TITLE: ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY
The policy pertains to the requirements as prescribed under s. 3. (1), s. 20. (1), and s. 25. (1) of O. Reg. 415/06.”
Purpose of RHI’s Academic Integrity Policy
The Robert Health Institute (RHI) is committed to ensuring that our students complete their programs. RHI will ensure that within this committed framework, RHI treats all students fairly and equitably. Academic integrity is fundamental to the RHI community’s intellectual life. RHI’s students’ and graduates’ quality and character have determined RHI’s academic educational activity value. Therefore, students and faculty have to uphold academic integrity.
Definition of RHI’s Academic Integrity
Academic integrity refers to the adherence to agreed-upon moral and ethical principles when engaging in academic or healthcare pursuits. RHI accepts and follows the International Center for Academic Integrity’s academic integrity, defined as acting in all academic matters with honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.
The Significance of Course Grades and the RHI Diploma
The course grades certified medical knowledge and academic integrity standard have significance in healthcare professions. The RHI diploma certifies to society both the educational achievement and the fulfillment of our standards, including ethical and moral behaviour.
Discipline
The commitment to self-discipline has inherent in the RHI healthcare learning process. The secret to success and self-improvement lies in daily self-discipline. Discipline is a specific component of skills and professional training that looks to the future practice where one learns professional lessons and makes better decisions. The preceptors will guide the student’s learning process by identifying unacceptable nonprofessional behaviour and analyzing with students to define the problem and instruct them to make better professional performances. This disciplining process preserves the value and reputation of the diploma conferred by RHI. Two types of disciplines focus on the following: pre-emptive discipline and corrective discipline.
- Pre-emptive Discipline
Pre-emptive discipline is a training system that mandates the student undertake specific appropriate professional activities in the learning process. Students have to engage in, but not limited to, the following pre-emptive behaviours:
1.1 Students must complete all formative and summative academic work, such as but not limited to papers, skills practice, assignments, tests, and final exams, on their own work and not from other students or other authorities.
1.2 Students have to be honest in all academic work described above, refraining from all academic dishonesty.
1.3 Students have to conduct activities as such, including, but not limited to, attending class regularly and on time, completing all assignments and examinations on their own unless the faculty member notes otherwise, performing all mandatory skill practice duties.
1.4 Students have to learn, practice and apply standard techniques for accurately citing resource material. Students, rather than the instructors, are responsible for ensuring that they cite all material from resources.
1.5 Students have to know the difference between direct quotes and citations. If the difference is doubtful, the students have conveyed the text’s essence in the student’s own words.
1.6 Students have to comprehend the basic principles of respect and compliance with intellectual property law. Particularly noteworthy are those aspects of the Copyright Law of Canada that apply to academic work and the use of institutional computer resources. - Corrective Discipline
Students may be subject to the implementation of corrective discipline if they engage in dishonest behaviour, such as the corrective discipline as following, but not limited to:
2.1 Conferring with the perspector to identify inappropriate, unprofessional behaviours
2.2 Developing a remediation plan and professional behavioural goals
2.3 Developing a system of assessing the student’s accomplishment of the established professional training goals
2.4 Demonstrating discipline sanctions in place if the student does not meet professional behaviour goals.
2.5 Filing an Academic Integrity Incident Report to initiate the investigation process as outlined below.
Dishonest Behavior
RHI defines dishonest Behavior as any activity that brings the student an unfair advantage and merits corrective discipline. Academic dishonesty may present many forms, including, but are not limited to, the following: - Steal and Trade, buy or sell papers, projects, other assignments, or evaluation results.
- Dishonestly use or attempt to use any unauthorized book, notes, or assistance, such as copying another student’s test or homework).
- Plagiarize and submit the paperwork, assignments of another as a student’s own.
- Complete paperwork, assignments for another person with or without trading.
- Fabricate information or unauthorized citations.
- Facilitate others to conduct unethical activities pertaining to academic work.
- Possess unauthorized lab evaluations, tests, and examinations.
- Submit previous used assignment and paper without instructor permission.
- Tamper with unauthorized paper, assignments, or academic work of another person.
- Complete an exam or assignment in place of other students or have anyone take an exam in place of the student himself.
- Any attempt to falsify an assigned grade on an examination, report, or program or in a grade book, document or other records.
- Any attempted or actual patient private information theft, illegal use of software; illegal downloading or streaming of copyrighted media, or inappropriate use or distribution of patient private data; including, but not limited to, illegal or unauthorized patient data transmission; or improper access to any unauthorized computer system or account.
- Collusion willfully providing or receiving unauthorized or unacknowledged assistance on lab evaluation, any assignment, or examination. All parties merit corrective discipline.
- Forge any faculty member’s or administrator’s signature on any document for any situation.
- Copy and paste digital media, such as but not limited to email correspondence, text, images, or other media from online sources without proper citation, the copyright owner’s permission to use the digital media, or evidence of having files pertinent to the patient private information and analysis.
- Copy and paste a significant portion of digital media without citing resources or permission.
Implications of Dishonest Behavior - Implications to the Student
1.1 The student is deprived of the learning process’s totality and lacks the knowledge and skills needed to succeed and healthcare practice.
1.2 The student subsequently misrepresents his/her qualifications, such as to employers, graduate schools, and is not as qualified to perform the healthcare work as NCP requirements.
1.3 The student depreciates the assessment tool used to evaluate the class and program, depriving the faculty of genuinely evaluating the assessment tool’s effectiveness and the teaching-learning process.
1.4 The student is temporarily rewarded by a good grade but induces others, directly or indirectly, to engage in dishonest behaviour.
1.5 The student has conditioned himself/herself to take shortcuts when pressured. The student will then repeat this behaviour when he/she is in healthcare professional practice.
