What is academic collusion?

Collusions basically mean cooperating with someone for an illegal or deceitful purpose. When you gang up with your siblings in order to steal candies from your parents, that’s collusion. When you help thieves breach the bank’s security, that’s also collusion. And when you cover up your friend’s crime, that’s definitely collusion. So how is it any better, merely by applying this concept to the word “academic”? In fact, it seems even worse.

Working with others is a fact of life whether you’re at school, at work, or any place that occupies other human beings. Learning is an active process that involves people sharing ideas, clarifying thoughts, and building knowledge through one another. However, a lot of times, the boundaries between collaboration and collusion are a little fuzzy. And you may as well be the oblivious one that crosses the line.

Cooperative learning is meant for peers to help out each other. However, letting them see your work as an example for inspiration is totally different than just letting them turn in the exact same work as yours. Even if you remind them to change words or make adjustments before submitting, it is collusion when “copying” is involved. One way to avoid collusion is to make sure that each member of the group takes their own personal notes of what is happening during the group work sessions. Or simply just give them vague outlines and some key points instead of showing them an example, since it will limit their creativity.

Collusion may also happen out of kindness. When students mark each other’s workbooks or quizzes, is it acceptable to secretly help your friends change answers? First of all, you are lying to the teacher about your friend’s knowledge on the lesson. Quizzes and workbooks are meant for teachers to see student’s progress, to understand where they’re troubling so they can be helped. If you got full marks, teachers will assume you understand everything, naturally, you won’t be the ones that they consider “need-help”. Secondly, these works should be done individually. How is it fair when others study really study hard for a quiz, while you and your friends are sharing answers? This scenario is equivalent to sneaking cheat notes. But instead of hiding it, you make it obvious with your friend’s help, so teachers wouldn’t notice. Therefore, it is definitely unacceptable to do so.

Sometimes, you’re not the one violating rules, but by encouraging them, you’re no better than the one committing it. When your friends want to show you the test questions he or she stole, you need to refuse it. If you agree on cheating, you are approving their actions. With merely just a peek, you’ve crossed over the border, into collusion territory. You may be scared that your peers will judge you, thinking you’re weak and timid. But what are your trying to prove to them by agreeing? That you are as tough and rebellious as them? There’s no point to risk your honesty on people that will backstab you if to don’t compel them.

When you need help on assignments, the best choice is to ask your teacher. But nowadays, a lot of us have tutors. We pay them to check our homework, give us more advanced knowledge. If tutors assist you on writing essays, it is important to inform teachers by marking out where they helped. Teachers can easily tell the essays aren’t in your own words. By not telling them beforehand, your tutor is basically helping you to lie to your teacher. Also, you have to give credits to your tutor, because the ideas didn’t originally come from you. However, if the tutor is only proofreading, such as changing sentence structures or making grammar corrections, then that wouldn’t be count as colluding.

Academic honesty is highly valued at every school. You demonstrate your integrity as individuals and as a school. KAS handbook (section 14) mentioned, “When students and teachers maintain academic honesty, trust is nurtured and our culture of learning is strengthened. ” There are many ways to avoid collusion. One of them is to not discuss questions in detail with other students if you are working on the same question. Even if they do not work directly alongside you, they may come to exactly the same conclusion following a conversation they had with you, and this could be classed as collusion. Another one is that do not lend your work to peers, or leave it where they can access it. It allows others to use your work openly. Even if you trust them, you could get a nasty surprise if it turns out they copied some of your ideas.

No matter if collusion happened intentionally or unconsciously, it is still a mistake. It is essential, building your moral trust. Once you got caught, others will be skeptical on every action you make, or worse, they’ll never believe you. “Tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable.” If your friends threaten to leave you if answers aren’t given to them, then they aren’t worthy to be your company. Inappropriate actions are always unacceptable, no matter under which circumstances. Respect others and yourself.

Office, Quality. “Plagiarism and Collusion.” University of Leicester, 12 Oct. 2016, www2.le.ac.uk/offices/sas2/assessments/plagiarism.

University, La Trobe. “Collusion – what is it?” La Trobe University, www.latrobe.edu.au/students/academic-integrity/explanation/collusion.

“Collusion.” Academic Integrity, academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/forms-of-plagiarism/collusion.

Collusion : Skills Hub: University of Sussex, www.sussex.ac.uk/skillshub/?id=387.