What is going on with these students?

[mamselle]

Or, going back to the naming conventions Brixton mentioned, is one name a doppelganger for the other one, literally?

As in, could they have somehow fudged their entrance documents and at least gotten two emails out of the system?

If so, maybe "the real" Student A does stuff, figures out what's right or wrong, then re-takes the test as Student B? 

Does one drop near the end of the class/drop period, after they've at least assured a passing grade?

Corny/impossible, but...just thinking outside the box.

(Hmm...this is kinda fun...maybe I should...no, nevermind...)

M.

[arcturus]

My idea was that the office should contact their previous instructors and ask if both students came to class, or if only one ever showed up. They didn't want to do this, for a reason they couldn't articulate. "Wasn't appropriate."  Hmph.

I have to say, going through this after the fact, even from previous term(s?), is a bit concerning. Proving innocence is also more difficult the more time has passed. 

This is why it is important to do the paperwork to report cases of academic misconduct. I see a lot of people on these boards (and others) saying that it is not worth the effort. However, if there is no prior record, there is no history that can be used to identify repeat offenders. Yes, it is usually a painful and arduous process, often with uncomfortable conversations with students. But it is our responsibility to create a learning environment that minimizes opportunities for cheating, and also to hold students accountable for their actions.

I will say that in almost every (not all) academic misconduct meeting I have held, the student readily confessed to their actions. Some have even thanked me, since they did not realize that what they had done was considered plagiarism (or other form of misconduct).  I have also had meetings where it became clear that it was not a case of misconduct (which meant I did not have to file paperwork! hurray!). So these meetings are not entirely useless for either the student or instructor.

[Hegemony]

Aha! The plot thickens. It turns out that Student A is one year ahead of Student B. So Student A takes a certain selection of courses in fall 2017, and another selection in spring 2018. Then the next year, Student B takes the same courses in fall 2018, and the same spring selection in spring 2018. And so forth. Student B follows Student A's courseload exactly. Student B's grades are generally better than Student A. My course is the first they have taken at the same time.

And some of the courses are very distinctive. They are both STEM majors in the same department, but in Fall 2018, Student A took "Wind Instrument Perf," "'Outsider Art," and "Yoga for Relaxation." Sure enough, in Fall 2019, Student B took "Wind Instrument Perf," "'Outsider Art," and "Yoga for Relaxation." Student A has failed a couple of courses, and Student B does not take those. But Student B does not take anything that Student A has not already taken.

[Hibush]

Aha! The plot thickens. It turns out that Student A is one year ahead of Student B. So Student A takes a certain selection of courses in fall 2017, and another selection in spring 2018. Then the next year, Student B takes the same courses in fall 2018, and the same spring selection in spring 2018. And so forth. Student B follows Student A's courseload exactly.

A younger sibling?

[Hegemony]

Could be a younger sibling, but they insist that they are just friends, who are not in touch at the moment. That's the story.

[spork]

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

[Caracal]

Could be a younger sibling, but they insist that they are just friends, who are not in touch at the moment. That's the story.

Are they picking courses where this would give the student a big advantage beyond just having notes? When I'm not teaching online, all my exams are essay questions. I do reuse questions, but I also write new ones every semester. They also aren't particularly weird or specific questions. Because of the vagaries of the schedule and my attempts to stagger my exams, the exams also don't always cover the same thing from one semester to the next. Add all this together and just having exam questions from previous semesters wouldn't really be that big an advantage.

I guess its different if it is actually the same person redoing the class for someone else. Although, that is a weird setup... Easy enough for online classes, but is the person actually going and taking the exams for the other student? You could get away with that a lot of the time, but I'd think if you were doing it for every single class you'd get caught eventually. Unless, they are actually fully impersonating the student for the entire class, not just the exams, but that seems logistically difficult.

[jimbogumbo]

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

But what KIND of duck?

[pigou]

I know Chinese students who sit in on large lecture classes the year prior to taking them for a grade. They try to do all the readings the first time around, so when they take the course for "real," it'll be more familiar to them. I have no doubt that's a very effective learning strategy, although a huge time investment. Chinese schools are generally way more competitive than anything we're used to in the US, so something like that wouldn't surprise me.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it. At the end of the day, what matters is whether you know the material, not how you went about learning it. Quite frankly, I wish many more students would put in half that level of effort.

[aside]

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

But what KIND of duck?

In this case it could be an imposter in a duck suit with a duck call.

[Kron3007]

This is really weird.  The challenge is it is very difficult to figure out when they are remote.

I would try to identify the IP address of the computers submitting the assignments (I don't know if this is actually possible).  If they were submitted from the same computer, around the same time, it seems pretty clear (although two people could share a computer I suppose).

[Hegemony]

Apparently it is possible. The relevant office said they would try it. I have heard nothing more.

[Hegemony]

Updating!  The relevant university office said that they determined that the students had been cheating. I asked what evidence they had found.  They were cagy, for some reason — I don't see why they won't just tell me. But after a lot of cajoling on my part, one of the answers is that the students were doing all their work from the same computer.  Or "students." I guess this means that one student had been doing all the work for both students. 

When I asked the students how they knew each other, they said they had been friends in the U.S., but were now in different parts of China and not in touch. If they had said, "We're friends and we're sharing an apartment and a computer in China," they might have gotten away with it.

But they did not get away with it. Bwahahaha!

Unfortunately the university person will also not tell me what penalty the university is levying for their larger misconduct.  I suppose the part outside my class is harder to prove.