Brief synopsis: This practice‑based oral presentation showcases a series of student‑focused initiatives designed to promote academic integrity at the University of Warwick. It examines how creativity, gamified learning and student-led integrity initiatives can enhance ethics education across disciplines.
Abstract:
This presentation explores a series of initiatives developed at the University of Warwick and Warwick Business School (WBS) to actively engage students in understanding and celebrating academic integrity. Drawing on several years of iterative practice, the initiatives demonstrate how creativity, dialogue, and a sense of ownership can enhance students’ ethical awareness and their confidence in navigating integrity-related challenges, particularly in the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI).
Appealing to Creativity Through Competitions
Since its inception, the Academic Integrity Celebration Team, comprising academics and professional services colleagues from various university departments and functions, has worked collaboratively to design activities that initially spanned one week but have since evolved into a dedicated month of events each academic year. A key insight has been that traditional lecture-style sessions or simply directing students to read institutional guidance often fail to secure meaningful engagement. Instead, the team discovered that creativity offers a powerful route into deeper reflection and participation.
Creative engagement has been linked to improved engagement, adaptability, intrinsic motivation, and purposeful learning outcomes (Kakungulu, 2024). Building on this, the team introduced annual creative competitions in which students submit artefacts responding to a selected theme. Past topics have included the implications of AI in learning, the relationship between academic and professional integrity, and the importance of critical thinking and authenticity when engaging with AI technologies.
Entries may take any creative form such as posters, blogs, short videos, poems, recipes, photographs, or written reflections. Across the competitions, nearly 100 submissions have been received to date. The range and quality of entries demonstrate not only student engagement but also their capacity to articulate integrity-related challenges in innovative ways. Notably, the winner of this year’s competition composed and performed an original song on guitar, illustrating the depth of personal investment such activities can elicit.
Engaging Through Games and On‑Campus Presence
Another successful strand of engagement has involved informal, playful interactions at on-campus stands. These stands create opportunities for spontaneous conversations about academic integrity, supported through quizzes, wordsearches, and small prizes such as notebooks, lip balms and chocolates. This year alone, over 650 students visited the stands, with nearly 300 chocolate bars awarded.
While the offer of “not-so-free” freebies initially draws attention, these interactions quickly evolve into meaningful discussions about the appropriate use of AI, the value of authenticity, and the reasons academic integrity matters across disciplines and future professions. The approachable and low‑pressure format has been particularly effective for students who might not otherwise attend structured workshops or formal sessions (Khan et al., 2021).
Enhancing Ownership Through Student-Led Championing Initiatives
Inspired by the initiative introduced by the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), WBS developed their own Academic Integrity Champion scheme (QAA, 2023) to further embed student partnership within integrity promotion (Cook-Sather et al., 2014). Over the past two academic years, WBS has recruited students as Academic Integrity Champions with responsibilities that include promoting integrity via digital content and social media, directing students to support services, co-leading events, and contributing to the development and dissemination of guidance.
The Champions have undertaken projects such as analysing student engagement with integrity resources and implementing peer‑to‑peer communication strategies to promote their use. They have also organised their own stands to facilitate conversations with fellow students from a peer perspective, often perceived as more relatable and trustworthy.
This model empowers students as co-creators in shaping an ethical learning environment. By positioning them as advocates and mentors, the initiative fosters shared responsibility for academic integrity while enhancing students’ institutional belonging, disciplinary identity, and confidence in navigating ethical challenges (Morgan, 2024). It also reinforces the idea that integrity is not merely a rule-bound requirement but a collective value that underpins community, credibility, and professional development.
Conclusion
Collectively, these initiatives highlight the importance of diverse, student-centred approaches to academic integrity education. Creative competitions enable students to explore complex issues in authentic and personally meaningful ways. Gamified interactions provide accessible entry points for dialogue, lowering barriers to engagement. Student champion programmes cultivate ownership, empowerment, and a sustainable culture of peer-led integrity.
The Warwick’s experience suggests that effective academic integrity education extends well beyond traditional, policy-driven communication. Instead, it thrives when students are invited to participate actively, think critically, create freely, and take collective responsibility for shaping an ethical academic community. As AI and other emerging technologies reshape the learning landscape, such approaches may become increasingly vital in supporting students to navigate ambiguity with integrity, confidence, and a strong sense of agency.
Keywords: Academic Integrity, Creative Student Engagement, Gamified Learning, Student-led Integrity Initiatives
References
Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. Jossey-Bass
Kakungulu, S. & University II, Kampala International (2024). The Impact of Creative Arts on Student Engagement and Learning. Research Invention Journal of Research in Education, 4, 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.59298/RIJRE/2024/4115
Khan, Z. R., Dyer, J., Bjelobaba, S., Gomes, S. F., Henek Dlabolova, D., Sivasubramaniam, S., Biju, S. M., Hysaj, A., & Harish, P. (2021). Initiating count down - gamification of academic integrity. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 17(6), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-020-00068-0
Morgan, J. (2024). Fostering belonging in higher education: Implications for student retention and wellbeing. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/news-and-views/fostering-belonging-higher-education-implications-student-retention-and-wellbeing
QAA (2023). Improving student learning by combining accessibility/inclusion with academic integrity: Student Academic Integrity CHAMPION model. https://www.qaa.ac.uk/membership/collaborative-enhancement-projects/academic-integrity/the-improvement-of-student-learning-by-linking-inclusion-accessibility-and-academic-integrity