Incorporating academic integrity into the classroom helps instructors and teaching assistants create a fair, transparent, and supportive learning environment. The following sections provide practical strategies for teaching, assessment design, and collaboration that can help students understand expectations and demonstrate their learning with integrity. Learn how you can:
Fostering Integrity Through a Positive Learning Climate
There are many ways to create a positive learning climate, whether through course design, instructional strategies, or classroom teaching practices.
The strategies in this section not only foster a positive learning environment but are also effective in preventing academic misconduct.
Contextual Influences on Academic Misconduct
Many aspects of the learning environment can influence students’ decisions about how they complete their academic work. Some factors are within instructors’ direct control, such as assessment clarity, opportunities for skill development, and the perceived relevance of course content. Other factors, such as stress, low confidence, and competing priorities, may also affect students’ academic choices.
Strategies that can help support academic integrity include:
- Adapting course policies and timelines where possible can help reduce unnecessary pressure and support student success.
- Sharing academic skill-building resources can help students build confidence in areas such as writing, research, and citation.
- Directing students to Learning Skills Resources, including Managing Academic Stress and York's well-being resources can help them develop strategies for managing academic stress.
- Clarifying expectations for collaboration, citation, and the use of AI tools can also help reduce uncertainty.
Embedding Academic Integrity into Course-Level Learning Outcomes
By integrating academic integrity skills and values into your course-level learning outcomes, you help students recognize its significance, provide them with the tools to practice it effectively, and create a learning environment that upholds its values.
Some examples include:
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate citation and referencing practices in their written work."
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to explain how referencing practices contribute to scholarly conversations and knowledge development."
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate academic practices in coursework and assessments."
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to evaluate peer work for alignment with academic integrity expectations and course requirements."
Learning Outcomes Specific to GenAI Use:
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to use AI tools in ways that support their learning and engagement with course work."
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to critically evaluate the appropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in academic work."
- "By the end of this course, students will be able to document and acknowledge their use of AI tools in accordance with course expectations and academic integrity requirements."
Facilitating Academic Integrity Discussions in the Classroom
Incorporating discussions and activities related to academic integrity does not need to take much class time. Even brief conversations can help students better understand course expectations, reflect on the importance of academic integrity, and recognize its relevance to their academic, personal, and professional lives.
These discussions can help students:
- Reflect more deeply on the importance of academic integrity
- Learn from their peers
- Understand how academic misconduct affects others
- Develop a sense of responsibility for their work and decisions
- Recognize how academic integrity supports their long-term academic and professional goals
For discussion topics related specifically to the use of generative AI and other emerging technologies, visit the AI Technology and Academic Integrity for Instructors.
Perceived instructor attitudes and academic misconduct
One factor that influences academic misconduct is students’ beliefs about their instructors’ attitudes. When instructors communicate that academic integrity matters and explain expectations clearly, students are more likely to understand its importance and make informed decisions about their academic work (Lang, 2013).
Bringing academic integrity to the forefront with your students helps dispel any misunderstandings and shows students that you care about it and are prepared to confront any academic misconduct that occurs in your courses. As an instructor, to show that you disapprove of cheating, you can discuss:
- what you do to deter test cheating (e.g. different test versions)
- that you are aware of the techniques used for different types of academic misconduct
- how you check for different types of academic misconduct
- how cheating affects you
- that you are obligated to follow through on reporting breaches
Additionally, during these discussions, you can emphasize the positive outcomes of upholding academic integrity by:
- reinforcing that the true value of education lies in learning and understanding, which engaging in academic misconduct undermines
- discussing how maintaining integrity is vital for personal and professional growth, as it builds trust among peers and others
- highlighting how doing one’s own work builds self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment
- explaining how practicing academic integrity helps students develop important skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and independent learning
- informing students about the supports available to help them succeed without resorting to misconduct, including study groups, office hours, among various student resources.
Peer Attitudes and Academic Misconduct
Students’ attitudes about cheating are also influenced by their peers. If students believe that others approve of or engage in academic misconduct, they may be more likely to rationalize similar choices themselves (McCabe et al., 2001). In reality, however, most students value fairness and do not support gaining an unfair academic advantage.
Classroom discussions provide an opportunity for students to express these perspectives and reinforce a shared commitment to academic integrity. Some sample questions to facilitate these discussions include:
- Have you ever witnessed another student cheating? If so, how did you feel?
