Revista de Integridad Académica: An Effort to Foster Academic Integrity in Universidad Panamericana Armando Alemán Juárez, Arturo Eduardo Becerra Mariscal, María del Carmen García Higuera

Revista de Integridad Académica: An Effort to Foster Academic Integrity in Universidad Panamericana

Armando Alemán Juárez, Arturo Eduardo Becerra Mariscal, María del Carmen García Higuera

Abstract

Regarding higher education (HE), several authors have studied academic integrity (AI). However, in Latin America, it is a more recent research topic. The literature on specific strategies about how to promote AI in higher education institutions (HEI) in this region is scarce. Universities need urgently to highlight this issue to encourage honesty and ethical living. The purpose of this work is to present an initial approach to a theoretical framework of AI in Latin America; reducing the scope to some strategies that have promoted AI in this region. We continued the discussion of this specific knowledge through the description of a project at our university: the creation of an online publication called Revista de Integridad Académica. We explain how the magazine began and how it grew through inter-institutional collaboration with an editorial committee composed of Universidad Panamericana and four more universities. Results were related to the experience and digital impact of making this publication, which grew to become periodical. We present some data on the statistics of the magazine published on Issuu, a digital platform. The effort of creating Revista de Integridad Académica has opened the conversation and started a primary strategy to promote a culture of AI at our institution. Keywords: Academic Integrity, Inter-institutional Collaboration, Ethical Values, Higher Education in Latin America.

1. INTRODUCTION

There is more research about academic integrity (AI) due to the massification of higher education (HE) and the concerns involving faculty and students’ life [1]. There are more universities now than ever before in the world [1]. The number of articles published on the topic has increased dramatically over the last decade [2], [1], [3], [4], [5].

Scholars understand AI in diverse ways [1]. It is a topic which extends to different disciplines, since AI relates to the practice of teaching (and learning), in any subject within the university ecosystem. Thus, authors discuss AI through different perspectives in distinct journals such as education, business, and sociology [1].

Macfarlane, Zhang, Pun [1] classify the existing literature of AI relating it with the practice of academics in three dimensions: teaching, research, and service, considering their values, behaviors, and conduct. They divide these classifications on themes, saying that much of the literature of AI relates to “a perceived lack of absence of academic

Publicación original en

EDULEARN18 Proceedings

Año 2018

doi

10.21125/edulearn.2018.1325

Referencia bibliográfica

Alemán, A., Becerra, A. y García, M. C. (2018). Revista de Integridad Académica: An effort to foster academic integrity in Universidad Panamericana. EDULEARN18 Proceedings, 5499-5502. doi: 10.21125/ edulearn.2018.1325.

integrity” (p. 4). In other words, part of the literature focuses on the bad practices, such as plagiarism and falsification of information in academics, and not in how to promote values related to AI.

However, the authors categorize these themes as strategies for managing misconduct and promoting ethical practices through faculty. We notice through this category that there is a side of research on AI which focuses on the positive aspects of it. More than 29 authors, from 1997 to 2010, made publications that are related to this sub-theme; but none of them is from Latin America [1].

AI is also related by the literature with the conduct of students [1]. Students, professors and, more importantly, institutions play a significant role in promoting and fostering AI. Research suggests that even though individual and contextual factors can influence integrity, other factors such as faculty response and institution policies impact student behavior [5], [6].

There are different meanings of AI. For this study, we take the definition of The International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), “as a commitment to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility [...], plus the courage to act on them even in the face of adversity” [7].

In Latin America, AI is a more recent topic [8]. Countries in this region are having more interest in the subject, probably because there is a culture of tolerance for behavior that violates basic societal rules, distrust of authorities, social stratification, and deterioration of citizenship [8]. They perceived this phenomenon as a problem, so there are more magazine and newspaper articles published in the last decade [8].

Reasons to commit fraud by faculty and students include lack of interest in the subject [9]. In Colombia, some researchers recommend handling fraud in universities from an educational perspective rather than a punisher approach [10]. A good strategy for promoting AI on higher education institutions (HEI) in this region should address both parties (faculty and students) and should focus on the positive promotion of AI.

Surveys about AI initiatives in HE are scarce [1]. García-Villegas, Franco-Pérez, and Cortés-Arbelaez present three efforts at Colombian universities: Universidad del Rosario, Universidad del Norte, and Universidad Eafit [8]. Some of the strategies from these initiatives are graphic campaigns to raise awareness about academic fraud, programs about fraud-prevention, and projects for student reflection on educational values and beliefs [8].

The importance of this work is to continue the scholarly dialogue of strategies that foster AI in Latin American universities. We provide in this work a first approach of AI promotion by creating a digital magazine and sharing it through a more democratical media.

In the next paragraphs, we describe the experience of creating Revista de Integridad Académica. Afterward, we present some results of its digital impact through statistics. Finally, we conclude saying that the magazine is a preamble to foster AI at UP.

2. CREATION OF REVISTA DE INTEGRIDAD ACADÉMICA

With the intent of initiating a strategy for promoting a culture of AI at Universidad Panamericana, the Center for Innovation in Education (CIE) at this university developed an online publication called: Revista de Integridad Académica. This is a non-academic magazine, letter size, and with an average of twenty pages.

The initiative started with the faculty’s need to have contents of AI for their courses. As a response, CIE proposed a digital way to share these resources. The publication seeks to disseminate and promote a culture of academic integrity among the educational community in Latin America. Its long term-purpose is to emerge as an international reference on the topic.

