Academic Integrity

To foster a culture of integrity that supports both faculty and students, changes were made to the Academic Offences tab in the Employee Portal at the beginning of Spring Term 2024.  These updates provided consistent wording aligned with other Academic Offences policies and procedures, encourage consistency when navigating and filing academic incidents, and allow for equitable penalty application when an Academic Integrity Violation (AIV) has occurred.

These updates included:

1. One Warning Per Student Record: Students can receive only one warning on their academic incident record. If a student has received a warning, or received an offence for their first AIV, faculty will only be able to select an offence for any subsequent AIV..

• This update encourages a progressive and incremental approach that is consistently and fairly applied to each incident.

2. Disclaimer Before Filing: This disclaimer encourages procedural fairness when navigating the academic integrity procedure.

• Faculty are required to acknowledge that they have followed the proper academic integrity procedure.

• The update is to dissuade procedural irregularity and mitigate invalid appeals.

3. Adjustments to the ‘Add Supporting Documents’ Section: Faculty can “hide” certain document uploads so that students cannot view them in their Student Portal.

• This update eliminates the possibility of students downloading and sharing confidential information (e.g., screenshots of testing materials, other student identifiers, etc.).

4. New Email Template for Student Document: The Academic Integrity Office developed a comprehensive document with email templates to students, which faculty can utilize when communicating with students during the investigation process.

• This update provides faculty with greater efficiency in the communication process.

5. Name Change of Tab: The Employee Portal tab was renamed “Integrity Violations.”

• This update ensures consistent wording with other Academic Integrity documents.

For more information, please contact Cory Scurr, Manager of Academic Integrity.

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Turnitin introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) detector tool. This tool will automatically be available with students’ Similarity Reports accessed from eConestoga. Please note that students cannot see their AI score/report. This specific feature is only visible to faculty members.

Like any tool, there are always limitations to its abilities. Turnitin’s AI Writing Detection is recommended for paragraph assessments written in English. It is not recommended for assessments using lists, outlines, code or poetry due to concerns of false positives. As always, we recommend that Turnitin’s AI Writing Detection feature be used as one piece of evidence for any academic incident investigation process.

For faculty, please review our Guide to Evidence of Generative AI.

For students, please review Generative AI Skills.

For further information, the Academic Integrity Office encourages you to read and review the details on the Turnitin Website.

Conestoga Library & Learning Services are thrilled to announce the completion of our “Generative AI for Students” LibGuide. This resource empowers students with knowledge about generative artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications. Generative AI Guidance for Conestoga Students

On October 16, 2024, Conestoga College joins colleges and universities worldwide to promote academic integrity! The Academic Integrity Office will host a Halloween-themed event called Monsters of Misconduct on October 30th at the Cambridge Campus.

What is the International Day of Action for Academic Integrity?

The IDoA for Academic Integrity is an initiative of the International Centre for Academic Integrity (ICAI). Every year, institutions around the world promote and celebrate academic integrity. The purpose of IDoA of Academic Integrity is to help students, staff, and faculty understand, avoid, and prevent academic integrity violations.  

How can you participate?

1. Visit our booth in the cafeteria on the Cambridge Campus on Wednesday, October 30th, between 12:30am to 3:30pm. There will be treats, trivia, and the opportunity to win prizes! 
2.  Participate in Conestoga's Academic Integrity Meme Contest
   • Submit your academic integrity meme to academicintegrity@conestogac.on.ca by Friday, November 1st at 11:59 P.M.
   • All eligible participants will be considered to win the prize of $50 grocery gift card.
3. Participate in the ICAI's Student Social Media Contest
   • Submit your idea by Wednesday, October 16th at 11:49 P.M. (EST)

For three weeks this semester, Academic Integrity Office staff will be available on a drop-in basis to answer general questions about Academic Integrity, and questions about Conestoga's policies and procedures. If you have received an Academic Integrity Violation, we can help you understand what happened, why it happened, your rights, and what might happen next. We cannot change or edit Academic Integrity Violations. We can provide some information about the Academic Dispute Resolution and Appeals policy and procedure, such as discussing the valid reasons to appeal an Academic Integrity Violation, but we cannot directly assist you in writing an appeal, or advocate on your behalf.

The drop-in pilot project is not intended to replace mandatory academic integrity meetings. If you have been sent a mandatory meeting notice, you are welcome to ask questions during this drop-in session, but you must still book your mandatory meeting with the outreach team via the Student Success Portal.

Schedule

Downtown Kitchener Campus (Library Desk):

• Tuesday October 15th, 1-3pm
• Tuesday October 22nd, 1-3pm

Doon Campus (Library Desk):

• Wednesday October 16th, 1-3pm
• Thursday October 17th, 10am-noon
• Wednesday October 23rd, 10am-noon
• Thursday October 24th, 10am-noon

Zoom: Oct 21-25

• Mon/Wed/Fri: 1:00-2:30pm
• Tues/Thurs: 10:00-11:30am

Link: https://conestogac.zoom.us/j/91043828148?pwd=m9hTQzOyaKWN9LVjPLTpAq7QItbP17.1