A university professor has launched a course to educate students on academic misconduct, in what he calls a “lazy” attempt to get them to stop engaging in the academic misconduct that causes them to lose their jobs.

Dr John Tait is a professor of psychology at Griffith University in Australia.

He said he wanted to educate his students “on what causes academic misconduct” so they would stop engaging with it.

“The idea is to get these people to be aware of what’s happening in the classroom and what’s going on around them and be able to do something about it,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

In a video posted to Facebook, Dr Tait said he would give students an online course to help them deal with academic misconduct.

The course would be called “The Science of Academic Misconduct” and would focus on the science of academic misconduct and how to identify it, he said.

Teachers would be “expertise seekers” and “advocates” and they would help students identify when they had engaged in academic misconduct or been “lacked in their professional capacity”.

“Students will be encouraged to make their own decisions about academic integrity and they will be given a set of recommendations on how to avoid academic misconduct in the future,” Dr Tach said.

Dr Tait says the course would also cover “other aspects of academics” including “cultural competency” and how students were expected to act.

“[These] topics will be covered through the course so students will be able explore topics relating to the social justice, social justice culture, cultural competency, and ethical issues that impact academics and how academics should conduct themselves,” he said in a statement.

Under the course, the university would offer a range of tools to students, including advice on “social justice-related behaviours” and the “advice that you need to give your students”.

Dr Tach is also working on a new online course called “Why do academics behave this way?”, which he says will address the “lack of support for students in the workplace”.

Professor Tait also said he hoped to make the course free for students to download and give away.

A spokesperson for the university said it was “currently working with the Department of Human Services on a range” of issues, including a “possible public consultation on changes to academic misconduct legislation”.

Topics:arts-and-entertainment,law-crime-and,mental-health,government-and/or-politics,education,education-policy,australiaFirst posted May 31, 2018 07:59:34Contact Paul FarrarMore stories from New South Wales