Providing resources for an educative approach.

The Office of the Ombudsperson for Students works with UBC community members to ensure students are treated fairly and can learn, work and live in a fair, equitable and respectful environment. The Ombuds office can explain UBC’s academic integrity regulation and relevant processes and give confidential advice.   

Four open online academic integrity Canvas modules are currently available. Students can self-enroll and instructors can request students submit the certificate of completion. Instructors can enroll to see the content in the modules.

1. Academic Integrity Foundations

The “Academic Integrity Foundations” Canvas module is a new module developed by the Academic Integrity Hub. It introduces academic integrity in terms of what it is, why it is important within the UBC community, how students can put it into practice, and what pitfalls to watch out for. It also review the different types of academic misconduct.

2. Introduction to Academic Integrity

The “Introduction to Academic Integrity” Canvas module discusses academic integrity in the context of why it matters — as a core element of how we as scholars and professionals do our work (and live our professional lives) at UBC and beyond. The module features 4 videos with UBC faculty, librarians, and students, as well as pre- and post-reflection questions for students, and takes no more than 30 minutes to complete. Once they submit their responses, students can download a certificate of completion. 

3. Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) Program

The Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) program offers two Canvas modules:

3.1 Academic Integrity Matters for Unauthorized Collaboration and Cheating (Vancouver and Okanagan): This module covers the International Center for Academic Integrity’s six fundamental values of academic integrity, what constitutes academic dishonesty and situations where it may occur, the importance of academic integrity within the scholarly community, and the methods and resources available to maintain academic integrity. Students can download a certificate of completion upon completion of this module.

3.2 Academic Integrity Matters: Writing and Plagiarism (Vancouver and Okanagan): This module covers UBC’s standards for academic honesty, how to properly credit and cite research, and how to avoid plagiarism. After completing this module, students should be able to recognize plagiarism in its various forms, explain why avoiding plagiarism is important, and develop skills for avoiding plagiarism, including citing sources, note-taking, quoting, and, paraphrasing. Students can download a certificate of completion upon completion of this module. 

3.3 Academic Integrity Matters: Academic Integrity in the Visual Arts (Okanagan): This module covers the significance of academic integrity, identifying and preventing misconduct, assessing the nuances of artistic inspiration, learning, and plagiarism, demonstrating proper visual source attribution, grasping copyright essentials, and accessing resources for upholding integrity in creative endeavors. Students can download a certificate of completion upon completion of this module.

UBC Okanagan: Students who have been referred to the AIM program by their instructor or Dean’s Office, will need to attend a one-on-one meeting with an AIM consultant. Instructors may refer students to this program.

Syllabus Template

Providing a clear, accurate, and explicit statement about how you expect your students to do their work in your course with integrity, and why, is an easy way to establish a framework of integrity from the very beginning.  A syllabus statement template (docx) is available to assist you in creating your syllabus statement. 

Additional statements on academic integrity are available through the Centre for Teaching and Learning website. Checklists are also available to support course design assessment design, and syllabus development. 

Curriculum MAP

UBC’s Curriculum MAP is a tool created to support course design, curriculum mapping, and the generation of syllabi that consistently follows Senate guidelines, including the Senate suggested language on Academic Integrity for both Okanagan and Vancouver campuses. Any UBC email address has access to this online tool. 

Academic Integrity Senate Language

• UBC Vancouver – Appendix K
• UBC Okanagan – Forms and resources

Remote Assessment Guidebook: This guidebook is being developed to assist post-secondary faculty and staff with planning and implementing assessment. This is being prepared for engineering educators, but the content translates to many other disciplines.  The focus is on the temporarily transition to online course delivery; however, it is rooted in assessment best practices that equally apply to in-person instruction. 

Faculty Resources for Academic Integrity: This resource is a part of the TLEF-funded project, “Our Cheating Hearts?: Changing the Conversation through Academic Integrity Curriculum in First-Year Programs” (Laurie McNeill, 2017-2020).  The project has been guided by the following goals: 

1. To shift from a focus on academic misconduct to academic integrity, and changing our language to suit; 
2. To identify the particular areas of ethical research that students find most challenging in first-year writing courses; and 
3. To developing explicit integrity curriculum–what we have called ‘pedagogies of integrity‘ in our courses that extended current course content. 

UBC faculty and staff are invited to join the BC Academic Integrity Network (BCAIN) to network and participate in provincial and national conversations on academic integrity. Each year, the BCAIN hosts a “BC Academic Integrity Day” which brings together stakeholders from across the province to discuss important academic integrity related issues.

Across Canada, several other provinces have academic integrity networks: Academic Integrity Council of Ontario (AICO), Alberta Council on Academic Integrity (ACAI) and the Manitoba Academic Integrity Network (MAIN). 

UBC is a member of the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI). Members of the UBC community are invited to join in international discussions about academic integrity through the annual conference and blog.