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Faculty information
Reporting
Creating a culture of integrity depends on instructors reporting incidents. One of the factors strongly linked to cheating is the perception that there is a low risk of being caught.
Important steps in the reporting process
- Contact the student within two weeks of becoming aware that a student may have engaged in academic dishonesty. Email the student information that summarizes the nature of the academic integrity violation (e.g. plagiarism) and details so they understand the allegation. Provide the student an opportunity to meet with you so the student has an opportunity to respond. See sample text that can be emailed to the student. If the student does not respond by the requested deadline, proceed with filing a report.
- If the student requests a meeting, present your evidence, listen, and wait for an explanation. Remember that a decision needs to be made after you hear the student鈥檚 version of events. Then, decide on a 鈥渂alance of probabilities鈥� whether an academic integrity violation has occurred. This means that the burden of proof required is that the probability of the event happening is more than 50%. For many students, this meeting can be a teachable moment to educate students about scholarly practice.
- After you have met with the student you need to determine a penalty, if any, from the list of prescribed penalties in the policy (also listed on the incident report form). Penalties can include one or more of the following: (a) warning, (b) require student to re-do work or do supplementary work, (c) assign a low grade for the work, (d) assign a grade of 鈥淔鈥� for the work (not the course). Cases where the instructor believes a more severe penalty is required should be referred to the Chair.
- Complete the (see instructions below) which automatically sends a copy to you, the student, the Registrar鈥檚 Office and your Department Chair/ contact person. Utilize the Case Cluster option when reporting an incident involving multiple students. The report must be filed in a timely manner and it is suggested that it be completed within one week of meeting with the student. The Academic Integrity Coordinator will send a follow up email to the student that explains that the report is kept in the student鈥檚 confidential file for the sole purpose of determining a penalty if there is a subsequent report of dishonesty. Appeal information and learning support resources are also included for the student.
For technical help with using Coursys, please email coursys-help@sfu.ca.
For advice on policy and procedure, contact the Academic Integrity Coordinator at aico@sfu.ca.
Instructions to fill out the online incident report (on CourSys):
- The electronic form in CourSys can be found at . Log in with your 丁香园AV computing ID.
- You will see your courses listed. Select the course in question, e.g. HIST 100- D100 section
- From the left hand side menu, select 鈥淒ishonesty Cases鈥�
- From the left hand side menu, select either 鈥淐reate Case Cluster鈥� for group offenses or 鈥� Create Individual Case鈥� for a single student case of academic dishonesty
- Use the pull down menu to select the appropriate Student(s) from the class roster and select 鈥淐reate Case鈥� or 鈥淐reate Cluster鈥�
- What will follow is 5 step procedure so that you can see what stage you are in the process:
Step 1: Notify the Student. Here you are given the option to 鈥淓mail the Student鈥� through the Coursys system using a template that notifies the student that you have a concern around academic dishonesty and that you are giving them the opportunity to respond. If you choose to email them directly, you can do so by clicking 鈥淚 have already notified the student鈥�. If you have a group case, you will have the option to send the same email to all the students in the cluster where each student will be notified individually鈥攃heck the 鈥淎lso for鈥� box for the additional students in the cluster you want emailed.
Step 2: Discuss with the Student. Here you should indicate whether or not the student responded. Indicate the date you met with the student if the student exercised their right to respond. For example, 鈥淣o response to email after 5 days鈥� or 鈥淢et with student on Aug 25 via zoom鈥�
Step 3: Describe the Case. Here is where you will enter most of the information you have to support your assertion of academic dishonesty. You can attach any relevant documents (e.g. scan of an essay, Turnitin report, etc.) It can be helpful to include the student鈥檚 response.
Step 4: Determine the Penalty. Here you can select the appropriate penalty. You can pick more than one penalty, such as 鈥渞edo the work鈥� and 鈥渁ssign a low grade鈥� with marks deducted. Hit 鈥淪ave鈥�.
Step 5: Review and Submit Report. Here check of box 鈥淩eport is Ready to Send鈥� after you review the report. Then click the red box 鈥淪end Report and Complete Case鈥�
- Thank you for your commitment to academic integrity, You have now successfully submitted your report and will be copied on the report when it gets automatically emailed to the student and the Academic Integrity Coordinator in the Registrar鈥檚 Office.
- There are two more OPTIONAL steps. First, you can include 鈥渁dditional notes鈥� for your own records. These notes are not part of the report, but may be subject to a FOIPOP request. Second, the 鈥淐onfirm Penalty Given鈥� is a way to keep track that the penalty you decided on has been recorded in your actual grade roster in SIMS.
CourSys FAQ
I initiated an academic discipline investigation through CourSys but have determined that academic dishonesty has not occurred. Should I continue filing the report indicating the matter is resolved?
If in the course of your investigation you determine that there is insufficient evidence to file a report of academic dishonesty, assign the penalty 鈥渃ase dropped: no penalty assigned. No record will be sent to the Registrar鈥檚 Office if you choose this option.
How do I know my academic dishonesty report has been successfully submitted?
If a report is successfully completed, you will be copied on the report that is emailed to the student and the Academic Integrity Coordinator (Registrar鈥檚 Office). If you do not receive a copy of the report by email, that likely means you have not completed the final step. Make sure to check 鈥淟etter emailed through the System鈥� and click on the red box entitled 鈥淓mail the Student鈥�.
How can I streamline the reporting process if I have an incident involving multiple students in the course?
When several students in a class are found to be cheating together, the case cluster option can be useful because the details of the report can be copied across all student cases in the cluster. To use this option, select 鈥淒ishonesty Cases鈥�, and under ACTIONS choose 鈥淐reate Case Cluster鈥�, instead of 鈥淐reate Individual Case鈥�. If using the case cluster option, be careful to not copy personally identifying information across cases. If cases do diverge in their details, enter those details individually for students. An example of information that could be copied across all cases in a cluster would be: 鈥淐ode submitted for assignment 1 was very similar to an online source (*url*). The level of similarity indicated that the online code was the basis of their submission. Similarities included overall approach/comments/variable names/etc. [expand as necessary]"
Incident report forms
If using a paper form instead of using CourSys, it is mandatory that a copy of the form is sent to (1) the student, (2) the Registrar鈥檚 Office by emailing the Academic Integrity Coordinator at aic_sfu@sfu.ca, and (3) the Chair of your academic unit.
- Instructor Incident Report form: can be used as an alternative to Coursys
- Chair Instructor Incident form: to be completed by the Chair when a case is referred to them by the instructor or the Chair. CourSys is not available for reports by the Chair.