Academic Integrity

Learn about academic integrity by participating in activities and accessing resources designed to help you understand appropriate academic practices and professional or industry standards.

• Completing assignments or tasks in a responsible and conscientious manner, pursuing intellectual freedom through the honest search for knowledge
• understanding and avoiding plagiarism by acknowledging the ideas, work and contribution of others and never misrepresenting someone else’s work as your own
• understanding and avoiding collusion or other forms of cheating by not providing work to others, not purchasing work, or promoting the purchasing of work to others, and not falsifying results
• following relevant ethics or professional guidelines, including when accessing confidential or sensitive data, when interacting with clients or patients and when on lands managed by Indigenous communities
• declaring any conflicts of interest, including but not limited to close personal relationships with staff
• avoiding coercive or threatening behaviour, or any attempts to gain an unfair advantage.

Be truthful when providing documentation to the University, submitting original work, giving due credit to the work of others, and supplying additional information when requested, including saving back-up copies to provide proof of authorship.

Role-model academic integrity within the University, speaking up against breaches in academic or research integrity, where it is safe to do so. Commit to creating an ethical and professional University environment, online, on campus, in the field and in the workplace.

We have seen a range of AI tools impacting CDU teaching and learning in helpful ways such as:

• chatbots,
• accessibility detection,
• learning analytics,
• writing assistants, e.g., predictive text or Grammarly, and
• similarity / plagiarism detection through Turnitin and SafeAssign.

Recently tools have been developed to help educators identify text that might be prepared by a generative AI tool.

When students submit written work to Turnitin for similarity checking, the AI writing detection utility looks for English language patterns, and it scores as likely generated from an AI source and applies a percentage value.

From Semester 2, 2023, this utility will be available to CDU educators to identify text that may have been generated from a generative AI tool like ChatGPT.

CDU supports all AI tools that can assist, support and scaffold student learning. Our challenge is to provide awareness and guidance so these new AI tools will have positive impacts and not be used inappropriately, compromising academic integrity at CDU. Importantly, staff and students will need to develop an awareness of the ethical use of AI.

The ongoing challenge for CDU is to embrace this new AI era for research, teaching and learning, knowledge acquisition and knowledge creation. CDU will continue to monitor good practice across the sector and establish a framework of acceptable use. Staff and students have an opportunity to accelerate and ignite more personalised, enabled and authentic teaching and learning, to better equipping ourselves for the jobs of the future.

• Exploring the benefits of AI, in a range of AI tools, such as ChatGPT.
   
• Sharing knowledge and insights regarding AI, through a community of practice.
   
• Discussing AI and the use of LLMs, like ChatGPT, in the context of the unit, professional ethics and integrity.
• Articulating acceptable use of AI in any assigned learning activity or Unit assessment.
  
  - CDU recognises that acceptable use may vary across teaching units depending upon stated learning outcomes and types of assessment used in line with our Assessment Policy.
  - Students must follow the guidance of CDU staff responsible for unit delivery.
  - Staff will clarify the extent to which AI may be used within an assessment item.
   
• Adherence to the CDU’s Academic Integrity Policy and actively report instances of the misuse of AI resulting in intentional plagiarism, contract cheating or other forms of academic dishonesty.
   
• Openness, transparency and disclosed use of ChatGPT or any other LLM, including student declaration of original work and/or use of AI as deemed permissible by their instructor. 
  
  - Proper citation and referencing as required by the program discipline area.
   
• Use of authentic assessment approaches, where:
  - AI may assist with routine and systematic information gathering, but
  - CDU students are intrinsically motivated to respond personally and critically in the acquisition and creation of knowledge through assessments that are meaningful and relevant to them.

• Misrepresenting AI generated content as your own, in teaching, learning or research.
   
• Failure to disclose use of AI. Such instances will be dealt with under the CDU Academic Integrity Policy.
   
• Use of third-party resources or AI in any other form that compromises academic integrity.
   
• Contract cheating in any form, e.g., the use of purchased advanced AI prompting to complete assigned assessments or to avoid detection.
   
• Use of third-party AI detection sites and tools, where the security of data storage and information privacy are unknown.
   
• An over-reliance on assessment approaches that are easily completed with the assistance of AI.

A false representation made in attempting to gain an unfair advantage.

A deliberate attempt to gain an unfair advantage, including:

1. unauthorised early access to assessment/exam papers or answer sheets;
2. communicating with or copying from another person during an exam; or
3. supplying or receiving unauthorised material in an examination.

Any unauthorised collaboration in preparation or presentation of work, including knowingly allowing personal work to be copied by others.

Securing a person or computer program to complete part or all your assessment, including using work prepared by another person.

Resubmitting or largely reusing work that you have previously had assessed as new work, without permission from the lecturer/tutor.

The intentional use of information or data that has been made up but is implied to be real.

Assuming the identity of another person and completing assessments on their behalf.

Presenting an untrue or incomplete statement that could mislead, including:

1. about attendance or participation in practical, performance or professional learning and assessment activities;
2. citations to non-existent or incorrect sources; or
3. failing to disclose information when there is a duty to disclose it, or when failing to disclose it misleads the assessor.

Presenting the work of another as your own work without proper acknowledgement that clearly identifies which parts of the work originate from another source.

Work includes ideas, interpretations, words, or creative works such as works in print and electronic media, published and unpublished documents, designs, music, sounds, images, photographs, computer codes and ideas gained through working in a team.

Offering, inducing or advertising for a person to complete an assessment on your behalf, including work likely to be used for cheating, misrepresentation and/or plagiarism.

Note that a student who agrees to assist another student through solicitation, cheating, misrepresentation or plagiarism (for example by willingly sharing their own work or advertising the availability of their own work or someone else’s work) is also in breach of academic integrity, and will be subject to disciplinary action.