Academic & Behavioral Misconduct

4 Behavioral Topics to Address

1. Introduce the LSU Commitment to Community: The Commitment to Community is LSU’s official honor statement. Students first hear about it during orientation and often through programming sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs. Reinforcing this statement in your class syllabus affirms what students have already heard- LSU has behavioral and academic standards and these standards are valued.
2. Share Classroom Disruption Procedures: Share what you will do if the class is disrupted by a student. This may include asking a student to leave if they come in late to class or answer a phone call. Additionally, you may want to put a statement about healthy challenging of the instructor or course material and how you expect students to do this in your course. Some courses have especially controversial topics and it would be a good idea to address resources for students in considering the material in your syllabus; in addition to how to respond to material and classmates in respectful manners.
3. Group Messaging Applications & Class Emailing: Students are increasingly dependent on technology to communicate with each other and with you. Consider addressing the use of GroupMe, What's App, and other group text applications, along with sending class email messages, for your course. It is not your responsibility to patrol student communication, but if you are clear in your stance in how information from class is to be shared, it can cut down on issues with group communication technology
4. Verifying Absences: Per LSU PS -22, the instructor has the final authority on accepting documentation for absences. If you require a doctor's excuse or other documentation, be prepared to check the authenticity or to submit any suspicious documents to SAA. You may want to include this in the syllabus or discuss it with the class early in the semester.

6 Academic Topics to Address

1. Promote Academic Integrity: Include a statement about academic integrity in your syllabus.  Place this statement at the beginning of the document and call students’ attention to this on the first day of class.
   
   Studies show that students value academic integrity more when they know that it is an important concept to the professor (Cole and Kiss 2000). Take time during one of your first classes to cover the value of ethical decision making and academic honesty.
2. Define Academic Misconduct: This is a different than promoting academic integrity. Explicitly state that you and LSU do not tolerate any instance of academic misconduct. Provide examples for students so that they have a stronger understanding of what misconduct looks like in your classroom.
3. State the Potential Consequences for Misconduct: Explicitly communicate that students who violate the LSU Code of Student Conduct will be referred to Student Advocacy & Accountability.
   
   For undergraduate students, the outcome will range from failing the assignment to failing the class along with disciplinary probation.
   
   For graduate students, a first violation leads to deferred suspension for at least two semesters and a failing grade in the course.
4. Provide Useful Resources: Take time during your first class session and show students how to utilize the Microsoft Word References tool found within the Word program.
   
   Consider adding information about supplemental instruction, tutoring through Center for Academic Success, Disability Services, Library assistance and/or Writing Lab that you feel might be helpful for your students. When listing references, provide the web address and physical location on campus.
   
   You can also request that a member of the SAA team visit your class to give a presentation on Academic Integrity.
5. Require that your class completes our proactive Moodle Module on Academic Integrity (contact dossaa@lsu.edu to set your class up with access). This online module discusses LSU’s academic expectations, highlights common academic violations, and provides tips on how to avoid infractions.
   Remind students of campus resources that can assist with academic difficulties. These include the Center for Academic Success, academic counselors within their major department, and Supplemental Instruction.
6. Grading Rubric/Grade Appeal: Including a detailed rubric for how you grade each assignment is helpful for students, especially the high achieving students. Be transparent for items you will take points off for and for your expectations on the grammar and use of intext citation needed. If this is not included in your syllabus, creating individual assignment sheets and adding them to Moodle is also a good practice. Adding your College or the general LSU grade appeal policy to your syllabus can set a tone in your course where dialogue about the grade is welcomed throughout the semester. Including this information also shows the student that you take grading seriously and want it to the fair and consistent. If you need to change the student's grade back from an "I" grade, you can do so by going to myLSU, Instructional Support, then Grade Correction.

Copy and paste this into your syllabus. Edit as needed for your specific course:

"High standards of academic integrity are crucial for the University to fulfill its educational mission. To uphold these standards, procedures have been established to address Academic Misconduct. LSU Students are responsible for submitting work for evaluation that reflects their performance. If the Student has a question regarding the instructor’s expectations for assignments, projects, tests, or other items submitted for a grade, it is the Student’s responsibility to seek clarification from the instructor. All students are expected to read and be familiar with the LSU Code of Student Conduct, found online at www.lsu.edu/saa. It is your responsibility as a student at LSU to know and understand the academic standards for our community."

For A Course with Permissible Use of Generative AI:

Copy and paste this into your syllabus. Edit as needed for your specific course:

"As a partner in your learning, it is important to both of us that any assignment submission is a reflection of your work and understanding. In this course, using AI programs like ChatGPT is permitted for the purposes of enhancing your understanding of course materials, encouraging creative exploration and supporting academic growth. These programs should not be used to produce work that misrepresents your abilities or deceives as to the conditions under which the work was completed. If you choose to utilize AI programs to generate content, you must clearly acknowledge the use of AI generated material. Proper attribution of AI program use should include an explanation of how the program contributed to the assignment and/or your academic growth. Failing to give proper attribution to the use of AI programs in academic work will be reported to Student Advocacy & Accountability for review under the Code of Student Conduct and may result in impacts to your assignment and/or course grades."

For a Course with Prohibited Use of Generative AI

Copy and paste this into your syllabus. Edit as needed for your specific course:

"As a partner in your learning, it is important to both of us that any assignment submission is a pure reflection of your work and understanding. The introduction of artificial intelligence options to complete academic work jeopardizes my ability to evaluate your understanding of our course content and robs you of the ability to master the subject matter. Therefore, the use of generative AI programs for the purpose of completing course work is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, using AI-generated essays, reports, code, or any other submissions as a substitute for your own original work. If you have questions about the use of specific tools or technologies in relation to course work, seek guidance from your instructor beforehand. Suspicions of the use of AI programs in academic work will be reported to Student Advocacy & Accountability for review under the Code of Student Conduct and may result in impacts to your assignment and/or course grades."

Copy and paste this into your syllabus. Edit as needed for your specific course:

"As a student at LSU, it is your responsibility to refrain from plagiarizing the academic property of another person and to utilize appropriate citation method for all coursework. In this class, it is recommended that you use ______ (please add the citation method appropriate for the course here). Ignorance of the citation method is not an excuse. Please see https://owl.english.purdue.edu for assistance. One tool available to assist you in correct in-text citations is the “References” function in Microsoft Word. This program automatically formats the information you input according to the citation method you select for the document. This program also has the ability to generate a reference or works cited page for your document. The version of Microsoft Word with the “References” function is available through Tigerware."

Copy and paste this into your syllabus. Edit as needed for your specific course:

"All work must be completed without assistance unless explicit permission for group or partner work is given by the faculty member. This is critical so that your performance on each assignment can be evaluated. If a group/partner project is assigned, the student may still have individual work to complete. Seeking clarification is your responsibility as a student. Students may work together on homework assignments to learn the material but may not copy and may not divide the work amongst group members to be completed."

Prohibited Internet Use Statement

Copy and paste this into your syllabus. Edit as needed for your specific course:

"Use of internet sources to complete homework assignments is prohibited. You may use your textbook, notes and in-person tutors to understand the material. Consultation of internet tutors, answer keys, websites showing how to complete certain problems, Googling for answers to questions or to check your answers, and other use of the internet in this course is prohibited."