Oct. 10 marks the beginning of Academic Integrity Week 2016 at Colorado State University, or “Ramtegrity Week.” Each day this week, The Institute for Teaching and Learning is releasing new information about what integrity looks like on the CSU campus, at https://twitter.com/CSUIntegrity.
“Ramtegrity is our attempt to encourage CSU students to think of integrity as an essential part of their identity as a Ram,” said Joseph F. Brown, program director for academic integrity at TILT.
Over the course of the week, CSU Integrity postings and events will explore the five principles of Ramtegrity, and both students and faculty will be asked to reflect on these characteristics in their work at Colorado State.
A Ram:
- Does honest work EVERY time.
- Interacts boldly AND ethically with the ideas of others.
- Chooses integrity even under challenging circumstances
- Understands that academic integrity isn’t a technical problem, but that ethical citation and documentation STARTS with the desire to do the right thing.
- Encourages others to make the right decision and models integrity for fellow students.
Variety of formats
Brown and his team have put together content in a variety of formats to reach as many members of the Ram Family as possible — videos, blogs, podcasts and posts on different social media platforms. This allows anyone to access content, such as an interview with plagiarism expert Jonathan Bailey conducted by TILT Tutors Kate Bates and Alexis Cannella specifically for Ramtegrity Week.
“We have traditional resources alongside creative, media projects featuring CSU students and experts in the field,” said Brown, who joined CSU this summer and also serves as hearing officer for the Student Resolution Center, which rules on cases of academic misconduct. “Our partner ASCSU will also be appearing with students on the university’s Snapchat feed throughout the day Monday and, along with KCSU, will be hosting an Honor Pledge signing event Tuesday outside of the LSC.”
Brown has also introduced a new blog devoted to academic integrity, Honest Work, at csuintegrity.com.
“I hope to share what I’m seeing from my point of view as the person charged by a modern, large land-grant university to promote this concept on campus and as the person who is asked to decide cases when students make poor decisions and don’t do their own work,” he wrote in his introductory post. “My hope is that these reflections will help contribute to solving the issue and encouraging a lasting ideal of integrity.”
Questions? Contact Brown at Joe.Brown@colostate.edu, or 491-2898.
