Gandhi Memorial International School being a full fledge IB School having all the three programme PYP,MYP,DP and IBCP will ensure that all the students are aware of what is academic honesty. Though the school trust that the students will submitt their original piece of work properly cited and referenced yet we believe that it is important that at the begining of academic session and from time to time we give guidelines to the students and also the parents as to what it means and what would be the consequences if any student does not follow the school policy.
Academic Honesty must be seen as a set of values and skills that promote personal integrity and good practice in teaching, learning and assessment.
VISION STATEMENT: To make GMIS Campus free from Academic Dishonesty and all forms of Malpractice.
MISSION STATEMENT: To prevent Academic Dishonesty and inculcate in the students the spirit of Academic Honesty.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY AND MALPRACTICE:
Academic dishonesty and malpractice includes but is not limited to the following:
Plagiarism: Representation of the ideas or work of another person as the candidates own.
Collusion: Allowing ones work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.
Duplication of work: Presentation of the same work for different assessment components or diploma requirement.
Exam cheating: Communicating with another candidate in an exam, taking unauthorized material to examination room, misconduct during examination, using unauthorized calculator, leaving or accessing unauthorized material in a bathroom/restroom.
Falsifying data: Creating or altering data which has not been collected in an appropriate way.
PREVENTING OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
GMIS in accordance with the IBO statement on Academic Honesty will guide the examiner or moderator to mark the work of candidate against prescribed markscheme and search for plagiarism, collusion or other form of malpractice and report to the Academic Honesty Coordinator in case of evidence of malpractice.
GMIS will emphasise more on the prevention of malpractice rather then detection and penalities.
The students or the guardian will be provided a copy of General Regulations: Diploma Programme a link for this will also be placed in the Schools website.
GMIS will also give the students or the guardian copy of school academic honesty policy and will make sure that they are aware of it.
For every assignment given by the student whether it is a Home Assignment or Research project he/she will give a written statement signed by him /her to confirm that piece of work is authentic and others words or ideas have been acknowledged.
To prevent Academic Dishonesty Students would be explained the Concepts that relate to Academic Honesty such as –Intellectual Property, Authenticity, Collaboration.
Intellectual Property: Forms of intellectual property rights such as patents, registered designs, trademarks, moral rights and copyright. Intellectual and creative expression must be respected and are normally protected by law for such cases candidate may face legal proceedings. Eg.illegal music download , peer to peer file sharing.
Authenticity: An authentic piece of work is one that is based on the candidates individual and original ideas with the ideas and work of others fully acknowledged.
Collaboration: Working together on a common aim with shared information which is an open and cooperative behaviour.
GMIS encourages students to submit electronic copies to teachers for any verification if required .
GMIS will use ACADEMIC DISHONESTY PREVENTION PROGRAMME where the teachers will teach the students how to include acknowledgement in their work when using another persons words or ideas and prevent Academic Dishonesty. Apart from this other programmes namely-ACADEMIC HONESTY AWARENESS PROGRAMME and ACADEMIC DISHONESTY DETECTION PROGRAMME will also be used.
Procedure for detecting/investigating the suspected cases of Academic Dishonesty:
Turnitin.com will be officially used to detect web based cases of plagiarism.
For non web based cases teachers would use their ways and means to detect malpractice
If a teacher, or any other member of the staff suspects that any student may have breached the school’s Academic honesty Policy, he/she will inform the Academic Honesty coordinator.Together they will investigate the matter , and will inform the student about the concern of the teacher and will give chance to the student to reply to the accusations. Information will also be sent to the parents regarding the concern of the teacher. If no evidence is found the case will be dismissed and no record will be kept for the same. If on the other hand there are clear evidence of malpractice the matter will then be refered to the committee . The committee in consultation with the Head of the School, coordinators , supervisor and the concerned teacher will decide the outcome of the case.
Disciplinary action in case of Academic Dishonesty:
Sanctions against academic dishonesty may range from warning to dismissal depending on the seriousness of the offence.
Internal Examinations:
1st offence: A grade of F or a 0 will be given for the assignment or test and warning letter will be sent to the parents.
2nd offence: A grade of F or a 0 will be given for the assignment or test and referral to the Principal. Suspension is considered.
3rd offence: A grade of F or a 0 and suspension or expulsion from the school.
In case of attempt for Academic Dishonesty the student may be given a warning.
External Examinations:
If Academic dishonesty is suspected before submission and if there is time the student will be asked to do his work again.
In case there is no time left for submission then the students work will not be sent to IB.
Teachers Role in supporting School Academic Honesty Policy:
The Teachers must advice the students what constitute Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism.
Ensure that the words , ideas ,works from sources are acknowledged properly.
Be vigilant enough to spot changes in the style and quality of student work
Question student to determine whether the work is that of the student.
Use search engine / turnitin.com whenever possible to detect plagiarism.
Authenticate student work. The IBO expects “each teacher to confirm that, to the best of his or her knowledge, all candidates work accepted or submitted for assessment is the authentic work of each candidate”
Write a report on malpractice to be submitted to the IBO.
Cooperate in the investigation of suspected cases of malpractice.
In putting material on their Blogs ,the teachers must make sure that they do not use others piece of work without giving their reference or acknowledging them.
The teachers will make sure that they do not use the same assessment paper everytime. As far as possible they should make changes to make it better .
In writting comments they must not copy paste the same comments , they must try to make genuine comments for their students based on their observations.
Teachers must be honest in carrying out their duties without showing any kind of favouritism or discrimination among students.
Teachers are expected to extend their full support in implementing the school Academic honesty Policy and developing a culture of Academic Honesty among the students.
