This is a preprint. The published chapter is available here:  https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95423-5.00003-X

1. Introduction

It is well documented that students enter South African higher education  institutions (SAHEIs) underprepared for the rigors of tertiary education (van As, 2020; van As et al., 2016; van Wyk & Yeld, 2013). According to the Council on Higher Education (CHE, 2016), there has been substantial growth in the number of African first-generation students1 entering the postapartheid education system, but it still bodes ill that this group of students has the highest failure and attrition rates in higher education (HE) (CHE, 2016: 63). Various aspects contribute to the attrition and failure rate such as the articulation gap between secondary and tertiary education (van As et al., 2016), the difficulty with transitioning to HE (Lombard, 2020; Maila & Ross, 2018), epistemological access (Maphosa et al., 2017), possible language barriers (van Rooy & Coetzee-Van Rooy, 2015), and the difficulty of acquiring academic and disciplinary language (van Wyk & Yeld, 2013), to name but a few. These aspects as well as socio economic pressures can lead to unknowing and knowing (as a coping mechanism) practices of academic misconduct.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted virtually all aspects of human life; including the way we do business as usual (Corbera et al., 2020; Zhao, 2020) and the difficulties with understanding, navigating, and applying the principles of academic integrity at the university were further compounded by the sudden move to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL). This added an extra layer of difficulty for students, learning to navigate online learning as all academic activities had to be moved online and they were expected to adhere to the principles of academic integrity in this new environment. Thus, students’ learning, navigation, and application of content knowledge as well as concepts such as academic integrity were affected by access to devices and data, poor connectivity in rural areas, failing electrical infrastructure in the country, a lack of digital literacy, and in the case of first-generation students, almost no academic support structures. Students were also expected to adapt to online pedagogies with no prior knowledge or experience of how to learn online. This led to high levels of stress and cognitive overload. The quick ERTL pivot also meant that lecturers adapted their curricula to the best of their abilities, with little or no prior knowledge or instruction regarding online/emergency pedagogies. Unknowingly, certain cohorts of students were placed at a disadvantage due to this quick transition leaving them more vulnerable to failure (Czerniewicz et al., 2020).
Even though issues linked to academic integrity/misconduct have always been present in the academic system, the move to ERTL magnified and intensified this conundrum with more instances of intentional and unintentional misconduct being reported. This is because with all learning taking place online (1) students felt overwhelmed, (2) students were not trained properly for remote and online learning as well as academic integrity, and (3), Google became an easily accessible tutor and advisor who helped students find websites and companies that can support them in their learning journey. In some instances, students found predatory companies that threaten to blackmail them if they stop using their services. Students were also offered unsolicited “support” through personal messaging services and social media. This brings to the fore the complexity of academic misconduct in online spaces as these instances illustrate that students may unknowingly participate in questionable behavior.
As our institution moves out of ERTL to a blended approach to teaching and learning, we, as the researchers, have an opportunity to question and reflect on the academic practices, administration, and available student support structures (Fig. 3) within our institution and reflect on how academic integrity/misconduct can be reframed for the postpandemic SAHEIs taking into consideration the additional layers that the online teaching and learning space bring.
As part of this reflection, we acknowledge that students have been too often positioned as the decontextualized learner2 without recognizing the diverse needs and life experiences (Corbera et al., 2020) or the various discourses with which students enter tertiary education and we need to acknowledge students’ experience and background as part of this reflection. Furthermore, it also helps us understand the underlying causes of why students are dishonest, which can help us build in support mechanisms. As part of learning excellence, students need to be seen as social beings rather than decontextualized learners, SAHEIs need to recognize that students arrive at university through a schooling system of varied educational quality (Spaull, 2015). Practices such as rote memorization and copying have been used, and in some instances, taught as learning strategies, which stands in contravention with the idea of how knowledge works at the university level. Thus, the primary discourses that students enter university with might stand in direct opposition to the expected and implicit secondary discourse of the academe. Therefore, to cope with the expectations of HE, institutions have a responsibility to induct students into their learning and teaching approaches. Furthermore, institutions should provide explicit guidance, support, and learning opportunities to induct students into the expected academic culture linked to academic integrity.
Other external factors (Fig. 1) can also lead to academic misconduct. Many students at SAHEIs are heavily dependent on bursaries (NSFAS, 2022), where poor performance may lead to bursaries being taken away, students may also be first-generation students with the responsibility to better their entire family’s financial situation through obtaining a degree, or students have to navigate the pressures placed on them by the institution such as possible academic exclusion or certain mark related program requirements to continue with their studies. Learning context also plays a role. Less than 10% of South African students are English first language speakers (South Africa Gateway, 2018) Furthermore, the foundations for the literacy practices required at university are not developed at the school level. Another learning context issue students need to face is institutions’ reliance on high-stakes testing. Massification can also affect students’ use of dishonest practices as the staff-to-student ratios are extremely high, providing little opportunity for checking and asking questions about academic content or academic behavior (integrity). And, as has already been mentioned, the move to ERTL due to the pandemic has also played a role as students struggled to access material and find support.