Academic Integrity, Ableist Assessment Design, and Pedagogies of Disclosure

Abstract

Having a more holistic understanding of accessibility in relation to academic integrity that goes beyond a discussion of learning disabilities and accommodation forms is necessary for higher education to be inclusive of disabled learners and critically explore the purpose of academic integrity equitably. This chapter first defines ableism and how it can manifest itself on campus and in online courses to then briefly frame the ableist nature of remote proctoring software and how assessment design is often itself ableist in necessitating proctoring software. The chapter will expand on the problematic nature of competition in high-stakes assessments that is necessarily at odds with accessibility and builds pedagogical barriers to reinforce how signature pedagogies in some disciplines can continue to support inequitable and ableist assessments. The chapter highlights the need to review assessment design and pedagogy to be accessible. It ends by emphasizing how trust needs to be built in educational spaces and that it is a lack of trust and opaque procedures that guides many of the inequitable and ableist academic integrity practices and policies in higher education institutions. It suggests four strategies to support assessment design that keep accessibility in mind and that in turn support a necessary conversation that centers citational ethics instead of surveillance that can harm disabled learners.