03/23/2023

Growing Canada’s Interests with Academic Integrity–ICAI Canada

Written by Jennie Miron

The pandemic served as a catalyst for change around the world and across many different sectors. The educational sector was dramatically affected and required us to rethink our long-standing pedagogies and organizational structures. Just as it seemed we were settling into our new normal, artificial intelligence exploded onto the scene and served to play perhaps even a larger role as a disruptor to our set practices across the educational landscape. The initial panic associated with artificial intelligence is slowly being replaced by an appreciation and understanding of the incredible opportunities we have as educators, researchers, and leaders, to positively impact the educational experience of our students.

Both the pandemic and artificial intelligence have created circumstances that require us to combine our intellectual resources and capacities to evolve and be relevant with our effort to support student learning and the work of academia. The 2023 International Center for Academic Integrity’s (ICAI) Conference afforded us the opportunity to congregate both in person and virtually to share ideas, best practices, current research, and common interests. Rich discussions and networking opportunities resulted from the conference. Perhaps one of the pearls from the ICAI conference (current and past) was the formation of Consortiums organized by geographic location or practice specialty, which allowed attendees to collaborate on academic integrity matters specific to their nuanced interests. A recent change that has allowed just such cooperation and collaboration, is the newly developed Canadian National Consortium (ICAI Canada), which originally started as the Canadian Regional Consortium. The original group was founded by three Canadians in 2014 (Amanda McKenzie, Troy Brooks, and Jo Hinchcliffe). The impetus for the re-development came from a discussion at the Canada Day at the ICAI 2022 conference where attendees expressed an interest in recognition as a national rather than a regional group, more regular meetings, a more active presence on the ICAI webpage, and a repository for Canadian content. Terms of reference, governance positions, and terms for these positions were described by a small governance working group that was spearheaded by Amanda McKenzie and formed after the 2022 meeting. It is important to note that the governance working group heralded from 4 different provinces, and represented several different higher educational roles (faculty, academic integrity specialists, librarians, center for teaching and learning experts, and researchers). The working group membership was formed to ensure a robust and thoughtful approach to the work of growing ICAI Canada.

Canada stretches over 2500 miles from east to west coast, and 2300 miles from north to south. As such a large country it has become important for us to connect, share, and collaborate around academic integrity issues. It is hoped that ICAI Canada will promote these connections. Currently, we have 8 of our 10 provinces holding positions as advisors on the board, and will continue our efforts to ensure all provinces and territories have a voice at the table. The inaugural meeting will take place in the spring of 2023 when we hope to have a discussion about our way forward in keeping with our original purpose to “serve as an education and evidence-informed resource for Canadian universities, colleges, and other educational institutions working to create cultures of integrity. This group aspires to be bilingual in honor of the two official languages in Canada (English and French)”. While we have a lot of work ahead of us, we are energized by the commitment and enthusiasm of our executive, advisory board, and membership. If you would like more information about ICAI Canada or how we worked through and organized our group please feel free to reach out to any one of the executive board.

Jennie Miron, Chair (jmiron@academicintegrity.org)

Angela Clark, Vice-chair (angclark@yorku.ca)

Leanne Morrow, Secretary (lhlmorrow@ucalgary.ca)

Allyson Miller, Event Coordinator (allyson.miller@torontomu.ca)

Rachel Gorjup, Communication Coordinator (rachel.gorjup@utoronto.ca)

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