Where academic misconduct is suspected, on the balance of probabilities, staff should refer the case for investigation.
It is not appropriate to penalise a student for suspected academic misconduct if that allegation has not been through formal scrutiny of the allegation. Advice can be obtained from assessments@ulster.ac.uk.
Students should be made fully aware of the nature and implications of academic misconduct.
The Academic Misconduct Policy must be applied consistently and in liaison with the Student Academic Affairs Team.
Programme teams will aim to promote academic integrity throughout the programme and will emphasise the need for students to uphold this principle as per the Student Charter.
Consideration should be given to the risks of academic misconduct, the student experience and the various factors that can lead a student into the temptation of cheating (see guidance on academic integrity and guidance on AI). Students should be allowed to access Originality Reports in Turnitin for formative support.
Assessment strategies should be designed to mitigate the risks of cheating e.g.:
- Staging smaller assessment components over the semester/year to provide opportunities for timely and constructive feedback (including self or peer assessment).
- Adhering to appropriate assessment workloads and scheduling and avoiding bunching of assessments within the semester/academic year.
- Providing unambiguous assessment briefs and formative support.
- Designing assignments with a specific focus e.g. specific or localised events and experiences, current affairs, personal reflections, and avoiding descriptive essays.
- Designing assessments that focus on the process of learning rather than the product of learning.
- Refreshing assignment topics annually where feasible and generating large question pools for examinations to enable regular rotation of questions.
- Including evidence of student engagement in group work e.g. group learning agreements and meeting/engagement logs.
- Providing regular guidance and signposting to academic writing skills and study support
- Generating question banks for online examinations, where questions can be randomised during the examination to reduce the risk of collusion.
- Retiring questions from examination question banks after a period of time and replacing with new questions.
- Generating multiple versions of an examination, each with a different question order.
In relation to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools within assessment strategies, programme teams should liaise to identify categories of assessment where:
- AI tools should not be used e.g., examinations.
- AI tools may be used to assist assessment planning, e.g. writing support, support tutor, testing code, etc.
- AI tools are integral to the assessment task e.g., generating and analysing AI content.
The programme team must be consistent and transparent in their approaches to using AI within assessments and provide clarity through programme and module handbooks, Blackboard Ultra sites and assessment briefs.
Students must be directed to University guidance on acknowledging and referencing AI tools.
Wherever possible, a suitable variety of assessment methods should be used to minimise the risk of academic misconduct, including through AI misuse, either within the level of study or across levels. Jisc and academic partners have generated a menu of assessment methods to support authentic assessment methods that reduces the risk of academic misconduct.