Digital Imaging Applications or Fabrications: Preserving Academic Integrity in a Geomatics Engineering Technical Elective Course

Abstract. Project-based and group work oriented courses can be used to prepare engineering students for professional practice. At the same time, these course formats present increased risks related to academic integrity. This paper presents a case study of the “Digital Imaging & Applications” course, a fourth-year technical elective in the geomatics engineering program at the University of Calgary, which contributes to both the professional engineering and surveying accreditation requirements. Following two post-pandemic offerings in which serious breaches of academic integrity were identified, this paper examines pedagogical and structural factors that contributed to these outcomes. These included insufficient prerequisite alignment for certain students, imbalanced group formation, reduced engagement associated with a no-exam assessment model, and delayed identification of problematic submissions. Current institutional policies and procedures governing academic misconduct are summarized to provide organizational context. A set of preventative and mitigation strategies was proposed and partially implemented in a subsequent course offering. These included revised prerequisites, increased assessment through low-stakes quizzes, instructor-guided and rotating group formation, formalized group contracts and peer evaluation, and stricter differentiation of project datasets. The benefits and limitations of these measures are discussed. This paper concludes that preserving academic integrity in advanced, project-based engineering courses requires a layered and proactive instructional approach that balances authentic learning, accreditation requirements, and institutional constraints.