Honesty Pledges - also known as Honor Codes or Statements - can be leveraged as an active learning strategy for discussions with students about what it means to work with honesty, honor, and integrity in academic, community, and professional settings.
This resource, adapted to the UMN context, is based on samples originally created for faculty at the University of Rochester.
Honor Pledge Samples
- Exams: "I affirm that I will not give or receive any unauthorized help on this exam, and that all work will be my own."
- Graded Assignments: "I affirm that I have not given or received any unauthorized help on this assignment, and that this work is my own."
- Group Projects: "I accept responsibility for my role in ensuring the integrity of the work submitted by the group in which I participated." (Refer to Group Project Guidelines for more information)
- Graded Assignments: "I affirm that I have not given or received any unauthorized help on this assignment, and that this work is my own."
Two additional steps are commonly advocated for in research about honor pledges:
- Set up an interactive discussion with students about honor, honesty, integrity at multiple points in a semester (eg, an early introduction, and as a renewed focus as students begin a new major assignment or should be starting their preparation for a major exam)
- Link the signing of codes to an active learning experience, for example a short writing linked to Classroom Activities/Assessment Techniques (CATs), such as those noted in the Center for Educational Innovation’s Classroom Assessment/Activities Techniques - CATs Guide.
Two Possible Prompts for Active Learning
Graded Assignments: A prompt using the 3-2-1 CATs strategy
Exams: A prompt using the Think-Peer-Share CATs strategy