Student Ethics Policy

Ethics

As a student of the EDUKAN system, you will abide by all rules and regulations published by EDUKAN and agree that you are subject to the jurisdiction of all disciplinary panels and procedures established by Pratt Community College address violations of rules or the honor code of your college.

Student Work

With the exception of group/collaborative projects explicitly assigned as such by your instructor, all coursework submitted to your instructor shall be performed solely by you. You will not submit work that is plagiarized or that otherwise violates copyright laws of the United States of America. If you have been found guilty of academic misconduct by your college of enrollment and disciplinary action results in banning you from the course and/or future enrollment at that college, you will then be banned from enrolling in any EDUKAN courses from another member college.

EDUKAN believes that personal integrity and academic honesty are fundamental to scholarship. EDUKAN has the confidence in the integrity of you the student and encourages you to exercise good judgment in fulfilling this responsibility.

Actions contrary to academic integrity will NOT be tolerated. Activities that have the effect or intention of interfering with learning or fair evaluation of a student’s work or performance are considered a breach of academic integrity.

Examples of such unacceptable activities include, but are not limited to:

  • Cheating – intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized material for assistance in any academic work.
  • Plagiarism – representing another’s ideas, words, expressions or data in writing or presentation without giving proper credit, failing to cite a reference or failing to use proper documentation, using works of another gained over the Internet and submitted as one’s own work.
  • Contract Cheating – student contracts or requests services with an individual (e.g., family member, friend, significant other, etc.) or company to complete assignments, homework, exams, or any course work completed by an individual other than the student.
  • Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) – Students must not conceal their identity (e.g. using a VPN network or as an anonymous user) when accessing and completing coursework.      
  • Falsification and/or Misrepresentation of Data – submitting contrived or made-up information in any academic exercise.
  • Facilitating Academic Dishonesty – knowingly helping or attempting to help another violate any provision of the academic integrity policy.
  • Multiple Submission – submitting, without prior approval from the instructor, any work submitted to fulfill academic requirements in another class.
  • Unfair Advantage – trying to gain unauthorized advantage over fellow students.
  • BioSig ID Violation – Student who exhibits unusual activity in an EDUKAN course as a result of verification validations and are reported by the BioSig ID suspicious activity reporting system. 

Student Identity Verification (BioSig ID) and EDUKAN Student

EDUKAN students are required to complete BioSig ID verification validations throughout the course.  Students who exhibit unusual activity in an EDUKAN course as reported by the BioSig ID suspicious activity reporting system will be notified by email that sharing of login credentials with anyone is a violation of the EDUKAN Student Ethics Policy.  Violation of this policy can result in the student receiving a failing grade for any coursework related to the violation, possible failure of the course, as well as expulsion. 

Reports of Student Ethics Violations

Complaints, incidents or referrals regarding student ethic violations described above should be reported to the EDUKAN Faculty Manager.  The Faculty Manager will initiate all investigation processes and facilitate communication between, the faculty, and the college of enrollment. 

Investigation

Any and all violations to the Student Ethic Policy should be submitted in writing on the EDUKAN Incident Report form.  The EDUKAN Faculty Manager will investigate including EDUKAN Administration, Faculty, and College of Enrollment to determine the action to be taken. 

Rights and Responsibilities

Student:  Cooperation and Right to Respond.  The student against who the charge is directed will be expected to cooperate with the investigation, including making him/herself available for any communication related.  The student shall be given an opportunity to respond to any allegation of violation of this policy.  Correspondence can be communicated via email, phone, video conference (e.g., skype, zoom etc.), or in person.  Failure to do so will result in the College of Enrollment making the decision without the benefit of students input. 

Faculty:  Cooperation and Right to Participate.  EDUKAN gives faculty members the opportunity to participate in the investigation.  If the faculty member does not want to pursue the situation from an administrative level the EDUKAN Administration Team will act on behalf of the faculty and keep them notified throughout the process. 

 

Student Appeal

The student’s college of enrollment may assign other penalties and/or restrictions following any notification of student ethic policy violations.  The student has the right to appeal the decision by contacting the student’s college of enrollment.

Student as EDUKAN System User

As a user of the Internet courses of EDUKAN, you will respect the privacy of other users, the integrity of the computer systems, and other users’ data. It is your responsibility to respect the copyright protection of all licensed computer software used by EDUKAN. You will not violate the security of the EDUKAN system through hacking, phishing, or running malicious programs such as spyware, viruses, and another unauthorized web content. You will not harass, stalk, threaten, abuse, insult, or humiliate any student, instructor, or administrator using the EDUKAN computer system or any other computer system utilized by EDUKAN. If you have been found guilty of any of the actions identified above by your college of enrollment and disciplinary action results in banning you from the course or courses and/or future enrollment in a course or courses at that college, you will then be banned from enrolling in any EDUKAN course or courses from another member college.

Classroom Environment

You will respect the EDUKAN classroom environment. You will not intentionally obstruct, disrupt or interfere with the teaching and learning that occurs on the EDUKAN website. You will not engage in any activity that demeans any EDUKAN student, instructor, or administrator. Such activities include, but are not limited to, oral and written communication that is ethnically derogatory, sexist, or racist in nature; unwanted sexual advances or intimidation; profane communication in any manner.

Legal Action

As a member of the EDUKAN community, you are held accountable for upholding not only civil and criminal laws, but your college of enrollment standards as well. You will be held liable for monetary damages for any such wrongful actions you undertake. Should EDUKAN or your college of enrollment pursue legal action against you, the venue will be the State of Kansas. Enrollment confers neither immunity nor special consideration with reference to civil and criminal laws. Disciplinary action by EDUKAN or your college of enrollment will not be subject to postponement on the grounds that criminal charges involving the same incident have been dismissed, reduced or are pending in a civil or criminal court. In addition, your college of enrollment reserves the right to pursue disciplinary action if a student violates a standard and withdraws from the college before administrative action is final.

Grievance Policy and Procedure 

Policy

The purpose of this policy is to secure, at the lowest possible level, equitable solutions to problems, which may arise, affecting college employees, students, or others. This does not include grade appeal. (Furthermore, this does not include termination or non-renewal of tenured faculty members, which shall be handled pursuant to statutory provisions; grievances relative to Title VI, VII IX, Section 504 or the ADA, which shall be handled pursuant to the grievance procedure for such action, adopted by the Board). It is agreed that these proceedings will be kept as informal and confidential as may be appropriate at any level of the procedure. If at any time during the proceedings, the aggrieved person feels his/her problem is not being handled in a satisfactory manner, they should document the grievance/complaint in writing and submit to the EDUKAN office.  

Procedure
  1. Level One – The Chief Executive Officer of EDUKAN.
    If the complaint cannot be resolved at a lower level, the aggrieved person shall notify the Chief Executive Officer of EDUKAN and request an informal conference with the appropriate dean, within ten (10) working days after the grievance occurs. Upon receipt of the written grievance/complaint, the conference will be scheduled. At this conference, the aggrieved person should seek to resolve the matter informally.
  2. Level Two – President of the Specific Community College. 
    If the aggrieved person is not satisfied with the disposition of his/her grievance at Level One, or if no decision has been rendered within five (5) working days after presentation of the formal complaint in writing to the EDUKAN office, he/she may file the grievance/complaint in writing, with the President, or his/her designee, within ten (10) working days after the decision at level one, or fifteen (15) working days after the written documentation was presented, whichever is sooner.

    Within five (5) working days after receipt of the written grievance/complaint by the President, or his/her designee, the President, or his/her designee, shall meet with the aggrieved person in an effort to resolve the grievance/complaint.