First Academic Integrity Week scheduled

By Steve Koehler

OTC’s first-ever Academic Integrity Week begins Monday with five days of free events and discussions that are open to students, employees and the public.

“This week has been planned to promote the college’s core value of integrity and to draw awareness to the idea that a col­lege should be a showcase of honest effort and personal growth, with the highest of personal and professional standards,” said Michael Madden, dean of learning resources.

The schedule includes:

•Monday: Noon, Lincoln 211, the showing of “Shattered Glass,” one of the best films about journalism since “All the President’s Men.” It tells the true story of Stephen Glass, who falsified numerous highly praised articles as a hot, seemingly gifted reporter for The New Republic magazine in the late 1990s.

• Tuesday: Noon, Information Commons East 123, “The Cheating Crisis.” This 2007 ABC News Primetime report on the cheating epidemic in American schools and colleges shocked the educational community and sparked discussion and arguments across the nation.  

• Wednesday: Noon, Lincoln 211. A panel discussion will be held with Springfield employers and human resources professionals to discuss the qualities and concerns that are important to them when reviewing applications and hiring new employees.

• Thursday: 10:30 a.m., The Writing Center, Information Commons 200. A student workshop on avoiding plagiarism. The director of the OTC Writing Center, and the electronic services librarian, will offer students information on understanding and overcoming unintentional plagiarism.  

• Friday: 1 p.m., ICE 123A. A faculty discussion on designing a plagiarism-proof writing assignment. English faculty present a roundtable discussion of strategies for creating writing assignments that demand student originality in thinking, researching, and writing.

For further information contact Mike Madden at maddenm@otc.edu.

Steve Koehler is coordinator of publications at Ozarks Technical Community College.