CIE published in October 2016 its first number through Issuu: a digital publishing platform. They shared this publication with the faculty of UP through a monthly newsletter, which they received

through the institutional email, and through the official website of CIE. The Center titled this number as El Plagio Académico (Academic Plagiarism). Content relates to the reflection of the steal of ideas, the promotion of the values of a student at UP, some tips about APA style and academic databases, and a note explaining Turnitin and how faculty at this university could use it.

Faculty at UP positively received this first number of the magazine. This same year, to promote the publication, CIE attended the 4th Academic Integrity National Congress at Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), in Monterrey. They met other academics which specialize in AI; this initiative encouraged the creation of an editorial committee to work on the next numbers of the magazine. The committee consists of Universidad Panamericana and four universities in the region: Universidad EAFIT at Colombia, Tecnológico de Monterrey and Universidad de Monterrey at Mexico, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile at Chile.

The editorial committee published the second number of the magazine in May 2017, also through Issuu platform. They titled this number as Un Acercamiento a la Integridad Académica en Latinoamérica (An Approach to Academic Integrity in Latin America). The content of this number is related to a definition of AI in Latin America, a description of the experience of creating an honor code, some recommendations to follow AI politics, an interview to an AI scholar, and an inquiry revealing the perceptions of students about academic fraud in a Mexican university. CIE created the official webpage of the publication which was approved by the editorial committee and shared this second number through its official website. The editorial committee also decided to create a Facebook page for making publicity of the magazine.

The title of the third number is El Valor de la Coherencia en la Vida Universitaria (The Value of Coherence in University Life). The editorial committee published it in November 2017 also through Issuu platform and the official webpage of the magazine. The content of this number explains, through an article, some requirements to be a coherent person; it also shares the experience of implementing a strategy of AI in a Mexican university and the perception of Mexican undergraduate students about the meaning of being integral, among other things.

3. Impact and project results

Revista de Integridad Académica became periodical, with three numbers currently published (See Figure 1). It also has ISSN: 2594-0236. The distribution channels for the magazine have grown. Now the publication has five channels to share its content to the world: 1) the Issuu platform, 2) the official website of the magazine, 3) the CIE website (with an average of 7,500 users each month), 4) the Facebook page (with 3,707 likes and daily content publications), and 5) the website of Centro de Integridad Académica (Center for Academic Integrity) at Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM). This digital dissemination has caused an increase in the visibility of the magazine. Consequently, the next numbers will also have a printed version.

Figure 1. The first three numbers of the magazine.

We present in “Table 1” some statistics from the first three numbers of the magazine. We obtained these data through Issuu.

Table 1. Statistics divided in each number of the publication

Concept Number 1 (From October 2016 to May 2018) Number 2 (From May 2017 to May 2018) Number 3 (From November 2017 to May 2018)

Reads 708 1,538 1,304 Impressions 7,470 7,730 6,102 Average time spent 09:34 mins. 07:11 mins. 07:19 mins.

(Top countries)

Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Chile

Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and the United States

Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ireland

The concept “Reads” stands for each time a user opened the publication for more than 2 seconds. “Impressions” are the number of times the publication was displayed through the Issuu platform. There are more “Reads” in the second number than in the third, considering that the latter is more recent and has been online for less time.

We present in “Table 2” the compilation of the three numbers of Revista de Integridad Académica. We also obtained the data through Issuu platform.

Table 2. Compilation of statistics (from October 2016 to May 2018)

Concept Reads

Impressions

Average time spent

(Top countries) 3 first numbers

3,550

21,302

08:00 mins.

Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, United States, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, El Salvador

4. CONCLUSIONS

We had excellent reception of these three numbers of the magazine. Consequently, we have created a “Call for Contributions 2018-2019” for the 4th, 5th, and 6th numbers of the magazine, inviting faculty and scholars from different places to write. The purpose is to have more collaboration with people from various locations.

The strategy of creating and publishing a periodical magazine of AI has given visibility in Universidad Panamericana, so now authorities at this institution are more aware of the importance of promoting a culture of AI. As the AI literature from Latin America has shown [8], universities need to create strategies that address the problem of dishonesty in two ways: punitive and formative projects. Revista de Integridad Académica is an excellent approach because it encourages readers to practice the values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.

REFERENCES

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[6] B. E. Whitley, & P. Keith-Spiegel, “Academic integrity as an institutional issue,” Ethics and

Behaviour, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 325-342, 2001. [7] International Center for Academic Integrity, “The fundamental values of academic integrity,” 2013. Retrieved from http://www. academicintegrity.org/icai/assets/Revised_ FV_2014.pdf [8] M. García-Villegas, N. Franco-Pérez, & A. Cortés-Arbeláez, “Perspectives on academic integrity in Colombia and Latin America,” Handbook of Academic Integrity, pp. 1-16, 2015. [9] A. J. Díaz, F. D. González, & L. E. Carmona, “Relación del fraude académico con situaciones personales que enfrentan los estudiantes en la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad de Cartagena (Colombia),” Salud Uninorte, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 85-97, 2010. [10] C. Ordóñez, J. F. Mejía, & S. Castellanos, “Percepciones estudiantiles sobre el fraude académico: hallazgos y reflexiones pedagógicas,” Revista de Estudios Sociales, no. 23, pp. 37-44, 2006.