Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) at UCR:
Incorporating Student Development Theory
Jennifer Miller
Student Development Educator
AVC/Dean of Students Office
2-5000, jennifer.miller@ucr.edu
Why does academic integrity matter
at UC Riverside?
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The Center for Academic Integrity reports that 70
percent of college students admit to cheating at
least once. (http://www.umbc.edu/provost/integrity)
Academic dishonesty is an issue which has
garnished national attention and it is considered a
serious problem among college students
(Maramark and Maline 1993:3; McCabe and
Trevino 1997:379)
Nationally, college administrators and faculty are
working to help students better understand what it
means to be part of a scholarly community
Why does academic integrity
matter at UC Riverside?
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According to the University of California Standards of Conduct, all
forms of academic misconduct are prohibited. Academic misconduct
is an umbrella term applying to the various forms which include, but
are not limited to:
Cheating
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Plagiarism
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Unauthorized Collaboration
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Facilitating Academic Misconduct
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Fabrication
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Retaliation
http://conduct.ucr.edu/Policies/Academic+Integrity+Policy+and+Procedures
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The Academic Senate has approved a policy and set of procedures
regarding how the University will address issues of academic
misconduct:
http://senate.ucr.edu/senate_site/cms.php?node=academic_integrity
Academic Integrity Matters (AIM)
at UC Riverside
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Faculty: What ideas can you share from your
classrooms for best helping students to
understand concepts related to academic
integrity?
Staff: What questions are you getting from
students in regards to academic integrity?
Students: Where do you feel that UC
Riverside students are having trouble with
academic integrity?
How might theory help with
academic integrity?
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In the psychological research on student cheating,
there is a consensus that individual characteristics
determine whether students will engage in cheating
behavior.
For example, some researchers found that cheaters
have external attributional biases that enable them to
justify their student cheating, and non-cheaters have
an internal attributional bias (Davis et al., 1992;
Forsyth, Pope, & McMillan, 1985; Payne & Nantz,
1994)—that is, "cheaters excuse their cheating"
(Davis et al., 1992, p. 19).
Other researchers have found that students also have
difficulty reporting on friends who cheat because they
cannot reconcile friendship and loyalty with integrity
(Drinan, 1999) and because they do not want to risk
getting involved (Jendrek, 1992).
How might theory help with
academic integrity?
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If we apply developmental theories to the issue
(Kibler, 1993), we also know that traditionalage undergraduates generally lack selfauthorship—the ability to construct one's own
ideas, make informed decisions with and
without others, and take responsibility for
actions (Baxter Magolda, 1999).
Students who are not self-authorized may
acknowledge the existence of institutional
policies to prevent and punish student
cheating, but they cannot use this knowledge
and are unable to decide what to believe about
the actions of their peers or themselves.
How might theory help with
academic integrity?
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Most traditional-age university students are absolute or
transitional knowers (Baxter Magolda, 1999).
When students see knowledge as absolute (right or
wrong), they see external authorities as having a claim
to the knowing of the answers.
When students are transitional knowers, they see
some knowledge as certain and other knowledge as
uncertain; they also tend to see the acquiring of
knowledge as a result of talking with others.
Whether students are absolute or transitional knowers,
they still perceive learning as the acquisition of
knowledge held by experts and formal authorities.
Students in both stages of knowing may not
necessarily see development of their own knowledge
as the critical goal.
How might theory help with
academic integrity?
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If students do not feel that they can generate their own
knowledge, then they might believe that it would be
redundant to cite knowledge sources or to promise to
refrain from accepting assistance on papers and
examinations.
When the environment is populated by individuals who
are at the same developmental stage, it can "lead to the
construction and reproduction of certain 'social realities' in
a student culture that define[s] cheating as more
acceptable or less-serious misconduct than it was
considered previously" (Payne & Nantz, 1994, p. 91).
Psychologically based research has provided insight into
motivations while providing linkage to culture-based
theoretical and empirical studies.
How might theory help with
academic integrity?
