Academic Honesty and Student Code of Conduct

Table of Contents

• Student Code of Conduct
• Academic Honesty and Integrity
• Identity Verification
• Plagiarism
• Examination Policies
• Investigation of Violations
• Sanctions
• Appeals

Student Code of Conduct

StraighterLine has created a Student Code of Conduct, the tenets of which apply to all student conduct, whether academic or administrative. By taking a course at StraighterLine, all students agree to comply with these policies. Students of StraighterLine agree:

• that all answers to application or registration information questions are true.
• to keep passwords and other account access information for StraighterLine and its partners confidential.
• that they are responsible for completing and submitting all graded assessments personally and will not permit another student, a family member, or other person to act on his or her behalf in the completion of graded work.
• to avoid actions that create a hostile or threatening learning environment for others.
• to report known violations of this code of conduct as soon as possible to Student Advisors.
• to provide documentation to verify identity or answer questions designed to verify identity as requested by StraighterLine staff or 3rd parties prior to, during and after examinations, assignment submissions, logins, during phone calls or any other interaction with StraighterLine’s staff or web-presence.
• to undergo proctoring during examinations and timed writing exercises as required by StraighterLine, whether applied to all students or specifically required by StraighterLine staff.

Academic Honesty and Integrity

Honesty and integrity are as highly valued at StraighterLine as they are at all of StraighterLine’s partner colleges. This webpage details the StraighterLine Academic Honesty Policy as it pertains to examinations, proctoring, written papers and essays and general course interactions. Every student enrolled in StraighterLine courses will be fairly treated.Z

Academic integrity violations include all forms of academic dishonesty, including, but not limited to:

• Plagiarism - Use of another person’s work or ideas without proper acknowledgment of the source.
• Fabrication - Falsification or invention of any information, citation, data, or documentation.
• Cheating - Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance, attempting to give or receive such assistance, or using unauthorized materials in connection with the performance of any academic work.  This includes providing your login to another individual to access content and complete work on your behalf.
• Collusion - Helping or allowing another student to commit any act of academic dishonesty.

Plagiarism, cheating, or other types of academic integrity and policy violations may constitute in immediate failure of the assignment in question. Deliberate or sustained violations will result in automatic failure of the course and could result in a student being removed from all current enrollments and services without refund. StraighterLine reserves the right to audit any and all student work for potential cheating, and require proctored examinations for students whose accounts have been flagged for suspicious behavior.

Identity Verification

StraighterLine works hard to verify student identity to ensure that the student who registers is the student who completes the course, requests a transcript, and receives credit for their completed courses. Please understand that Identity Verification systems are not designed to be roadblocks to your progress in courses; rather they are put in place to provide our partners and your future college with the confidence that you are a capable and trustworthy student.

Identity verification includes, but is not limited to, out-of-band processes (calling/texting a number and verifying student information), embedded question verification (answering questions based on publicly available information about the student), and connecting established network identities to StraighterLine’s authentication system or proctoring services.

Plagiarism

All students enrolling in courses that include written assessments will be required to complete a plagiarism training module and verify their understanding of this information prior to continuing on in courses.

Written student work is evaluated against industry-leading plagiarism detection software; by taking a course through StraighterLine, students agree that all required papers, essays, and written work may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to plagiarism software for the detection of plagiarism. Plagiarism software compares student work to several sources including other student work, public websites, various institutional archives, the Internet, and the Global Reference Database.

This software provides a comparison of student work to information available that will be reviewed by trained staff members to evaluate whether or not a submission violates the Academic Honesty Policy.  In the event that a violation is verified StraighterLine, will penalize students as detailed below in the Sanctions section of the Academic Honesty Policy.

Examinations Policies

StraighterLine’s requirement for all final exams to be proctored takes effect for courses purchased on or after November 1, 2012.

For more information about taking examinations at StraighterLine please refer to this information regarding Examinations and Assessments.  

• Use of the following resources, services and aids during this exam is strictly prohibited by the StraighterLine Student Handbook:
  • Additional texts or reference materials not listed within the course syllabus,
  • Search engines (Google.com, Ask.com, Yahoo Answers, etc.),
  • Question and answer sites,
  • Study sites,
  • Tutoring,
  • Forums,
  • Chat applications,
  • Landline or cellular phones,
  • Or any other resources, services or websites not explicitly permitted in the exam detail spreadsheet or authorized by a StraighterLine staff member in writing
• By submitting your answers for this graded exam to StraighterLine, you confirm that this work is your own.

Investigation of Violations

Staff of StraighterLine and its partners review student work and identify possible violations of the Academic Honesty Policy using plagiarism detection software, Identity Verification records, and other tools.

In the event that the Academic Honesty policy or Student Code of Conduct have been violated, staff will, at a minimum, take steps to notify the student via email. StraighterLine additionally may add holds to student accounts, prevent transcripts from being processed, or take other actions as deemed appropriate until the student is once again in “good standing” with StraighterLine. Any actions required of a student to be once again in “good standing” will be relayed to the student via email or phone. During the investigation process, StraighterLine may impose any additional penalties at its discretion. If further infractions are discovered, StraighterLine reserves the right to remove students from courses and cancel their account. (No refunds will be made available.)

Sanctions

The following sanctions may be levied in reaction to students breaking the policies laid out in this student handbook:

1. Written Warning: Students will be warned in writing via email (to the email address on file within our student records) of further or pending discipline as a result of their behavior or actions using the StraighterLine course management system.
2. Grade reduction (Assignment): Students may receive a grade reduction or zero for a specific assignment.
3. Grade reduction (Course): Students may receive a grade reduction or zero for a course.
4. Restriction: Violations of the Student Code of Conduct may result in the immediate removal from StraighterLine’s learning management system and restrictions to any of StraighterLine’s affiliate websites.

Appeals

Any student charged with a violation of the Code shall have the opportunity to appeal. The appeals procedure shall provide both substantive and procedural fairness for the student or student organization alleged to have violated the Code and shall provide for resolution of cases within a reasonable period of time. 

To submit an appeal, the student must send an email to the Student Advisor presenting the following:

• The student's account of events;
• Any additional materials or evidence that may substantially alter a decision.

The Director of Academics, a Student Advisor, and one additional SL staff member will review the appeal and render a decision on the appeal within 30 days.

All documentation concerning a question of student conduct and the academic honesty policy will be added to a student's records, including original submissions, alleged plagiarism sources, grades, partner reviews of information, appeals, email conversations, and any other supporting materials.