Vernon College Academic Integrity Policy
Preamble. Vernon College is a comprehensive community college that promotes a culture of success for all who are a part of the institution. It is in this learning environment that the ethical growth and development of students can best be facilitated. The success of their experiences at Vernon College is contingent upon the existence of an environment that requires adherence to a set of values that includes, but is not limited to, honesty, fairness, excellence, freedom, responsibility, achievement, civility, and community. Therefore, behaviors that contradict these ideals are unacceptable and will promote values that are in opposition to our mission and vision for the future. Academic integrity is the foundation of the respect and worth of our instructional efforts including the degrees and certificates we award.
Rights and Responsibilities of Faculty. All members of the college community have a responsibility to ensure academic integrity, and members of the instructional faculty are especially instrumental as academic integrity is based in the classroom whether real or virtual.
Members of the faculty have primary responsibility for:
- communicating standards of academic honesty and scholastic expectations;
- managing activities, assignments, and assessment so as to minimize opportunities for dishonesty;
- approaching students who are suspected of misconduct and meeting with them privately in a civil and respectful manner;
- establishing and following prescribed procedures for academic dishonesty;
- protecting the identity of a student who reports an incident of academic misconduct.
Student Responsibilities. Students have a responsibility to behave in accordance with ethical standards that will build and sustain the trust of the faculty, the administration, and their peers to follow the Honor Code of Conduct of Vernon College:
By virtue of being a student of Vernon College, I pledge to behave ethically by following the standards of academic honesty and scholastic expectations;
- refraining from giving or receiving any unauthorized aid or engaging in collusion;
- refusing to take the work of others and submit it as my own;
- notifying the appropriate instructor and/or those in immediate authority of any incidents of suspected academic misconduct.
Specific Violations of Academic Integrity. Violations of academic integrity are serious violations and will
not be tolerated. Violations of academic integrity and forms of scholastic dishonesty include but are not limited to the following:
Plagiarism, collusion, cheating and other acts designed to give an unfair academic advantage to the student.
“Plagiarism” includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means someone else’s work and then submitting that work for credit as if it were one’s own. It also includes the failure to properly document sources used in research. This includes using artificial intelligence resources.
“Collusion” includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized collaboration with another person in the preparation of an academic assignment offered for credit.
“Cheating” includes, but is not limited to:
- copying from another student’s work, e.g., test paper or assignment, or allowing another student to copy from one’s own without authorization from instructor;
- possessing any materials during a test that are not authorized by the instructor, such as class notes, specifically designed “cheat sheets”, calculators, electronic devices, etc.;
- using, buying, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in whole or in part the contents of an un-administered test, test key, homework solution, or computer programs;
- collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during a test or other assignment without authority;
- discussing the contents of an examination with another student who will take the examination;
- divulging the contents of an examination, for the purpose of preserving questions for use by another, when the instructor has designated that the examination is not to be removed from the examination room or kept by the student;
- substituting for another person or permitting another person to substitute for oneself to take the course, to take a test, or to complete any course-related assignment;
- registering for and taking a class for which the student does not have the formally required prerequisite classes or a written waiver from a Division Chair or Vice-President of Instructional Services;
- falsifying academic records, including, but not limited to, altering or assisting in the altering of any official record of the College.
Sanctions Related to Violations of Academic Integrity. The sanctions for academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to
- a grade of zero on an exam or assignment;
- an “F” in a course;
- administrative withdrawal from a class with a possible recommendation of disciplinary sanctions.
Student Rights. See Vernon College Student Handbook
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Vernon College has established a blanket policy that the use of generative AI tools is prohibited for students, unless an instructor explicitly grants permission. Students will be informed of this policy via syllabi and/or course outline at the beginning of the semester, and Vernon College’s revised Student Code of Conduct now clearly defines unauthorized use of generative AI tools as academic misconduct.
In addition, instructors should add a statement to their syllabus outlining their stance on students’ potential use of such tools and discuss your decision with your students.
Vernon College has expanded our institution-wide license for Turnitin to include the tool designed to detect AI-generated text (this is in addition to the basic plagiarism detection tool that Vernon College has used for years). This AI-detection tool should be used with an abundance of caution. It may not always be accurate (it can misidentify both human and AI-generated text) so it should not be used as the sole basis for taking adverse actions against a student. It takes further scrutiny and human judgment in conjunction with Vernon College’s specific academic policies to determine whether any academic misconduct has occurred. While there will be a college wide training available at the beginning of Fall 2024 that will provide guidance on how AI detection works and how to interpret inaccurate and ambiguous results, it is already enabled in your Canvas courses.