Assessing Freshman Engineering Students' Understanding of Ethical Behavior

Area of Science:

• Engineering Education
• Academic Integrity
• Ethics in STEM

Background:

• Academic dishonesty, including cheating and plagiarism, is a growing concern in higher education, particularly within engineering programs.
• Understanding the motivations behind academic dishonesty is crucial for developing effective interventions.
• Academic integrity training can enhance students' ethical decision-making skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of an online academic integrity module for first-semester engineering students.
• To evaluate the module's impact on students' knowledge of academic honesty and plagiarism.
• To determine the long-term retention of knowledge gained from the module.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted using between-groups designs with pre- and post-tests.
• Study 1 utilized an academic honesty tutorial and quiz.
• Study 2 employed an improved module and quiz with an additional retention test (Time 3).
• Statistical analyses included ANCOVA and t-tests to compare knowledge scores between groups.

Main Results:

• Study 1 showed improvement in plagiarism-specific items but not total scores; no significant group differences were found at Time 2 after controlling for initial scores.
• Study 2 indicated significant improvements in total scores after tutorial exposure, though plagiarism scores did not significantly change.
• Both studies provided evidence that the academic integrity module influenced participants' knowledge.

Conclusions:

• The online academic integrity module demonstrated a positive impact on engineering students' understanding of academic honesty.
• Modifications to the tutorial and quiz are recommended to address ceiling effects and improve knowledge assessment.
• The module can be a valuable component of a comprehensive strategy to foster academic integrity in engineering education.