This brief report summarizes the conclusions of the focus group on the lessons to be learned in the university environment regarding academic integrity following the COVID-19 pandemic organized on July 12, 2022, with teaching staff from all the academic structures of SNSPA.
An important point mentioned by the participants is that to some extent the restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced other types of unethical behavior that were only possible face-to-face (for example, conflicts between students). But it has undoubtedly produced others that teachers have not encountered in the past and that currently need to be identified, analyzed, and covered in terms of university-level regulations.
Stimulating active participation in the seminar and the course was identified as a way for better management of unethical behaviors, eliminating them to a large extent. Active presence also resolved situations where students were logged into online conferences for a few minutes but claimed to be present. Thus the need arose to define the notion of “present”, this being established most of the time depending on the student’s activity, a question to which s/he had to answer at the end of the course, or a minimum number of minutes in which had to stay connected.
The fact that during the restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, students suffered emotionally led to situations where teachers were asked to make exceptions, which could lead to unethical behavior among them and discrimination against students. This aspect has to be handled by each teacher individually, but according to the common opinion, there is also a need for emotion management courses for teachers so that they can be able to provide counseling to students.
Also during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of the fact that many students are employed before completing their studies, situations arose where the case studies presented in the graduation papers were actually internal reports or analyses based on real data collected not by the student, but by other employees of that company. There is therefore a need to regulate this aspect within the conditions for writing graduation theses.
Reconfigurations following the COVID-19 pandemic
Several aspects have been specified by the faculty members of SNSPA that should be redesigned to some extent. A short list might include:
– Organization of meetings between SNSPA teaching staff to share best practices in managing unethical behaviors, methods for identifying plagiarism, and managing the relationship with students.
– More guidance offered in relation to ensuring the well-being of both faculty members and students.
– Differnt types of academic assignments are to be considered, in order to reduce the (self-)plagiarism that increased in online academic processes.
– Thesis writing requirements need to be communicated early on in the writing process, and from an institutional point of view, there is a need for them to be supplemented, updated, and nuanced.
Responsible for researching the academic ethics during the pandemic: Drd. Valentin Stoica
