Mutual Expectations

Today, November 9, 2010, I went to the Mutual Expectations workshop in Harper College. This is a workshop where students and faculty can get together and converse on certain issues in a university setting. This week the topic was academic integrity. They chose this topic because it was Creed Day, and the first part of the Carolinian Creed deals with academic and person integrity. We were split up into groups of about four or five students and four or five faculty members. The first topic dealt with what students and teachers do and don't do to prevent academic integrity. It was really interesting to hear from some of the teachers how students can improve their ways of showing academic integrity. For example, making yourself available for a teacher, rather showing enough courage to bring something up to your teacher shows not only that you're making the effort but that it is somewhat important to you. I also thought it was great that the faculty around me really listened to what I had to say, rather than just writing me off as just a normal student whose opinion does not mean much. I truly learned a lot about what plagarism can be considered and great ways to combat it, including Safe Assign and a teacher just being present and available for a student. I believe this is the key for any student/teacher relationship to be successful. This workshop was very beneficial for just meeting teachers and making connections with faculty, other students, and what academic integrity actually means.