Resumen de Differences in Chemistry Instructor Views of Assessment and Academic Integrity as Highlighted by the COVID Pandemic

Brittland K. Dekorver, Mitchell Krahulik, Deborah G. Herrington

• The COVID-19 pandemic confronted chemistry instructors worldwide with many new challenges as they were quickly required to make the shift to remote instruction. One of these challenges was administering assessments in an online format. This was the topic of many discussions in the online support group Strategies for Teaching Chemistry (SFTC). This study aimed to analyze the discussions taking place in SFTC that focused on assessment and academic integrity. A phenomenographic analysis was conducted in order to identify the different philosophies of assessment expressed by members of the online SFTC community. Constructivism and behaviorism were used as a lens to characterize instructors’ ideas about assessment and examine how these ideas intersect with issues of academic integrity. Finally, results were analyzed via the fraud triangle to offer implications for mitigating cheating and promoting an environment of academic integrity. The results indicate that an instructor’s methods to promote academic integrity in their classroom are influenced by their teaching philosophy and their beliefs about assessment.