Academic Integrity Violation? All instructors at Chamberlain have been educated to be alert for and detect plagiarism. You may wonder, what will happen if your instructor suspects an academic integrity violation, i.e. cheating? Your instructor will share the concern with his/her Associate Dean of Faculty and an investigation will be conducted. Concerns, investigations and management of incidents and sanctions can easily be avoided by being honest and applying those other core values presented earlier in this presentation.
Slide 16 Ways to Ensure You Avoid Plagiarism What are some ways to ensure that you avoid a plagiarism concern? As someone once said, It takes a village. So, 1. If you observe or suspect a violation of the student academic integrity policy, report it to one of the following: The faculty member teaching the course The online program dean or designee 2. Make it difficult and unacceptable for other students to cheat by: Denying others access to your computer programs Keeping your computer password a secret Refusing to share your written work with other students Slide 17 Ways to Ensure You Avoid Plagiarism (con t) Other ways to ensure that you avoid a plagiarism concern include: 3. As a student, you can avoid violations of the academic integrity policy by: Avoiding the temptation to cheat via communication technology. Understanding that the technology of the internet also works for your instructor. Google searches and plagiarism checkers can detect plagiarism on papers and exams in a matter of minutes. Become familiar with the American Psychological Association (APA) method of documenting your sources. This can be found in your English class handbooks or at apastyle.org. Our librarian can also help you to find resources on citation principles. Clarifying assignments with your instructor. When in doubt, always reach out and seek answers to your questions. Slide 18 Ways to Ensure You Avoid Plagiarism (con t) And lastly, 4. One way to avoid plagiarism when reading articles or websites is to read the information and take notes in your own words. Then, paraphrase the notes a second time when writing the assignment or discussion post. This will help avoid using the same words from the original source. These are all easy ways to avoid an academic integrity/plagiarism concern by your instructor. Slide 19 You May Ask Is it Ever Appropriate to Sell My Assignments to an Internet Site or Another Student? This is a tough question but it needs to be mentioned as one aspect of our Academic Integrity discussion. Is it ever appropriate to share or even sell assignments to an internet site or another student?
The answer unequivocally is no! You may not sell or share any of your work online or with another student for submission. This is a violation of the Professional Conduct policy and an indirect violation of the Academic Integrity policy. Slide 20 What is TurnItIn and Why Does Chamberlain Use It? Are you familiar with TurnItIn? If you are, have you asked why does Chamberlain use it? Here are the answers: TurnItIn.com is a software program that helps support the development of your skills in preparing written assignments by comparing your paper to billions of pages of active and archived Internet information, student papers previously submitted to TurnItIn.com, and thousands of periodicals, journals, and publications. Do you realize that as a Chamberlain RN to BSN Option student you agree that by taking a course, ALL your required papers (assignments) and discussions may be subject to submission for textual similarity review by TurnItIn.com In other words, your instructor is not obligated to ask your permission to do this. He/she may do it without your permission or your knowledge. Slide 21 How Does TurnItIn Work? It would be in your best interest to learn more about TurnItIn and how it works. Some specifics include: Be aware than any Similarity Index of 25% or greater will trigger extra scrutiny by your faculty for plagiarism. This does not automatically mean that you have plagiarized; just that Turnitin.com is reporting a high degree of similarity with other sources. A report of 24% or less does not guarantee that plagiarism is not present or your assignment will not be reviewed. The report icon in the Gradebook is color coded as follows: Blue: no matching text Green: up to 24% matching text Yellow: 25% to 49% matching text Orange: 50% to 74% matching text Red: 75% to 100% matching text Your instructor is the go to person if you have any questions about TurnItIn. Slide 22 Be Safe Documents You Need to Review! This tutorial is only the beginning of your knowledge about Academic Integrity. Be safe not sorry and know that there are several documents you need to review. Please take a moment to review these important areas in your course: Course Resources
APA Folder TurnItIn Folder TurnItIn Draft Dropbox Policies Academic Integrity Announcements Addressing Plagiarism & TurnItIn Student Success Strategies Resource APA and Scholarly Writing Modules All of these resources are provided with your interest in mind. Take the time to review them. Slide 23 Integrity is Integrity is Integrity! In closing, integrity is the same concept whether in your personal, professional, or academic lives. Integrity matters! Extraordinary nurses value integrity and the standards that support it. Let s keep Nursing the #1 trusted profession! Thank you for your commitment to academic integrity at Chamberlain College of Nursing! Slide 24 References No Audio.