First-time cheaters attend 8-hour class

The Division of Student Affairs received 102 more reports of academic misconduct from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, compared to the same period the previous year — but it doesn’t necessarily mean students are cheating more.

“I attribute the increase mostly to better mechanisms for reporting them,” said Jason Casares, associate dean of students and director of student ethics. “Faculty are doing a great job at addressing and reporting academic misconduct.”

Although students might not be cheating more, Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith said it is still essential to address the issue.

“We’re always concerned with academic misconduct because it is important that an IU degree means what it says,” he said. “If students cheat, or otherwise cut corners, it cheapens everyone else’s degree.”

But Casares said it is increasingly difficult to prevent first-offense cases because of different standards between high school and college courses.

“We can no longer depend on K-12 systems to educate students about what it means to cite appropriately, what it means not to cheat and to follow those core values of academic integrity that every institution has across the country,” he said.

Instead, the Office of Student Ethics has launched the Academic Integrity Seminar, a mandatory eight-hour course for all first-time academic misconduct offenders. A pilot was launched last semester, but it is just now in full swing.

“This is an exciting new approach that we have with our students here on campus,” Casares said. “You’re not going to find many schools with an Academic Integrity Seminar around the country.”

The seminar, taught by graduate students, can be completed in two sessions of four hours or four sessions of two hours. No more than 25 to 30 students are enrolled in a single session in order to foster discussion and group work.

“So far it’s been fantastic,” Casares said. “We’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response, not only from students but also from faculty members across campus who are very excited about this initiative.”

Casares said 91 of 97 students in the spring semester pilot seminar said they agreed or strongly agreed that they felt more knowledgeable in citing, paraphrasing and quoting after taking the course.

Although freshman Alex Scott did not take the seminar because he sought help before turning in an improperly cited paper, he said he is glad the seminar exists.

“It seems really empathetic,” he said. “I turned in a paper cited in the MLA style I learned in high school for preliminary help. Luckily, it wasn’t my final version because it turns out my high school let me get away with plagiarism.”

Casares also said the new initiative is very understanding.

“Any student that violates will come to our office for a brief 30-minute conversation about academic integrity, then we will ask students to sign a recommitment pledge,” he said. “From there, we’re focused on the Indiana promise and ask students to say, ‘Look, I made a mistake. I made an error, but now I’m going to recommit myself to the values of the institution here at IU.’”

Casares said he understands that eight hours might seem like a lot of time to commit to a course, but considering second-time offenses generally result in suspension, it is worth it.

“The cost of eight hours, in some ways, may be high to a student,” he said. “It might be cramping their social style. But if it means graduating, most are willing to make that trade-off.”