As faculty and advisers, you play a key role in reinforcing principles of academic integrity with students during their time at UW.
Emphasize that academic integrity is not just about following rules but is essential to their long-term development as ethical, trustworthy professionals in engineering. Consider framing academic integrity as part of your and your students’ commitment to fairness and accountability in the course, reminding students that cheating can harm both the perpetrator and their classmates.
General guidance
- You are required to include a statement on academic integrity in your course syllabus. Faculty are encouraged to customize this statement with details for your own classroom.
- Review the syllabus with students at the start of the quarter and encourage them to visit the College of Engineering's student-facing webpage on academic integrity and misconduct, which includes the College's Statement of Principles.
- Reference the syllabus at the start and end of key assignments and exams to remind students about the expectations for them. This can be as simple as adding a question requiring students to sign an academic integrity pledge. Research recommends pledge statements that are formal and detailed and that reference consequences of violation. Sample wording for syllabus statements and pledges are provided below.
- Provide specific examples that clearly outline academic standards in your course and clarify expectations for acceptable behavior on group work, collaboration, use of online sources and previous course materials, etc.
- Encourage students throughout the course to contact you or TAs if they have any questions about acceptable behavior when completing any assignments or exams in your course.
- Review more detailed tips to prevent academic misconduct from Community Standards and Student Conduct.
- During departmental orientations for newly placed and admitted students, review the College of Engineering Statement of Principles and any departmental academic policies.
In addition to these policy-oriented factors, consider teaching and learning factors that can affect academic integrity. Students may be less likely to cheat when they clearly understand instructor expectations, perceive assignments/tests to be fair measures of their learning, and do not perceive themselves to be in competition with each other over grades. The College's Office for the Advancement of Engineering Teaching & Learning offers consultation on this and any other engineering education topic.
Sample integrity language for the classroom
These statements are provided for instructor use. They can be copied and adapted as needed.
"Engineering is a profession demanding a high level of personal honesty, integrity and responsibility. Therefore, it is essential that engineering students, in fulfillment of their academic requirements and in preparation to enter the engineering profession, adhere to the College of Engineering Statement of Principles. Any student in this course suspected of academic misconduct (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, or falsification) will be reported to the College of Engineering Dean’s Office and the University’s Office of Community Standards and Student Conduct to initiate the student conduct process. Any student found responsible for academic misconduct may receive a zero for their grade on the impacted academic work (e.g., assignments, project, or exams), and academic consequences, with the possibility of expulsion.”
Sample statement for last sentence [Instructor should adapt or write their own]:
“For any assignment, quiz, or exam that is suspected of academic misconduct, you will be given an “X” grade until after Prof. Y has received notification by the Dean’s office that the conduct process is complete. If a student is found responsible for academic misconduct, the student will receive a grade of zero on the assignment, quiz, or exam. If a student is found not responsible, the student will receive a grade based on the standard grading criteria for that assignment, quiz, or exam.”
"As a member of the University of Washington student body and in accordance with professional ethical standards in engineering and the College of Engineering Statement of Principles, I will not lie, cheat, or plagiarize in any endeavor related to my academic pursuits, nor will I tolerate that behavior in others. If I should fail to comply with this statement, I understand the consequences that can follow my actions include receiving a zero for my grade on an assignment or examination and academic consequences, with the possibility of expulsion."
New technology issues
The University of Washington has no overarching policy on student use of generative AI. The College of Engineering, likewise, defers to the judgement of the instructor. Teaching@UW maintains a guidance page regarding teaching and AI.
Instructors are encouraged to be deliberate and clear in course guidelines when addressing use of generative AI. It may be reasonable to prohibit all use of generative AI in one course but allow specific usages in another, depending on course learning objectives. Encourage students to save records of their progress over time (e.g., intermediate products, logs of work process), especially if generative AI is fully prohibited in your course.
Students should be reminded that generative AI, like all technology, is only a tool. It may be appropriate for some tasks in some contexts and not others. An engineer uses tools responsibly and knows they are accountable for their own work output regardless of their tools.
When academic misconduct is suspected
Reporting
Instructors who suspect academic misconduct are strongly encouraged to notify the student about the suspected misconduct and allow them to respond. Unless this communication reveals that no misconduct occurred, the instructor must report the matter to the COE Associate Dean for Academic Affairs using CSSC’s online reporting tool. After referral, a conduct officer in the COE Dean’s Office will oversee the student conduct process to determine if the student is responsible for academic misconduct and will contact the instructor once a decision is reached.
Beyond the recommended initial communication, instructors should not complete conduct investigations on their own. Students have the right to due process via the centralized reporting process, which is consistent with Washington legislative requirements.
A report should be made even if a student acknowledges misconduct. This allows for central recordkeeping, appropriate sanctioning, and a developmental conversation between the student and conduct officer debriefing the incident with an eye to future ethical decision-making.
Report a case of academic misconduct
Sanctions and grading
When a conduct report is submitted, the student’s grade for any examination or assignment that is suspected of academic misconduct should be withheld until the conduct officer informs the instructor about the decision in the case. The instructor should tell the student that a misconduct report has been filed and that their grade is being withheld until the misconduct case has been reviewed and decided.
If the instructor has not been notified about the decision in the case by the grade submission deadline for the term, an X (leaving a grade unreported) should be turned in for the course grade until a decision is made. When a decision is made, the instructor should submit a change of grade form to finalize the student’s course grade. The student’s grade should not be impacted before a finding is reached.
Community Standards and Student Conduct provides more information on their faculty webpage on conduct sanctions and grading.