Tips from the AEJMC Teaching Committee

Thwarting Trouble: Creating an ethical foundation through a good syllabus and meaningful conversation

(Article courtesy of AEJMC News, September 2011 issue)

Looking back at some of my Indiana University undergraduate syllabi from the late 1960s and early 1970s, I see how much the world of syllabus-making has changed. In those days, professors provided a single sheet that gave their names, titles (sometimes; mine generally just said things like Mr. Lohmann, rarely “Professor” or “Dr.”), office-hour info and a description of the course. Dates were noted with a two- or three-word phrase to let students know what the topic of the week would be. Abbreviated reading lists were included, as well. A purplish-blue page from the mimeo machine was all we got, and we did just fine. My courses were, in fact, awfully good.

These days, our syllabi are more like term papers. We include descriptions of the course; ACEJMC values and competencies; elaborate schedules that include readings, viewings, assignments and more; often a paragraph promoting our own great achievements; an every-growing section about classroom rules and behavior (turn off cell phones, don’t surf the Web, be civil to one and all); and a section about academic misconduct (sometimes called “academic integrity”).

It’s this last item that I address here: how to provide your students with an adequate mix of support and threat regarding the rules of academic and professional endeavors. Support to learn the difference between acceptable and unacceptable practices; threat, to understand the consequences of screwing up.

Academic misconduct, as it is usually defined, covers a range of issues. At IU, the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities includes sections on cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, interference, violation of course rules and facilitating academic misconduct.

I think there are a number of ways to set the stage at the beginning of the semester and then to reinforce lessons during the term. Nothing’s failsafe, but here are some ideas.

1. Use your syllabus to define the terms and clarify policies. As a written document handed out at the beginning of the term, the syllabus may later provide you with support you need. (“Recall the section on the syllabus that addresses plagiarism?” you may find yourself asking a student at term paper time.)

2. Make sure you yourself have reviewed the campus misconduct definitions and policies. Make sure you are clear about your own unit’s policies. Refer to both in your syllabus.

3. Include, too, the ACEJMC Values and Competency statement (#4) that speaks to ethics and integrity: — “all graduates should be aware of … And able to demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity.”

Presumably this will be one of a number of the values and competencies you include on your syllabus.

4. Spend some time in class on Day 1 or Day 2 talking about the importance of doing your own work and making sure to reference the work of those from whom you borrow information. Use real examples from the journalism world and from academics to make your points. Talk about why students and why journalists may be tempted to take shortcuts. Provide suggestions for reducing those temptations and dealing with time and grade pressures that are likely the root of temptation.

5. In your talk, make sure your students know that your job is not that of prison warden. Rather, you are there to help them understand and succeed. Provide avenues for them to talk with you privately, or in class, and to have you preview their work BEFORE a deadline.

6. Refer students to Web sites that can help them. (The Teaching & Learning program at my university – teaching.iub.edu/policies_misconduct.php?nav=policies – has a good site, which includes definitions, tips for instructors and links to other useful sites.) If your campus has Turnitin (turnitun.com) or another software program that detects plagiarism, make your students aware of the program. Consider bringing in an expert to show them how to make the program work for, and not against, them.

7. Depending on the class, create an assignment that has students investigate cases of journalistic or academic misconduct. A colleague of mine has reporting students choose from a list she has created of journalistic transgressors. Each student prepares a short presentation for class that describes the case and the consequence.

Alternatively, sending students on a Google search to “academic misconduct” or something more specific such as “internet plagiarism” will yield a class period full of examples and opportunities for exploring issues. A Google search for “news about academic misconduct” yields a host of examples, from college football players (and sometimes their coaches) to college provosts to journalists for small and large news organizations.

I’ve never been as confident as some colleagues that one can construct assignments that render misconduct impossible. In any case, the real world we are sending our graduates into is filled with temptations to skirt the rules. To me, our campus classrooms are as good a place as any to provide a solid ethical foundation.

By Bonnie J. Brownlee,
Indiana University,
AEJMC Teaching Committee