Academic integrity: A restorative justice approach in first year engineering

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Academic integrity is a cornerstone of post-secondary education. Academic integrity violations disrupt the soundness of the assessment process, which is exacerbated in professional programs like engineering where accreditation hinges on the measurement of student proficiencies and graduate attributes. Engineering programs are typically challenging with demanding schedules and higher than typical workloads. Freshmen often face this challenge with deficient time management skills, which is coupled with increasing student mental health and wellness concerns. Combined with pressure to perform, these systemic issues can create circumstances in which students rationalize opportunities that constitute potential code of conduct violations, especially in group situations. The academic misconduct investigation process can be resource intensive, time intensive and stressful for students, instructors, and administrators. A restorative justice model was implemented as an alternative path to manage a large number of cases in first year engineering. The objective of using this approach was to educate students, emphasize the connection between academic integrity and engineering ethics and prevent further occurrences. This paper describes the development and use of this collaborative approach for first year.