- When students engage in academic misconduct, in what ways does it impact you?
- Do you understand how to avoid plagiarism? How might you avoid it? What support do you need?
- Do you understand when and how AI tools may be used in this course? (Note: For discussions specifically on GenAI tools, refer to AI Technology and Academic Integrity for Instructors)
- Do you understand what is acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to collaborating/sharing work with other students?
- If a group member is not contributing fairly to a group assignment, what steps should you take?
- What motivates students to cheat, and how can we address those pressures in a positive way?
- What can we do to create a classroom culture that supports academic integrity and discourages academic misconduct?
References:
Lang, J.M. (2013). Cheating lessons: Learning from academic dishonesty. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
McCabe, D. L., Treviño, L. K., & Butterfield, K. D. (2001). Cheating in academic institutions: A decade of research. Ethics & Behavior, 11(3), 219.
Strategies to Accomplish Both
Research shows several effective strategies that can help support academic integrity while also enhancing student learning.
Connect with Students’ Intrinsic Motivation
Supporting students’ intrinsic motivation, rather than relying primarily on extrinsic motivators such as grades, can encourage deeper engagement with learning. To help frame learning in terms of long-term, student-centred goals:
- Provide students with learning autonomy where possible (e.g. choice of topic, activity, or assignment format)
- Make time for interaction with peers while encouraging exploration and discovery of course content
- Provide challenging, “real-world” problems and processes authentic to your discipline
Scaffold Student Learning
Building knowledge and skills through scaffolded learning can help students develop confidence, manage complex tasks, and reduce procrastination.To support students as they build skills and confidence:
- Make use of practice activities and low-stakes assessments
- Break down larger projects into manageable chunks with staggered deadlines
- Have students document and share their “process” documents as part of assignments
Foster Connections in the Learning Environment
A sense of connection and belonging can help students feel more accountable to their learning community and more comfortable seeking support when needed. To strengthen connections:
- If possible, learn names and engage informally with students before and after class
- Make use of peer-based, cooperative learning activities such as note-taking pairs
- Provide opportunities for all to feel comfortable contributing to class discussion (consider small group discussion, polling, and on-the-spot written responses)
- Incorporate diverse perspectives, experiences, and resources so students can see themselves reflected in the curriculum and connect course content to their lives and future goals.
Clarify the Purpose of Learning Activities and Assessments
Explaining the purpose, task, and evaluation criteria for each assignment can help students build confidence, understand expectations, and develop metacognitive skills. Some strategies include:
- Providing a clear learning path, along with examples and grading criteria.
- Reiterating instructions in multiple formats (text, video, orally, etc.)
- Sharing resources targeted to common areas of difficulty.
Academic Integrity in Practice
Take advantage of opportunities to model what academic integrity looks like in practice so that students see it as an explicit and integral part of scholarship, knowledge creation, and professional practice in your discipline.
Some ways to do this include:
- Incorporating citations for quoted and paraphrased text, images, videos, and other multimedia in your lectures and course materials.
- Contextualizing course content within the larger scholarly conversation and acknowledging the contributions of others.
- Connecting academic integrity to professional standards in your discipline.
- Discussing real-world examples from your academic or professional experience where you faced ethical decisions and explaining how principles of integrity informed your choices.
- Demonstrating responsible and transparent use of AI tools, where appropriate.
- Including academic integrity as a learning outcome and referring to it throughout the course to reinforce its core role in students’ learning and development.
Practices That May Undermine Academic Integrity
Just as the learning environment can be designed to support academic integrity, certain teaching and assessment practices may unintentionally increase the likelihood of academic misconduct. Being aware of these potential pitfalls can help instructors create conditions that better support student learning and success.
Consider avoiding the following:
- Overemphasizing grades as the primary motivator for learning.
- Focusing on performance outcomes at the expense of mastery and skill development.
- Relying exclusively on high-stakes assessments rather than incorporating lower-stakes opportunities for practice and feedback.
- Assigning workloads that are excessively heavy or challenging without adequate support.
- Being vague about what constitutes academic misconduct. Ensure that students clearly understand expectations.
- Leaving expectations about academic integrity, collaboration, citation, or the use of AI tools unclear.
