Speaker: Don Blake - Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in Harpur College
Title: "Academic Honesty in Higher Education"
ABSTRACT
No one likes to talk about it, and yet 50 percent of middle school students, 70 percent of the high school students, and 70 percent of college students admit to
doing it. Faculty often know it's going on, but they choose to overlook
it.
Academic dishonesty has always been an unwelcome part of the
teaching/learning process. Now with the advent of the Internet and the
general perception that cheating is more prevalent and accepted today,
academic dishonesty is on the rise.
In this program we will distinguish cheating and plagiarism from other
academically related dishonest acts, and we will examine why academic
integrity is important. We will discuss what higher education in
general is doing to promote academic honesty and what Binghamton
University is doing in particular. We will address ways that faculty
members can discourage academic dishonesty and what their options are
when they detect a dishonest act. Next we will review the role of the
Internet from School Sucks and the Evil House of Cheat to
Plagiarism.org. We will conclude with a discussion of our experiences
in the classroom and with an open discussion.
Don Blake earned his Ph.D. in English here at Binghamton in 1974. He
has worked at Binghamton University in academic administration and
taught part-time for the past twenty-six years. For the past ten years,
he has been the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in Harpur College.