06/02/2025

Summer Series Post-Blog 1. Building Momentum

by Amanda McKenzie and Ainsley Rouse

The Summer Series of webinars continues the blog takeover! Here is the post-webinar blog where the presenters for Workshop 1. Building Momentum on May 30 reflect on the session and offer some takeaways. 

It was fitting to kick off the ICAI Summer Webinar Series with a talk on building momentum. There was a certain energy and buzz in the presentation and chat – a real feeling of coming together and sharing. People who work in this niche field are passionate about it and it shows!

Using the swell of comradery and enthusiasm, we encourage those who want to build a culture of integrity to seize this moment. Reflect and review where your institution is presently at in regard to academic integrity. Reach out and tap into people with expertise in this area and utilize the AIRS 2.0 and the McCabe Academic Integrity Survey – which are a benefit to you as a member of ICAI.

Determine who in your senior administration supports academic integrity and sees the value. Collect as much data and interest as you can and begin to thread together a plan. Rally your supporters and explore the possibilities. There is no one right way to do this and every institution will have its own path forward.

Every step counts and it will take time and energy, but it’s worth it! There might be times where you make leaps and bounds, then stagnate and even lose ground sometimes. Regroup, reflect and revise where needed. Ainsley and I have both experienced setbacks and they were painful, but we persisted!

To build on Tricia Bertram Gallant’s when a 1000 flowers bloom blog – our work is like a flower – it needs the dark to recoup and rest so it can be ready to grow in the light. It also needs to feed itself through the dirt and rain - without any of these things the flower cannot bloom and spread.

Amanda McKenzie oversees the Office of Academic Integrity at the University of Waterloo. She was one of the co-founders of ICAI Canadian Regional Consortium (ICAI Canada), and an Officer and Board Member of the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI). 

Ainsley Rouse is the Associate Director, Academic Integrity at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where she leads the Academic Integrity Hub in the Provost's Office. She is the Provincial Advisor for BC for ICAI's Canadian National Consortium.

The authors' views are their own.

Thank you for being a member of ICAI. Not a member of ICAI yet? Check out the benefits of membership and consider joining us by visiting our membership page. Be part of something great!