Academic focus zones for 2025
News 11 DecemberThe 2025 Academic Timeline interactions and focus zones are now available to help prioritise the planning and delivery of learning and teaching. Sync the focus zones to your Outlook calendar now.
06 September 2023
Share
The Student Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedures have been updated. Learn more about the changes including clarifying the use of file-sharing websites, and updates to the notification procedure.
Under ACU’s Student Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy, both contract cheating and collusion are forms of academic misconduct. The key difference between these forms of misconduct is that collusion involves collaborating in an unauthorised fashion, while contract cheating involves the student arranging for someone else to do the work for them.
The policy has been updated to clarify that, depending on how they are used, both contract cheating and collusion may involve exploitation of share sites. Share sites are websites that traditionally have encouraged students to upload and share university teaching materials. Students may pay to access other people’s materials; or they may be encouraged to upload their own materials, in exchange for downloading someone else’s. Some of these websites include StuDocu, Chegg and CourseHero, which are blocked on the ACU server.
If a student uses a file-sharing site to access material that is commissioned for them, this would be contract cheating. If they used the site to access a past assessment, that they then re-purposed for themselves, this would be a form of collusion.
Examples to help distinguish between contract cheating and collusion are in the table below:
Collusion | Contract Cheating |
---|---|
I access an old essay online and submit it as my own |
I pay someone online to write an essay for me |
My mum reads an essay I wrote, and re-writes 2 paragraphs for me |
My Mum writes my essay for me |
I get together with two friends; we divide the worksheet up, do our assigned section, and then swap answers |
My friend writes my worksheet answers for me |
My friend has finished their essay early; I ask to look at their work ‘just to get an idea’; I change the name on the file and submit it as my own |
My friend has finished their essay early; I ask them for help. They write another version of the essay for me |
There has also been a recent change to the Student Academic Misconduct Procedures. Course Coordinators are no longer required to be included in communication of outcomes where a determination of academic misconduct has been made.
This was in place in the previous Policy and Procedures, where a broader range of staff were involved in the decision-making process. The continued requirement to include this staff member in the outcome letters is quite onerous, as there is no central record of all of these roles.
All other staff that currently receive these communications will continue to do so; if specific schools wish to continue to inform their relevant Course Coordinators of academic misconduct determinations, then they may develop their own processes for doing so.
If you have any questions, please contact academic.integrity@acu.edu.au.
The 2025 Academic Timeline interactions and focus zones are now available to help prioritise the planning and delivery of learning and teaching. Sync the focus zones to your Outlook calendar now.
ACU will move to the new EBSCOhost user interface on 4 February 2025. Find out what you need to do to prepare.
Please note the digests from Academic Board meetings 06/2024 held on 14 November 2024 and via circular resolution from 15-19 November 2024.
The 2024 Showcase of Teaching and Learning brought staff and students together to share innovations and collaborations from across the university. An online edition will be hosted in early 2025.
It has been a big year, and we understand that the festive season can be a different experience for each of us. Access a new resource from our employee assistance program, designed to help you prepare...
ACU's Co-Lab proudly announces Kyla Tucker as the winner of the $1,000 ACU Co-Lab Business Idea Pitch Award 2024, following careful evaluation by a panel of ACU judges.
Limited services will be available via Service Central on 12 and 13 December, while the Service Central team attend a staff conference. The Service Central phone line and live chat will not be availab...
A message from Vice President Fr Anthony Casamento csma: Ok, let’s not kid ourselves. If you are like me, December can feel like chaos. Yet, amid this chaos, the Church gives us the Season of Advent -...
Associate Professor Grant Duthie from the SPRINT Research Centre and Professor Jo Ingold from the Peter Faber Business School have won a prestigious government grant that will see them work with the b...
Let’s reflect on our inclusive practices during International Day of People with Disability.
ACU’s Peter Faber Business School has earned accreditation from AACSB, the US-based organisation that accredits business schools worldwide.
A message from the Provost, Professor Julie Cogin: As we approach the end of the year it’s fitting to look back and reflect on everything we’ve achieved over the past 12 months.
Find out the end-of-year deadlines and operating hours for a range of staff and student services within Corporate Services including Service Central, People & Capability and Student Administration.
The popular medicines database MIMS Online is upgrading to a new platform and changing its name to eMIMSelite.
16 Days is a global campaign observed annually from November 25 to December 10 and serves as a critical reminder of the pervasive and often invisible violence that affects millions of people. Watch a ...
Include an additional survey item in the Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching (SELT) survey for units that are offered in ACU Online Term 4 (202476).
With the end of the year approaching, it's time to ensure a smooth closure of the university’s 2024 accounting books and financial year-end work. Check the finance end-of-year deadlines for 2024.
ACU’s Graduation and Protocol team has been recognized at the 2024 Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) Awards for Excellence for their innovative Reader Module project.
A message from the Executive Dean of Health Sciences Professor Suzanne Chambers: The Faculty of Health Sciences research space has seen colleagues come together in a spirit of shared learning and conn...
Role of Chair training is now available through the ACU Staff Learning Hub.
Visit Service Central to access Corporate Services.