Abstract
At the heart of university education, there must be an emphasis on students developing academic integrity and ethics (AIE), which is essential for their personal development and future professional careers. This paper reports on a project which employs an augmented reality (AR) interface accessed on mobile devices to bring AIE scenarios alive for students in everyday campus contexts. Mobile learning paths called ‘Trails of Integrity and Ethics’ (TIEs) have been created on Hong Kong university campuses, with students walking through study locations where ethical dilemmas might arise, and using an AR app to learn about, consider and respond to a range of problematic scenarios. In addition, subject-specific TIEs have been developed in which students face ethical dilemmas specific to their disciplines, and are tasked with responding according to professional norms and standards.After the first 2 years of this 4-year funded project, more than 1000 students have participated in the TIEs. Analysis of data from their mobile device clickstreams, pre- and post-trail reflective texts and user experience surveys has led to encouraging initial findings. There is some early evidence suggesting that the mobile AR trails have helped students to become more active and engaged in their learning of abstract conceptual knowledge about AIE, and that their perspectives on AIE have changed as they have begun to link ethical dilemmas on the TIEs with their everyday realities.
Highlights
One of the most important goals of tertiary education in the twenty-first century is to instil in students the importance of behaving ethically and with integrity (Thomas and Zyl 2012)
This study addresses the research question: ‘Can the Trails of Integrity and Ethics’ (TIEs) using Augmented Reality (AR) technology help change students’ perspectives on Academic integrity and ethics (AIE)?’ Reporting on data obtained approximately 2 years into the project, this paper presents initial findings which go some way towards answering the question under investigation
Clickstream data Mobile learning activities in this project are conducted in real-world environments as a form of situated learning (Pegrum 2014) to help students connect their learning with their everyday lives
Summary
One of the most important goals of tertiary education in the twenty-first century is to instil in students the importance of behaving ethically and with integrity (Thomas and Zyl 2012). While there is no doubt that ICTs offer numerous ways of enhancing student learning and engagement (Gordon 2014; Pegrum 2014), their presence and ease of use may simultaneously facilitate unethical behaviours or low-integrity actions (Ashworth et al 2003; Owunwanne et al 2010; Palmer et al 2017), especially when students are under pressure. This study addresses the research question: ‘Can the TIEs using AR technology help change students’ perspectives on AIE?’ Reporting on data obtained approximately 2 years into the project, this paper presents initial findings which go some way towards answering the question under investigation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
