Policies and Procedures
Academic Code of Conduct
Northwest College is committed to creating and maintaining an environment of academic honesty. It is the faculty’s responsibility to affirm the importance of academic integrity and to try to educate students as to standards of academic behavior. Northwest College expects each faculty member to
- foster a respect for learning,
- treat students with individual attention and consideration,
- provide an environment of trust in the classroom,
- clarify expectations for students,
- develop fair and relevant forms of assessment,
- reduce opportunities to engage in academic dishonesty,
- challenge academic dishonesty when it occurs, and
- help define and support campus-wide academic integrity standards.
Students, too, bear the responsibility for academic integrity. Northwest College expects each student to
- learn and comply with academic expectations,
- display appropriate conduct in classroom situations,
- accept Northwest College’s “Student Academic Rights” and “Student Academic Responsibilities,” and
- preserve academic integrity by upholding the spirit and letter of the Academic Code of Conduct.
Violations of academic integrity include but are not limited to the following:
- Plagiarism—the act of appropriating or sharing (without acknowledgment) the ideas, language, symbols, or written work of another and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind. In all academic areas, it is imperative that work is original or that students give explicit acknowledgments for other persons’ ideas or language.
- Cheating—the act of using or attempting to use, in examinations or other academic work, material, information, computer programs or study aids which the instructor does not permit. Cheating includes but is not limited to using books, notes, or calculators or copying from or conversing with others during an examination (unless the instructor permits such external aids); the acquisition, without permission, of tests or other academic material belonging to a member of the college faculty or staff; the use of personal relationships to gain grades or favors; or otherwise attempting to obtain grades or credit through fraudulent means.
- Trafficking—the act of using, giving, buying, or selling exams, papers, or other class materials for which the student bears responsibility for originality. This may include having someone else do research, write papers, create computer programs, or take examinations; doing research, writing papers, creating computer programs, passing examination answers to, or taking examinations for someone else; or submitting large portions of the same work as part of the academic work for more than one course (unless permitted by the instructors).
- Copyright infringement—the act of using copyrighted images, videos, words, songs, designs, layouts, illustrations, diagrams, charts, or graphs in violation of Fair Use guidelines or without the explicit permission of the owner.
- Interfering with the learning of other students—an important part of the learning process is the discussion of multiple perspectives and differing points of view. Mutual respect is an essential part of effective discussions and productive classroom interactions. Students who disrupt the ability of other students to learn may be asked by the teacher to leave the classroom. In more serious cases, a student may be asked not to return to class. So, while disagreements and dissent are a welcomed part of classroom interactions, differences of opinion and values need to be expressed in ways that make it comfortable for others to express their ideas as well.
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