- Reusing the same tests or assignments from term to term without substantial revisions.
- Presenting course content in ways that do not help students understand its relevance to their academic, personal, or professional goals.
- Assuming that all students arrive with the same study skills, time-management strategies, and familiarity with academic conventions.
Design Assessments to Support Academic Integrity
While no assessment can be entirely immune to academic misconduct, there are effective strategies to deter academic misconduct on tests and assignments. The strategies outlined in this section can help reduce opportunities for academic misconduct by promoting fairness and integrity in assessments.
When designing or revising an assessment, consider the following questions:
- What learning outcome(s) is this assessment intended to measure?
- What kinds of support, resources, or tools are students likely to use?
- Which uses are acceptable, restricted, or prohibited?
- How will students know what is expected?
- How will students demonstrate their own contribution and understanding?
- What evidence will provide meaningful insight into student learning?
- What accessibility, privacy, workload, and equity considerations should be taken into account?
Clear, assessment-specific expectations can help reduce confusion and support students in demonstrating their learning with integrity.
For each major assessment, consider clarifying:
- The purpose of the assessment and the learning outcomes it is designed to assess.
- Which resources, tools (including AI tools), and supports are permitted, restricted, or prohibited.
- Expectations for collaboration, including whether students may work with others and which parts of the assessment must be completed independently.
- Expectations for citation, acknowledgment of sources, and use of course materials.
- What students should do if they are unsure about what is permitted.
- Whether students may be asked to explain the steps they took to complete their work.
For group assignments, consider clarifying:
- What students should do if a group member is not contributing equitably.
- Which parts of the assignment are collective and which, if any, must be completed individually.
- Whether students need to identify their individual contributions to the group assignment.
- Whether students will be asked to reflect on their own contribution or provide feedback on group members’ contributions.
- Whether students may discuss ideas, share work, or receive help from people outside their assigned group.
- How individual and group work will be evaluated.
Providing these expectations in advance, and revisiting them before major deadlines, can help students make informed decisions and reduce misunderstandings that may lead to academic integrity concerns.
Reducing student anxiety and confusion can help students focus on learning and make informed decisions about how they complete their work. The following strategies can help support academic integrity while promoting student confidence and success:
- Use a combination of low- and high-stakes assessments.
- Ensure all assessments have clearly stated instructions, purpose, and transparent evaluation criteria.
- Where appropriate, design questions and tasks that emphasize higher-order thinking rather than simple recall. For guidance, see York’s Teaching Commons resource on Bloom’s Taxonomy for Learning: The Cognitive Domain.
- Consider asking students to reflect on their learning as they complete assignments, prepare for assessments, or engage with course concepts.
- Encourage a growth mindset by emphasizing that mistakes and setbacks are a normal part of learning.
- Regularly invite students to ask questions about assignments and assessments and let them know how they can do so (e.g., after class, through discussion boards, by email, or during office hours).
- Make time to discuss academic integrity with your students throughout the course, including expectations for collaboration, peer feedback, citation practices, and the use of AI tools where relevant.
Safeguards to Consider
No assessment strategy can eliminate the possibility of academic misconduct entirely. However, clear communication, well-planned assessment design, and practical safeguards can help support academic integrity and provide students with fair opportunities to demonstrate their learning.
Prior to the assessment
Preparing students effectively can reduce anxiety, clarify expectations, and help them focus on learning. Consider the following strategies:
- Provide information about the structure, format, and weighting of tests and exams, along with guidance on how students can prepare.
- Offer opportunities for students to ask questions about upcoming assessments.
- Clearly communicate which resources and materials are permitted and prohibited (e.g., notes, textbooks, calculators, mobile devices, smart watches, smart glasses, or headphones).
- Explain expectations for tests and related policies, including rules related to communication and collaboration.
- Provide previous tests or practice questions where appropriate.
- Share study strategies and direct students to supports such asLearning Skills Resources’ Preparing for Tests and Exams.
Face-to-face
For face-to-face assessments, consider strategies that help maintain fairness and consistency. Depending on the assessment, these may include:
- Verifying student identification using physical or mobile YU-cards, in keeping with York’s examination identification requirements, and circulating a sign-in sheet.
- Preparing different versions of the test/exam keeping the same questions (for test validity), but changing the order of the questions.
- Creating seating plans where appropriate.
