Cheating and the Prisoner's Dilemma

[Anon1787]

I have a case of cheating in which 2 students submitted basically the same assignment. Student A eventually broke down and confessed to cheating. However, student A (I strongly suspect at the behest of student B) is now trying to protect student B. Rather than admitting that student B provided help to student A (which is one of the earlier versions of events told by student A and the version I believe is most likely true), student A is now saying that student B was just an innocent bystander with no knowledge whatsoever of the copying. Student B is using this as a basis for claiming total innocence. Thoughts?

[the_geneticist]

According to our code of conduct, both are equally accused of academic dishonesty.  It's up to the student conduct board to investigate.

[arcturus]

The act of copying work requires two people: the person who copies and the person who assists. Similar to the_geneticist's institution, our code of conduct holds both parties responsible. So, while I have absolutely had situations where person B claims that they did nothing wrong, the finding of academic misconduct has been upheld by our appeals board in all of these instances.

Our reporting process requires a meeting with the students before a report can be filed. I did have one unusual case where the preliminary fact-finding led me to question why student B would be helping student A, as they did not appear to even know each other. Turns out, there was a student C, who provided the text written by student B to student A (student A and C were good friends placed in different discussion groups). So student B was not involved at all, even though their work was the work that was copied. Fortunately, student A provided the name of student C during our conversation, so I was able to proceed with filings for both of them. That one was unusual, though.

[apl68]

"I'm giving one of you an F.  The other one can copy it!"

(I know, it's not as simple as that....)

[spork]

You already have a confession. Case closed.

I used to get signed statements from morons like this, when interrogating them individually. That way they couldn't change their stories later on.

And yes, I occasionally teach Prisoner's Dilemma.

[the_geneticist]

I had a case where one student (A) had finished their lab worksheet and was cleaning up when another student (B) took student A's worksheet out of their lab binder and started to copy down the answers.  When confronted, student B said they "just wanted to double-check their answers" and student A said that they had already told B that they couldn't look at their worksheet and to do the work themselves.  Student B then confessed that they wanted to use student A's answers since student A was doing very well in the class. 
But that was a rare exception.  Usually the students are friends.

[Caracal]

I had a case where one student (A) had finished their lab worksheet and was cleaning up when another student (B) took student A's worksheet out of their lab binder and started to copy down the answers.  When confronted, student B said they "just wanted to double-check their answers" and student A said that they had already told B that they couldn't look at their worksheet and to do the work themselves.  Student B then confessed that they wanted to use student A's answers since student A was doing very well in the class. 
But that was a rare exception.  Usually the students are friends.

Yeah, I know people who've dealt with similar things where they strongly believed one student had no knowledge of the copying. Check the procedures at your school, and talk to someone in academic affairs, but usually your role is to decide whether or not to bring charges. You don't believe the students and you think student B is also guilty of academic dishonesty, so at this point you just go to academic affairs and let it play out through whatever policies and procedures your school has. It isn't your job to be the judge and jury.

[the_geneticist]

I had a case where one student (A) had finished their lab worksheet and was cleaning up when another student (B) took student A's worksheet out of their lab binder and started to copy down the answers.  When confronted, student B said they "just wanted to double-check their answers" and student A said that they had already told B that they couldn't look at their worksheet and to do the work themselves.  Student B then confessed that they wanted to use student A's answers since student A was doing very well in the class. 
But that was a rare exception.  Usually the students are friends.

Yeah, I know people who've dealt with similar things where they strongly believed one student had no knowledge of the copying. Check the procedures at your school, and talk to someone in academic affairs, but usually your role is to decide whether or not to bring charges. You don't believe the students and you think student B is also guilty of academic dishonesty, so at this point you just go to academic affairs and let it play out through whatever policies and procedures your school has. It isn't your job to be the judge and jury.

I did report it to the honor board.  This was several years ago.

[Caracal]

I had a case where one student (A) had finished their lab worksheet and was cleaning up when another student (B) took student A's worksheet out of their lab binder and started to copy down the answers.  When confronted, student B said they "just wanted to double-check their answers" and student A said that they had already told B that they couldn't look at their worksheet and to do the work themselves.  Student B then confessed that they wanted to use student A's answers since student A was doing very well in the class. 
But that was a rare exception.  Usually the students are friends.

Yeah, I know people who've dealt with similar things where they strongly believed one student had no knowledge of the copying. Check the procedures at your school, and talk to someone in academic affairs, but usually your role is to decide whether or not to bring charges. You don't believe the students and you think student B is also guilty of academic dishonesty, so at this point you just go to academic affairs and let it play out through whatever policies and procedures your school has. It isn't your job to be the judge and jury.

I did report it to the honor board.  This was several years ago.

Oh, sorry, I was addressing that to the OP, not you, but I can see how that would be confusing.

[Anon1787]

Thanks for the replies. It is extremely unlikely that student A gained unauthorized access to student B's paper because it is a commuter school and the assignment was nothing like a lab report where the work would customarily be done on campus. The current excuse is that student B was merely trying to provide innocent help to student A by passing along a copy of their paper just to give an idea of how to do the assignment. Of course, it is not innocent in itself to share one's completed assignment, and it was entirely unnecessary since the assignment included a sample of exactly what was expected.

At my university, the professor gets to be judge and jury, and if the student disagrees with the professor's finding of guilt and punishment, then the student may appeal the decision to a university committee that will conduct an independent investigation (students may also file a separate grade appeal after the final course grade is assigned). Student B appears to be proceeding with an appeal. It's a tedious bureaucratic process, which I was hoping to avoid.

[brixton]

At my school, sharing your work "innocently"  makes you as guilty as he who copied.  As I say to the student who shared:  This is why you don't share, but refer the questioning student to the teacher or TA. How will the other student learn, if you provide the answers?

[Caracal]

Thanks for the replies. It is extremely unlikely that student A gained unauthorized access to student B's paper because it is a commuter school and the assignment was nothing like a lab report where the work would customarily be done on campus. The current excuse is that student B was merely trying to provide innocent help to student A by passing along a copy of their paper just to give an idea of how to do the assignment. Of course, it is not innocent in itself to share one's completed assignment, and it was entirely unnecessary since the assignment included a sample of exactly what was expected.

At my university, the professor gets to be judge and jury, and if the student disagrees with the professor's finding of guilt and punishment, then the student may appeal the decision to a university committee that will conduct an independent investigation (students may also file a separate grade appeal after the final course grade is assigned). Student B appears to be proceeding with an appeal. It's a tedious bureaucratic process, which I was hoping to avoid.

Ugh, sorry that's a really annoying process. I basically have the job of informing the appropriate office of my belief that there is a violation and then telling the student that I think they committed academic dishonesty, along with my proposed punishment. The student can sign the form and accept the punishment or they can not sign the form and then it goes to the dean's office for a hearing. I guess maybe the difference is semantic since there's still an appeal process and I'm still making a determination of guilt, but it seems better to put the process in the hands of someone else at the point where the student is claiming innocence and the instructor doesn't buy it.