Large-Scale Deployment and Evaluation of an Academic Integrity Module for Computing Students

This innovative practice full paper describes a large-scale implementation and evaluation of an academic integrity module tailored for students in the Computer Science Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The module aims to educate students about academic misconduct, its consequences, and strategies to prevent it. While various approaches exist to tackle academic misconduct in computing, our approach is unique in two ways. First, it is a proactive approach that seeks to educate and empower students on this important topic, to help them be responsible for their actions in the academic setting, and be aware of the potential consequences they may face if they resort to academic integrity violations, rather than face potentially punitive consequences. Second, we incorporate scenarios and information that are specifically relevant to the Computing discipline throughout the module. This paper presents the module's design, outcomes from its large-scale deployment, student feedback on its effectiveness, and reasons students typically resort to academic integrity violations. Additionally, it discusses plans for continuous improvement based on student input and information about emerging tools and technologies (e.g., Artificial Intelligence powered tools). We expect that this paper will help guide the rapid adoption, deployment, and evaluation of such a program -specific academic integrity learning module at other institutions. We expect that our module itself can be adapted to other computing programs with only a small amount of effort.