I reported cheating in an online exam and now I am scared the professor is going to blame me

Question

I took an exam online and immediately after the exam typed in the programming question on google to see if there is an answer out there so I have an idea if I did well on the exam. I found on Chegg that people were taking pictures of their computer screen with the exam questions and I reported it to the professor.

Now I really regret doing that because I am 100% sure the professor will look at my protected exam video and try to blame me for cheating as well.

Can I be blamed for cheating on an exam without a proof, and if I didn't do anything wrong? the reason why I think the professor will watch the video is because I sent him an email telling him that there were some background noises from outside of the room during the exam, in case the screen protecting software detects the sounds and flags my exam, it happened to me before in another course and the professor said that only if the exam is flagged will she watch the video but this professor said he will watch the video and let me know if he has any questions. what are the chances of something like that happening, and if I am accused with cheating, how will I be even able to prove I didn't?

Answer 1

I don't understand your exam situation as you describe it, but that's not really an issue.

Yes, if that professor has had an academic dishonesty issue with you, it is a reality that the professor may choose to look at your work more rigorously than otherwise. Your performance is what generates the way people think about you. Even so, the plagiarism you describe doesn't really suggest that you would cheat on an exam. I have, in the context of academic honesty hearings that I've served on, seen students have two findings against them in the same semester by the same prof.

If your academic dishonesty incident was in another class with another professor, your current professor would, by policy, not be aware of the incident unless directly told by the other professor, and that is really frowned upon in many places. If this is the case, there would be no reason to focus extra attention on your work.

I don't understand your situation about the video, even a little bit. If you sealed your exam prior to opening the browser to search for the question, you should be OK, unless somehow there is real evidence of cheating on your exam or on the video.

All that said, you can't see what's on Chegg without a Chegg account. With a finding of academic dishonesty against you, I strongly recommend deleting your Chegg account, and never log on to it again, either with your account or a "borrowed" account. You have a finding against you. A second finding will yield real penalties, and a third might lead to a permanent separation. You would be amazed by how often I hear the word "Chegg" at academic honesty hearings.

Answer 2

The time stamp for when you submitted your exam will be EARLIER than the time stamp for when you started your on-line search.

For all other cases, as the saying goes: Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Your case will be reviewed as appropriate to the level of evidence. The burden of proof that you did cheat (again) or not is likely first left for the instructor to determine. Your arguments will not be weighed for validation that the evidence is beyond any reasonable doubt. Rather, they will be weighted based on the metric of what will a reasonable person conclude from this body of evidence. All that the instructor needs to be able to say is ... This student was told not to undertake this action, and the evidence reasonably shows that this student undertook this action.

The best bet to clarify where you stand is to summarize your statements in writing and to present them to the faculty instructor before the instructor decides to review your case. Only the instructor can answer your questions without hypothetical generalizations.

Finally, academic misconduct is NEVER excusable as being "unintentional". You have a responsibility as a student to learn the rules that govern your conduct while at the university. You were certainly presented with a written code of conduct by the university and perhaps also by the professor before the course if not before you entered the university. Otherwise, you could not have been charged with misconduct for your behavior. A claim after the fact that you cheated but that your cheating was "unintentional" suggests a degree of laziness, disrespect, arrogance, or self-righteousness toward learning and following the rules.