08/13/2024

Refreshing Academic Integrity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Written by Greer Murphy

Sammy the Banana Slug – UCSC’s Mascot, customized to represent the Academic Integrity Office (Image credit to Tim O’Leary, UCSC Graphic Design/Communications)

For many of us who work in academic integrity (as in the rest of higher education … see also teaching centers, learning support services, etc), summer used to bring a season of rest and relaxation. We could think about bigger picture questions and concerns, pursue professional development, assess our programs and progress, contemplate longer-range plans.

As I’ve embarked on my first year directing the inaugural Academic Integrity Office at UC Santa Cruz, I find—gratefully—that this has remained at least somewhat true. But in conversation with colleagues, as we navigate the second full summer of generative artificial intelligence thankful for the attention to our work yet uncertain about what challenges and opportunities the coming year will bring, I also recognize how this particular summer might feel a little (or if we’re honest, a lot) less restful.

I have no magic spells, crystal ball predictions, or prophecies as to where “the other AI” will lead us. So I write this post not just to offer solidarity, but also to share some ideas I hope can help us head into the 2024-25 academic year with refreshed perspectives and renewed energy!

Without further ado, and in roughly ascending order (shortest to longest), my suggestions are:

1. Read different
2. Talk different
3. Do different

1. Read (something) different.

Depending on your bandwidth, now may not be the time to dig into War & Peace or read Don Quixote in its original Spanish (the latter of which has been on my summer bucket list for years).

However, I still encourage us to find a way of stepping outside our usual professional/intellectual comfort zones. For some of us, that could mean choosing to deepen our knowledge of artificial intelligence technologies (Ethan Mollick’s Co-Intelligence, C. Eddie Watson & Jose Bowen’s Teaching with AI). For others, it could entail reading about ethics, integrity, and restoration from a broader perspective (Danya Ruttenberg’s On Repentance and Repair, Myisha Cherry’s The Case for Rage or Failures of Forgiveness), interrogating some of the academy’s longstanding traditions and practices (Jesse Stommel’s Undoing the Grade, Susan D. Blum’s Ungrading), dabbling in shorter form media (University of Limerick’s Give Me About 10 Minutes On, Ellis & Murdoch’s framework for challenging and responding to student cheating), or rereading beloved favorites from our yesteryears (Calvin & Hobbes comics or The Velveteen Rabbit, anyone?!).

Regardless of preferences or bandwidth, options for expanding and deepening horizons–finding ways to see our world and our work a little differently–abound.

2. Talk (to someone) different.

One of the most beautiful things about a career in academic integrity are the diverse practices, structures, and people who are part of what we do. Along the way, many of us have developed habits, routines, and colleagues with whom we’re likeliest to collaborate—strategies that made, and still make, good practical sense.

But now is as opportune a time as any to reflect: Who don’t we speak with as often as we might hope? If you come to academic integrity through research, scholarship, or your own classroom challenges … talk to your university’s academic integrity administrator. (Kudos if they happen to be full-time in their role or if they occupy a funded or named integrity office.) If you work as an administrator or office director … talk to faculty. And I’m sure all of us could stand to invest more effort in connecting with students.

Better yet, go several steps further and out of education entirely! Talk with some of the business professionals or lawyers in your life. Ask the parents, grandparents, or young children you know how they define integrity and what some of our fundamental values mean to them.

Some of these are less direct forms of outreach, and all require time and planning to execute. But who knows what we might gain? New knowledge, a clever anecdote or turn of phrase to drop during our next high-stakes meeting with senior campus administrators (1), or simply the energy that comes from connecting over friendly conversation. It can be hard to find time–but if we do, I predict we will find the time to have been well spent.

3. Do (something) different.

Speaking of time, if you’re an integrity administrator, there’s none like the present to experiment with program development—or if you’re mostly a scholar, to rethink aspects of your research agenda. Planning a small-scale pilot of an initiative you’ve always wanted to implement? Hoping to try an interdisciplinary or mixed methods study rather than your usual approach? (Stephens and Bertram Gallant’s work in ‘after’ education provides an excellent blueprint on both counts.) Go for it!

But keep in mind—doing different doesn’t have to be earth-shattering or paradigm-shifting. Start right here with ICAI. Become a member of one of our consortia–or better yet, launch your own. Get involved with IDoA, or propose a session or poster to present in Chicago. Share a webinar recording or use our content (2) to launch a brown-bag lunch series on your campus.

Getting outside of higher education and out of work entirely, pick up a hobby. If that seems daunting, do more with one you started before but haven’t practiced in a while. The longer I work in integrity, the more convinced I become of the value of cultivating beginner’s mind (a concept foundational to aikido, a martial art I began training in earlier this summer). For me, it cannot be overstated (3).

Like so many other helping professions, those of us who work in academic integrity can struggle to maintain some semblance of work/life balance. If this sounds like you, boundary setting could be your something different. I’m all for that, too! Practice saying, “not yet.” Practice saying, “no.” (4)

What’s next?

In closing, beyond some resources, general encouragement, and solidarity, I also hope to share validation. Academic integrity is not for the faint of heart! Stresses and stressors come with the territory, and they’re not something we can—or should—try to self-care our way out of.

And yet, within reason and from a perspective that prioritizes sustainability, I urge all of us to also resist the siren song of the way things have always been done. Let’s not lose sight of structural constraints or the systemic inequalities that impact our work. At the same time, let’s remind ourselves that no one can take responsibility for refreshing our perspectives like we can.

So, don’t be afraid to iterate. Don’t be afraid to read, talk, or–if possible–do something different. Keep track and reflect on what you learn, giving yourself permission to make adjustments along the way. Ask why not? Ask what if? And above all, start somewhere. Maintaining motivation and passion in a field as … intense as academic integrity is more of a marathon than a sprint. What I’m after—what we’re all after, I believe—is progress. Not perfection.

Who’s with me?

1. My sincerest thank yous go to Amanda McKenzie (“#makeitsomeonesjob”), Cath Ellis & Kane Murdoch (“enrolled persons”), and Christian Moriarty (“security theater”). In the last few months especially, reading and contemplating your work has enriched my thinking immensely!
2. Denney & Roberts’ Building Honor in Academics, AIRS 2.0 in combination with one or both McCabe surveys, or Rettinger & Bertram Gallant’s The Opposite of Cheating (forthcoming in 2025 from the University of Oklahoma press) could all be excellent resources for this purpose.
3. For those interested in or curious about potential applications of martial philosophy to other areas of life and work (e.g., navigating and resolving conflict), some references are dated, but Terry Dobson and Victor Miller’s Aikido in Everyday Life wouldn’t be a bad place to start. For those less martially inclined, Pema Chodron’s Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change might appeal instead.
4. OK, one more book recommendation since I can’t seem to help myself: Linda Babcock, Brenda Peyser, Lise Vesterlund, and Laurie Weingart’s The No Club. Ask me if I’ve finished reading this in its entirety (or maybe … don’t).

The author’s views are their own.