ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

What Is the AIDB?

The myUMBC Academic Integrity Database (AIDB) provides an online form faculty can use to report and track student academic misconduct violations AFTER they have met with a student to discuss the misconduct incident, hear the student's explanation, and propose a penalty.

Why Was It Developed?

In 2003, UMBC students and faculty participated in a campus-wide survey about academic integrity. Results included the following:

• Nearly half of undergrad respondents self-reported cheating on tests (46 percent) or plagiarizing (43 percent).
• Faculty reported observing higher percentages (52 & 80 percent)

By comparison, the International Center for Academic Integrity reports that 70 percent of college students admit to cheating at least once. Still, UMBC enrolls about 12,000 students, and yet the Faculty Senate Academic Conduct Committee (ACC) barely receives 150 misconduct reports from faculty each year. This relatively low number of reports may be due to the manual, labor-intensive process to file a report, but without better data collection that reflects our self-reported student behavior and faculty observation, it is difficult to see how our academic integrity trends change over time--and why.

In addition to helping students better understand what it means to be part of a scholarly community (through a system that can alert faculty of repeat offenders), the Academic Integrity Database was developed to help support each faculty member's reporting obligations under the UMBC Undergraduate Student Misconduct Policy.

How Was the Campus Involved?

From 2003 to 2006, the AIDB was proposed by the Academic Integrity Technology Committee, reviewed by the Student Government Association President and Senate, funded by the Office of the Provost, and developed by the Office of Information Technology.

It has been tested and reviewed by faculty and student volunteers as well as both chairs of the Academic Conduct and Academic Integrity Committees. It has also been approved by UMBC's Office of the General Counsel which views the database reports as protected educational records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Key Functions

1st Incident

• Faculty use a student's UMBC userid to file a misconduct report AFTER meeting with the student.
• An email alert of the first report is immediately sent to the student, instructor and chair of the Faculty Senate Academic Conduct Committee.
• Details of the report are only visible in myUMBC by the parties above.
• A student has fifteen (15) days to confirm or contest the report; failure to do so implies confirmation by the student.

Subsequent Incident

• If another UMBC instructor subsequently files a report about the student in question, the ACC chairs will be notified, and the student may be subject to a more severe penalty including, but not limited to, a permanent notation on his or her transcript, suspension or expulsion from the university.

How to Login

1. Log in to myUMBC
2. From the "Guide" menu, go to the "Teaching & Learning" Guide page
3. Scroll down to the "Additional Resources" section
4. Click on "Academic Misconduct Reporting Database" link

For more information, to request help, report a problem or make a suggestion, send email to accchair@umbc.edu.