RRU's vision is to "inspire people with the courage to transform the world" (Royal Roads University [RRU], n.d., para. 2), and we emphasize the values of being caring, creative and courageous (para. 3-5). That's a big picture view, so let's connect that to academic integrity at RRU.
North American universities hold academic integrity as an essential aspect of being part of a university community, whether you're a student, instructor, researcher, staff member, or in another role. As a member of RRU's community, you have the opportunity to interact with other members of the scholarly community, including students, instructors, and other scholars. If you imagine scholarly communication to be pockets of conversation being held by scholars, RRU's academic integrity policy gives guidelines of how to interact with those conversations with care, creativity, and courage:
Showing care when it comes to academic integrity includes making choices that pay attention to your actions and how they affect you and other people. For example, you care for yourself by reaching out for help with academic integrity from instructors or the Writing Centre when you're unsure of your next step. Showing care in your relationships with other members of the RRU community involves making choices that are considered respectful within the North American academic context. If the choices that are considered respectful by North American academic audiences oppose your values, please reach out to your instructor for a conversation to help you navigate those choices before you submit your assignment. Ideally, you and your instructor will find a solution that you'll feel comfortable with because the choices involved will reflect your values as well as RRU's academic integrity policy.
Creativity seldom happens in isolation. Choosing to acknowledge the relationships that inspired or influenced your ideas as well as everyone who contributed presents the full picture to your audience of your creative process: where you started, how you gathered information, how you grew your ideas, and how you're innovating. For example, help people understand when you're doing something new or better by citing sources that show your audience what existed before so they can see how you're growing those ideas with your creativity.
As a RRU community member, you demonstrate courage by participating in the academic community and contributing in good ways that demonstrate respect for your ideas and the ideas of others. We understand it can be intimidating to be a student and to share your voice as you engage with oral and written conversations happening in your courses, with your instructors and other students, and with conversations between scholars in published research. It also takes courage to ask for help as you're learning how to navigate those systems and conversations. All the support services at RRU are available to you as you move through that learning -- we're here to help, so don't hesitate to reach out!
Reference
Royal Roads University. (n.d.). Vision, values & goals. https://www.royalroads.ca/about/our-vision/vision-values-goals
Photo © Royal Roads University
We're providing links to RRU policies and procedures versus embedding them in this guide to ensure that visitors always have access to the most up to date version.
RRU's Academic Integrity and Misconduct - Students policy serves to communicate "principles, practices, and procedures to ensure integrity, accountability, and responsibility for academic activities, scholarships, and research carried out by full and part-time students, staff, and faculty." (https://www.royalroads.ca/policies/academic-integrity-and-misconduct-students). For information on "the order of processes and procedures when an allegation of misconduct is made against a student" (https://www.royalroads.ca/policies/academic-integrity-and-misconduct-students-0), please see the Academic Integrity and Misconduct - Students procedure document.
Faculty and staff are also expected to adhere to academic integrity requirements; see the Academic Integrity and Misconduct - Faculty and Staff policy and the Academic Integrity and Misconduct - Faculty and Staff procedures for more information.
Image © Royal Roads University
If you refer to RRU's Academic Integrity and Misconduct - Students policy, you'll find examples of misconduct in activity, research, and scholarship. Since the policy already highlights misconduct, we wanted to take a different approach to explaining what's expected at RRU by sharing some examples of choices that align with RRU's academic integrity policy. We've connected each example to the relevant example of misconduct to help illustrate the relationships involved. Please click on the arrows below to see more information in each item.