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Psychologically based research is important,
but a working knowledge of student
development theory provides faculty and
staff a foundation upon which to understand
the overall maturation and development of
the students with which they work.
This foundation will guide faculty and staff in
how to best challenge and support individual
students to promote psychosocial and
cognitive development.
Neighbor interviews
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How can we relate theory to our
practice with UC Riverside students?
How can we relate the various
development theories to concepts
related to academic integrity and the
sense of a scholarly community at UC
Riverside?
Student Development Theory: AIM
Basic assumptions guiding the
Student Development Theory movement:
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The individual student must be considered as a whole.
Each student is a unique person and must be treated
as such.
The total environment of the student is educational and
must be used to help the student achieve full
development.
The major responsibility for a student's personal and
social development rests with the student and his/her
personal resources
Introduction to Chickering’s Theory of
College Student Development
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His theory of psychosocial development was
the first major theory to specifically examine
the development of college students.
His work from 1959-65 led to his landmark
1969 theory which provided an overview of
developmental issues faced by college
students as well as environmental
conditions that influences development.
Chickering’s seven vectors…
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Developing Competence.
Managing Emotions.
Moving Through Autonomy Toward
Interdependence.
Developing Mature Interpersonal
Relationships.
Establishing Identity.
Developing Purpose.
Developing Integrity.
Seven vectors timeline
Developing competence
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Intellectual competence: acquisition of
knowledge and skills related to particular
subject matter, development of intellectual,
cultural, and aesthetic sophistication, and
skills for critical thinking and reasoning
ability.
Physical and manual skills: athletic and
recreational activities, attention to wellness,
and involvement in artistic and manual
activities.
Interpersonal competence: skills in
communication, leadership and working
effectively with others.
Managing emotions
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Students develop the ability to recognize
and accept emotions, appropriately express
and control them, and learn to act on
feelings in a responsible manner.
Through his 1990’s work he included a more
inclusive range of feelings (anxiety,
depression, anger, shame and guilt) and
more positive emotions (caring, optimism
and inspiration).
Moving through autonomy
toward interdependence
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Increase in emotional independence:
freedom from continual and pressing needs
for reassurance, affection or approval from
others.
Increase in instrumental independence: selfdirection, problem-solving and mobility.
Students eventually recognize and accept
the importance of interdependence (an
awareness of their interconnectedness with
others).
Establishing identity
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This vector was expanded to acknowledge differences
in identity development based on gender, ethnic
background and sexual orientation.
Includes being comfortable with body and
appearance.
Being comfortable with gender and sexual orientation.
A sense of one’s social and cultural heritage.
A clear self-concept.
Comfort with one’s roles and lifestyle.
A secure sense of self through feedback from others,
self-acceptance/self-esteem, and personal
stability/integration.
Developing mature
interpersonal relationships
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Experiences with relationships contribute
significantly to the development of a sense
of self:
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Development of intercultural and interpersonal
tolerance and appreciation of differences.
Capacity for healthy and lasting intimate
relationships with partners and close friends.
Reisser contributed that both tasks involve
the ability to accept individuals for who they
are, to respect differences and to appreciate
commonalities.
Developing purpose
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Developing clear vocational goals.
Meaningful commitment to specific personal
interests and activities.
Establishing strong interpersonal commitments.
Includes intentionally making and staying with
decisions even in the face of opposition.
Lifestyle and family influences affect the decisionmaking and goal-setting processes involved in
developing purpose.
Developing integrity
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Integrity includes three sequential but overlapping
stages:
 Humanizing values: progress from rigid, moralistic
thinking to the development of a more humanized
value system in which the interests of others are
balanced with one’s own interests.
 Personalizing values: value system is established
in which core values are consciously affirmed and
the beliefs of others are acknowledged and
respected.
 Developing congruence: values and actions then
become congruent and authentic as self-interest is
balanced by a sense of social responsibility.
Questions?
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Jennifer Miller
Student Development Educator
AVC/Dean of Students Office
Commons 381
(951) 827-5000
jennifer.miller@ucr.edu
http://www.deanofstudents.ucr.edu/reach