Artificial Intelligence and Academic Integrity in ODeL: Emerging Challenges and Institutional Responses

Academic integrity is essential, both in academic institutions and in society. It is crucial to foster moral behaviour in students if we want to uphold the reputation of academic qualifications and the integrity of educational institutions. The authors of this study aimed to explore the difficulties of academic integrity and suggest how to encourage ethical behaviour. The authors used an exploratory case study and a constructivist paradigm to see how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can successfully guide students regarding academic integrity in our technological domain. The authors, moreover, wanted to discover new ways to build a culture of honesty, responsibility, and ethical behaviour. They generated data through open-ended e-mail questionnaires, focusing on technology and academic integrity. Fifty (50) student teachers were purposefully selected, and they ended up with responses from 31 participants. The authors discovered that tools such as ChatGPT have their advantages and disadvantages regarding academic integrity. Institutions should find a balance when using AI tools reasonably in education so we can avoid breaching academic integrity. HEIs should develop clear and up-to-date policies and guidelines about the ethical use of AI tools like ChatGPT. HEIs should adopt more of an educational method instead of just a punitive one.