Biography
Biography pending.
Conference contributions 1
CHEATING OR ADAPTING? REFRAMING ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT POLICIES IN LIGHT OF STUDENT USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS.
The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence tools into academic life has forced universities worldwide to ask an uncomfortable question: when students use AI, are they cheating, or simply adapting to the tools of their time? In Moroccan higher education, this tension is particularly visible, as institutions struggle to enforce academic integrity policies that were designed long before tools like ChatGPT existed. This study aims to examine how students across different disciplines perceive and justify their use of artificial intelligence in academic work, and to interrogate whether existing misconduct policies adequately reflect the realities of today's digital learning environment. Drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with 53 students from multiple faculties across Moroccan universities, including humanities, sciences, and engineering, this research captures a diverse range of student voices, motivations, and ethical reasoning. Findings reveal that the majority of students do not perceive AI use as dishonest, but rather as a practical and necessary academic survival strategy, particularly in contexts where guidance from institutions remains absent or contradictory. Students consistently highlighted the gap between what policies prohibit and what their academic workload practically demands. These results suggest that punitive approaches to AI use are not only ineffective but risk deepening student disengagement. Universities are therefore urged to move beyond policing toward policy reimagination, developing clear, contextually sensitive, and educationally grounded frameworks that treat artificial intelligence as a pedagogical reality rather than an institutional threat.