Initiative Lead
Athlone Institute of Technology

Primary Contact
Frances O'Connell
foconnell@ait.ie

€15,000

Student Success

Academic integrity in Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) is “underpinned by the academic trust that develops between academic staff and students and is fostered by the provision of a positive, modern learning environment, coupled with AIT’s proactive approach to the development of good academic practice” (AIT, 2020).

AIT has been very involved in the National Academic Integrity Network (NAIN) since its inception. Through its membership, the outputs of NAIN supplement the work that AIT conducts to ensure our students maintain appropriate academic conduct throughout their programme of study.

This Learning Enhancement Initiative (LEI), guided by NAIN, seeks to establish the level of awareness among students of the concept of academic integrity, and having identified a starting point, will create an Open Educational Resource (OER) to support students in developing and refining the skills they need to complete assessments and course work in an academically ethical manner.

This LEI will:
• Identify current levels of awareness of academic integrity in the student community;
• Plan a resource that can be used across the Institute, which will address identified gaps in student knowledge;
• Devise content for an asynchronous course for self-directed learning, to be applied across all levels of the Institute;
• Create the asynchronous OER and pilot it with students;
• Evaluate, refine and publish the resource.

By providing asynchronous supports for students to access, a culture of academic integrity within the Institute community will be promoted as a positive contribution that mitigates against the range and rate of academic mis-conduct that might otherwise occur.