- Asking students to read, sign, and return an academic integrity statement, such as the Statement of Academic Integrity for Tests and Exams, available as a Word document and as a PDF.
- Monitoring the class actively during testing. For guidance, see the Active Invigilation Strategies section of Deterring Academic Misconduct During In-Person Exams. Passport York authentication required.
- Returning student papers individually, rather than having students pick up graded papers or tests from a pile (This can help prevent student work being stolen and re-used or shared online by others).
Online
For online assessments, eClass and other tools offer options that can help support academic integrity. Depending on the assessment, instructors may consider:
- Creating question banks and using random questions so that students receive different combinations of questions from a larger pool. eClass supports random questions drawn from question bank categories.
- Using eClass Quiz settings such as shuffled question order, shuffled answer options, time limits, limited attempts, delayed review options, passwords, and sequential navigation where appropriate.
- Offering students a short practice quiz before the assessment to help identify technical issues and familiarize students with the quiz format.
- Using text-matching tools such as Turnitin for written work. Instructors are responsible for reviewing and interpreting similarity reports and determining whether concerns warrant further review. Depending on the settings enabled, students may also be able to review their report before final submission.
- Designing open-book assessments that require students to apply, analyze, evaluate, or synthesize course concepts rather than rely primarily on recall. Where appropriate, include course-specific scenarios, explanations of reasoning, or follow-up components that require students to demonstrate their own understanding. This can make it harder for students to rely on shared answers, online searches, or unauthorized generative AI tools in unsupervised online contexts.
- Reviewing eClass course logs where there is a specific concern. Logs can show student interactions with eClass, including time and date, activity, action, origin, and IP address; however, logs should be interpreted carefully and in context.
- Complementing written assessments with oral follow-ups, interviews, or brief verification conversations where appropriate, particularly when there is a need to confirm a student’s understanding or authorship.
Note: Tools and technical data can support academic integrity, but they do not replace instructor judgment. Similarity reports, quiz settings, and activity logs should be reviewed in context and alongside applicable course, departmental, and University procedures. Instructors should also consider privacy, accessibility, and fairness when using measures such as text-matching tools, activity logs, or oral follow-up assessments.
Share exemplars with students
When students are asked to complete assessments in unfamiliar formats, they may be uncertain about what is expected. Sharing exemplars, such as sample assignments or model responses, can help students understand how to approach an assessment and what successful work looks like.
Exemplars can include:
- Authentic examples of student work from previous courses (used with permission and with identifying information removed).
- Instructor-created examples designed to illustrate expectations.
- Sample responses that demonstrate different levels of achievement when used alongside a rubric.
An Additional Strategy
Invite students to use your rubric to evaluate a sample assignment or response. After students assess the sample, discuss how their evaluations compare with your own and highlight the characteristics of effective work.
This activity can:
- Clarify assessment expectations and grading criteria.
- Help students interpret the rubric more effectively.
- Build understanding of what distinguishes stronger and weaker work.
- Increase confidence as students prepare to complete the assessment themselves
Formative Assessments: A Continuous Feedback Approach
Formative assessments are low-stakes opportunities for students to practice, receive feedback, and monitor their progress throughout the learning process. They can also provide instructors with valuable insight into areas where students may need additional support or clarification.
By helping students build skills, confidence, and understanding over time, formative assessments can help reduce uncertainty for students and better prepare them for higher-stakes assessments.
Examples of formative assessments include:
- Classroom polling tools (e.g., Mentimeter) to gather immediate feedback on student understanding during class.
- Think-pair-share activities, in which students reflect individually, discuss their ideas with a partner, and then share their conclusions with the class. Instructors teaching in multiple modes may find York’s resource on Think-pair-share for a Hyflex learning environment useful.
- Brief knowledge-check quizzes or polls at the end of a lesson.
- Short written reflections, such as minute papers, entry slips, or exit slips, in response to a prompt or question. (For more information, see Food for Thought: Critical Reflection.)
- Self-assessments that prompt students to reflect on their learning process, progress, and support needs.
- Guided peer-assessments activities that help students provide constructive feedback to one another in relation to specific learning goals. (For more information, see Food for Thought: Peer Assessment.)
