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Managing student academic misconduct in tertiary institutions is a complex and ongoing challenge. When investigations confirm academic misconduct, authorities typically impose disciplinary action, require engagement in an educational intervention, or a combination of both. The impact of educational interventions following academic misconduct findings has received limited attention in the literature. Some educational interventions require students to produce reflections, which can serve as valuable feedback to academic integrity policies and procedures. This research utilised 3070 student reflections collected over three years and thematically analysed to uncover insights from the aggregate student voice. Three themes were identified about what students reflected to be the cause of the behaviour that led to the misconduct: students’ lack of understanding about academic integrity, their time management practices, and lack of perceived self-efficacy. The themes and their notional causal nature can drive efforts to strengthen student knowledge and skills about academic integrity to include a stronger focus on effective time management and self-efficacy. Such efforts can be implemented as proactive educational interventions to support student learning during orientation activities or as a part of disciplinary outcomes imposed after a misconduct finding. Educational institutions can also use these themes to guide the development of academic integrity policies to effectively manage student misconduct into the future.
Munoz et al. (Tue,) studied this question.