Academic Misconduct
Students are expected to maintain the highest academic standards while enrolled in CTCD classes. We have provided some resources to include an online academic misconduct quiz which is required of all students. Students are required to take the quiz and follow the instructions from their instructor or on their syllabus for correct submission.
Students guilty of academic misconduct or fraud or scholastic dishonesty may be administratively dropped from the course or courses and receive a grade of “0” by the responsible Dean, and/or may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including suspension or expulsion.
Most examples of academic misconduct fall under the general category of cheating. Cheating involves the unauthorized use of information, materials, devices, sources, or practices in completing academic activities.
Cheating includes, but is not limited to:
- Copying another student’s coursework, test, research paper or term paper.
- Using materials during a test that are not authorized by the test administrator.
- Collaborating with another individual on coursework when not authorized by the instructor or during a test without permission.
- Obtaining, recording, using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, soliciting, sharing or making available the contents of a test or coursework, to include course assignments and academic work, not explicitly authorized by a professor.
- Taking a test or preparing academic work for another student
- Having another person prepare academic work or take a test on behalf of the student;
- Altering or falsifying coursework or test results after they have been evaluated by the instructor and returned to the student.
- Falsifying or altering any College document to include transcripts.
- Sharing of passwords and log in information to complete course work.
- Plagiarism
Plagiarism a type of cheating that includes the presentation of another person’s work as your own, without proper acknowledgement of the source, with or without the creator’s permission, intentionally or unintentionally. By taking CTCD courses, you agree that all required papers, exams, class projects or other assignments completed for credit may be submitted to SafeAssign or similar third parties to be reviewed and evaluated for originality and intellectual integrity. Plagiarism.org is a free website for information on what plagiarism is and how to prevent plagiarism in your writing. Another good resource is Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).
Collusion The digital age has given students new ways to commit collusion and cheating. Collusion happens when more than one person contributes to a piece of work that is submitted as the work of an individual student. Collaboration becomes collusion when the intention is to deceive. Examples of collusion and cheating include, but are not limited to, manipulating quizzes and exams to obtain the correct answers or extend time limits, asking or compensating a third party to complete your coursework, or Googling questions as you are testing.
Ghostwriting although acceptable in the business and political world, is not an acceptable practice in college. Ghostwriting is defined as “writing something (usually this is a paid service) which will appear under someone else’s name” – like a celebrity who wants to see their name on the cover of a book but didn’t do the actual writing. In college courses, ghostwriting is considered a type of collusion and is also known as “contract cheating.”
Although the digital age has given students new ways to cheat, it has also given instructors and institutions new ways to identify and verify collusion and cheating instances. In addition to using SafeAssign to check for plagiarism, CTCD uses Biometric Signature ID (BioSig-ID™) as a way to verify that the student who registered for the class is the person who is submitting coursework and taking exams. Part of this process involves the tracking of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. An IP address identifies the host or network interface and the location.
It is against CTCD academic policy for students to commit any of the acts described above or to
- share passwords and other log-in information to Blackboard or BioSig-ID.
- mask IPs, use Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), or otherwise disguise location.
The instructor will examine documentation related to the alleged misconduct and any student who is determined to have committed such misconduct is subject the CTCD disciplinary process for academic misconduct.