1.6 The student obtains unfair advantages relative to other students who ethically conduct themselves.
1.7 The student could receive liable for civil or criminal penalties due to violating federal intellectual property laws. - Implications to the Institute
2.1 Students and graduates will not be qualified to function in their respective healthcare professions. Consequently, this implication will devalue the RHI diploma. RHI will be less attractive as a healthcare institute for employers recruiting graduates or prospective employees.
2.2 The community and public will perceive that RHI engages in grade inflation and forfeit stakeholders’ satisfaction.
2.3 Alumni, government, and association funding may decrease dramatically.
2.4 RHI will lose qualified students for seats occupied by unqualified students who engage in dishonest non-professional behaviour.
2.5 RHI’s ability to recruit honest top-performing students will be negatively impacted by RHI’s reputation tarnished.
2.6 The Institute, its faculty and staff, could be at risk of penalties due to the student’s violation of federal intellectual property laws. - Implications to Prospective Employers, including those who provide Internships
3.1 The student may engage in inflated resume/transcript with fraud; thus, employers doubt hiring a well-educated employee from RHI but instead may gain one who cannot perform at the level they represent from RHI.
3.2 Employers who have bad experiences with RHI’s graduates will not recruit from the RHI or provide clinical placement opportunities to RHI.
3.3 Employers may disappoint RHI’s fraud and think they have wasted time and opportunities for RHI graduates who are not qualified to provide healthcare services.
3.4 Legitimately obtained moderate to high GPA Students may be ignored because dishonest students get a more high fraud GPA.
Rights and Responsibilities
- Institute
1.1 The RHI has responsible committed to academic integrity and professional achievement on which diplomas are based. RHI has a right to discipline students who deviate from academic standards. RHI remains committed to certifying students who have attained sufficient academic and practice credit and exhibited acceptable professional standards of conduct to entitle them to a healthcare diploma.
1.2 RHI has the responsibility to establish policies and procedures for academic integrity and authentic authorship to encourage high academic integrity standards.
1.3 The RHI has responsibility for monitoring and administering all violations of this policy and procedure to guarantee the academic integrity and reputation of a diploma from RHI.
1.4 The RHI has responsible for communicating academic integrity policy and procedures to stakeholders in any form deemed to attain monitoring from all stakeholders to safeguard high academic integrity standards. - Program Instructor
2.1 The instructor has the responsibility and right to demand academic integrity and authentic authorship in face-to-face or online classes.
2.2 The instructor has the responsibility to commit to following the RHI’s academic integrity standards and policies.
2.3 The instructor has responsibility for communicating to students about RHI’s Academic Integrity standard and Policy and the minimum penalties for Dishonest Behavior in the course syllabus.
2.4 The instructor has the responsibility to minimize the opportunity for students to engage in academic integrity dishonesty.
2.5 The instructor has the responsibility and right to communicate course expectations, academic integrity standards, and policies.
2.6 The instructor has the responsibility and right to file an Academic Integrity Incident Report if the instructor alleges and asserts a student’s academic dishonesty.
2.7 The instructor has the responsibility and right to gather evidence and resolve academic dishonesty by following the RHI policy and process.
2.8 The instructor, who indoctrinates high ethical conduct in his/her academic endeavours and the classroom and online learning environment through example, can serve as a role model and mentor for academic integrity honesty.
2.9 The instructor has the responsibility and right to emphasizes the importance of honesty and respect for academic integrity within the healthcare profession as an RHI student.
2.10 The instructor is responsible for taking an alleged violation of the Institutional Academic Integrity Policy or a judicial hearing’s outcome as strictly confidential. - Student
3.1 A accused student has the right to be informed of his/her alleged dishonest behaviour and be able to request due process for his/her accused academic dishonesty, in which he/she will have opportunities to have his/her case heard in an even-handed and impartial approach.
3.2 The student must read and understand RHI’s Academic Integrity policy to defence a charge of academic dishonesty made by the instructor against the student.
3.3 Academic integrity, as an essential component of the academic community, requests students complying with these integrity standards.
3.4 A student must be familiar with Academic Integrity policy and procedure because failing to meet the policy’s procedural deadlines will forfeit his/her rights to a formal hearing for appealing a sanction.
3.5 The student should help each other and actively encourage other students to comply with the Academic Integrity policy and procedure.
3.6 A student has the right to receive the writing notice within ten business days with a description of the alleged violation.
3.7 A student has the right to discuss with the RHI faculty member in his/her own statement of the activities for defences.
3.8 A student has the right to present the faculty member with his/her own statement of the activities.
3.9 A student has the right to receive accurate faculty member’s allegations and accept the faculty member’s imposed sanction.
3.10 A student has the right to heard the allegations before the Office of Student
Conflict Resolution.
How Can Academic Integrity be encouraged?
- Faculty
1.1 Explain the expectations for authentic authorship in the course syllabus and attach RHI’s Academic Integrity Policy.
1.2 Evaluate RHI’s academic integrity policy when reviewing and revising the syllabus.
1.3 Evaluate all assessment instruments regularly, which will assign a grade on it.
1.4 Establish an environment to encourage the prevention of academic dishonesty.
1.5 State within the syllabi, students must consult with the instructor before undertaking the activity if students can not be sure whether the activity is or is not a breach of academic dishonesty. - The Student’s Role in Academic Integrity
2.1 Student takes responsibility for his/her own, both positive and negative actions.
2.2 Students remember the impact of both positive and negative behaviours on all stakeholders and activities, such as oneself, the institution, the faculty and administrator, fellow students, and management and the assessment process.
2.3 Engaging in actions to change negative behaviour to positive, for example, changing one’s thinking at a deep level can lead to negative to positive changes in one’s actions.
2.4 Building a positive role model for others by one’s positive actions.