Applying Real-World Challenges to Enhance Learning
Authentic assessments ask students to apply their learning to complex, discipline-relevant problems, scenarios, or tasks that reflect how knowledge and skills are used beyond the classroom. These assessments often require analysis, judgment, and creativity, and may not have a single correct answer.
Because authentic assessments emphasize the application of learning, they can help increase student engagement and provide richer opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding.
Examples of authentic assessments include:
- Studio portfolios in an arts-based course.
- Simulation or role-play activities that explore multiple perspectives on a topic.
- Presentations of research findings in formats commonly used in the discipline.
- Policy briefs targeted to a (real or hypothetical) third-party stakeholder.
- Public awareness campaigns on issues relevant to the course.
- Documentary films, podcasts, or other media projects that explore a topic in depth.
- Designing and building a functional software application that addresses a real-world problem.
- Conducting an environmental impact assessment for a proposed development project.
Exploring Non-Traditional Approaches
Alternative assessments encompass a range of approaches that move beyond traditional tests and essays. In some cases, they may also be authentic assessments. These approaches can provide students with varied and engaging ways to demonstrate their learning while emphasizing higher-order skills such as critical thinking, creativity, communication, and problem-solving.
Because alternative assessments often require students to apply their knowledge in personalized, contextual, or process-oriented ways, they can create richer opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding and reduce the temptation to rely on unauthorized shortcuts.
If you choose not to permit the use of AI-based tools in your course or for specific assessments, alternative assessments may help students demonstrate their learning through more individualized or process-oriented work. The examples below offer a starting point:
- In-class debates and discussions that require students to articulate and defend their ideas in real time.
- Annotated bibliographies that ask students to summarize, evaluate, and reflect on relevant sources.
- Concept maps or infographics that visually represent relationships among key ideas, theories, or processes.
- Oral assessments conducted in person or online, including interviews, presentations, and responses to instructor questions.
- Online discussion assessments in which students engage in structured conversations through eClass or similar platforms. This can be in response to a thought-provoking question or a prompt based on course readings or current events.
- Podcasts, which can be used in a variety of ways, such as:
- Students research a topic, analyze findings, and then present their insights in a podcast format
- Students conduct interviews with subject-matter experts or peers
- Students create a podcast episode summarizing key learnings from a unit, lecture, or reading
- Instead of written reflections, students record regular podcast entries where they reflect on their learning progress, challenges.
For a more comprehensive list, see the Teaching Commons' Guide to Alternative Assessments and Ungrading and Alternative Assessment.
Helping Students Manage Pressure
High-stakes tests and exams can be valuable opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding and mastery of course material. At the same time, these assessments can create additional pressure and anxiety. Thoughtful assessment design and preparation strategies can help reduce unnecessary stress while supporting academic integrity.
Redesign Assessments Where Appropriate
Where possible, consider redesigning tests and exams using an open book format, allowing students to bring in a crib sheet of notes, or adopting a take-home approach. These strategies reduce student anxiety while also encouraging assessment design that favours higher-order questioning, another best practice for reducing cheating.
Where possible, consider alternatives to traditional closed-book exams, such as:
- Open-book assessments.
- Allowing students to bring a limited crib sheet or reference page.
- Take-home exams.
- Questions that emphasize analysis, synthesis, and application rather than simple recall.
These approaches can reduce anxiety and encourage deeper engagement with course concepts. For unsupervised or take-home assessments, instructors should clearly state whether and how generative AI tools may be used, and design questions that require students to demonstrate their own understanding through course-specific analysis, reasoning, or reference to assigned materials.
Support Student Preparation
Help students prepare for high-stakes assessments by:
- Providing practice opportunities that mirror the format and types of questions students will encounter.
- Using low-stakes quizzes to build familiarity and confidence.
- Incorporating knowledge checks during lectures using polling tools or other classroom response systems.
- Sharing study strategies and directing students to relevant academic support resources.
Design Questions Thoughtfully
When developing test and exam questions:
- Avoid using publisher question banks without modification.
- Revise questions used in previous terms before reusing them.
- Include questions that require higher-order thinking.
- Where feasible, ask students to explain their reasoning through short-answer or follow-up questions.
Thoughtfully designed questions can provide richer evidence of student understanding and make it more difficult to rely on memorized or unauthorized answers.
For additional guidance, the IDEA Papers series offers practical advice on developing effective essay and multiple-choice assessments.