Grade Integrity Policy

It is the responsibility of course instructors to ensure the integrity of the grades assigned in their courses.  Consequently, instructors must take reasonable steps to ensure that the grades are an accurate reflection of the student’s mastery of the subject and performance in the course. In recognition of the fact that grades take many different types of work product into account, such as team projects, class participation, online discussion boards, homework, papers, quizzes, and exams, some of which are done without any face-to-face supervision, proctoring, or cheating/plagiarism-detection analysis, it is important to develop a policy that is flexible but at the same time provides a clear expectation of how to meet a minimum standard for the integrity of UF course grades. This policy covers all courses regardless of the format.

The term “assignment” here is used to cover all work which is graded and contributes to the final grade. In general, instructors are required to take reasonable steps to ensure the following:

• The identity of the student claiming credit for the assignment
• The work that is graded is the student’s own work
• No student has an unfair advantage over other students by using outside assistance or tools not permitted under the rules of the assignment 

In recognition of the difficulty in ensuring all these conditions are met, especially for term papers, and online quizzes and exams, this policy requires that:

• At least 50% of the course grade must be determined from assignments that are either completed in a proctored environment or are subject to cheating/anti-plagiarism analysis by an accepted tool such as Turnitin

Approved by the General Education Committee on February 6, 2015.