Academic honesty and integrity are fundamental values in a community of scholars. When a student accepts unauthorized aid in completing academic work, or uses another person's ideas, words, or results without giving appropriate credit it is considered cheating or plagiarism.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA or the Buckley Amendment) is a United States federal law codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, with implementing regulations in title 34, part 99 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The regulations provide that educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under a program administered by the U. S. Department of Education must provide students with access to their education records, an opportunity to seek to have the records amended, and some control over the disclosure of information from the records. With several exceptions, schools must have a student's consent prior to the disclosure of education records. Examples of situations affected by FERPA include school employees divulging information to anyone other than the student about the student's grades or behavior, and school work posted on a bulletin board with a grade.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. Civil and criminal remedies may be imposed for violations of an author's copyright interests. Michigan State University is committed to obeying copyright law.

Be aware of how the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and copyright  laws affect the contents both you and your students display in the course. Consider in advance how you will deal with issues of academic honesty and be sure you clearly state your policies.