Academic Integrity (UK, Ireland, Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand)

Academic Integrity (UK, Ireland, Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand) is an online training course designed to support students and staff in understanding academic integrity in contemporary higher education. The course explores principles such as honesty, attribution, collaboration, and ethical scholarship, while addressing emerging challenges around digital tools and artificial intelligence.

About the project

The programme is used across multiple markets, with editions for the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand. This required the course to reflect differing institutional expectations, regulatory contexts, and educational cultures, while maintaining a coherent and consistent learning experience. A significant focus of the redevelopment was the meaningful integration of artificial intelligence, including its ethical use, limitations, and implications for assessment and learning. The course also places strong emphasis on practical guidance, helping learners navigate real-world academic scenarios with confidence.

Date:

15 Jan 2024

Client:

Epigeum, SAGE Publications

Project Details

This project involved reviewing and substantially updating an existing Academic Integrity course as part of Epigeum’s Becoming a Researcher programme. A key challenge was ensuring that the course worked effectively across four distinct higher education contexts, requiring careful consideration of language, examples, expectations, and learner experience.

Multimedia elements required particular attention. Existing videos, images, and scenarios were evaluated for relevance and appropriateness across all markets, with many materials adapted or replaced. Scenarios were developed in multiple versions to reflect different socio-economic, cultural, and institutional contexts, ensuring learners could recognise their own experiences within the course.

Another major area of development was the inclusion of artificial intelligence. The course was updated to address AI tools explicitly, exploring academic integrity in relation to AI-assisted writing, research, and assessment, alongside the ethical considerations and uncertainties institutions and learners are currently navigating.

The project involved close collaboration with authors and subject experts based in different countries, requiring regular coordination across time zones and careful alignment between pedagogical intent, subject expertise, and practical delivery.

My contribution

As the learning designer, I was responsible for:

Pedagogical design and course structure
Shaping the overall learning approach to ensure clarity, consistency, and relevance across UK, Irish, Australian, and Aotearoa New Zealand contexts.
Multi-market content adaptation
Reviewing existing materials and developing new scenarios and examples that reflected differing cultural, socio-economic, and institutional realities, while maintaining a unified course narrative.
Artificial intelligence integration
Leading the inclusion of AI-related content, ensuring ethical considerations, practical guidance, and uncertainty were handled thoughtfully and accurately.
Multimedia development
Planning, commissioning, and recording new video content with subject experts, and evaluating visual assets to ensure inclusive and appropriate representation across markets.
Collaboration and coordination
Working closely with authors, editors, and contributors across multiple time zones, maintaining strong working relationships and keeping development aligned with project timelines.
Editorial oversight
Reviewing and refining course content to ensure clarity, accessibility, and consistency of tone, particularly in complex or sensitive areas.