Academic integrity: Achieving best practice in built environment degree programs

Educational institutions globally are grappling with the rising incidence of academic misconduct, in part fuelled by the ever increasing access to online information. Recent audits of universities in Australia (AUQA 2009) indicated that students believed that their institutions did not have the necessary strategies in place to dispel studentsí perceptions that plagiarism may be tolerated. This paper reports on the development of teaching tools within Built Environment degree programmes at the University of Queensland. The objective of an online tutorial tool was to improve studentsí understanding of academic integrity and good academic practice and to do so in a supportive teaching and learning environment, through the development of an online interactive tutorial. The aims of the tutorial were to: develop learnersí skills in knowing when to reference information and thus avoid plagiarising in their academic work; provide accurate information in an interesting, relevant and interactive way; ensure relevance to the institutionís diverse student body; incorporate the ability to assess studentsí understanding of good academic practice; and ensure that the tool would be accessible as a learning resource for students throughout their programs of study. Through pre and post implementation surveys the changes in student perceptions of good practice are identified and used to refine the tutorial tool. Finally the paper reports on the adoption of the teaching tool on a university wide basis and its compulsory application to over 20,000 students.