Telling my professor about another professor who accused me of cheating

Question

One of my professors accused me of cheating because it appeared to them that I opened a link on moodle. I did, but did not look at what was open. It was opened by mistake as my laptop was lagging. I tried to talk with him, but he still insisted on accusing me. I asked him to repeat the exam in front of him if that would help, but he refused. In the end, I am very sad about what happened and I went to one of my other professors to ask for advice about what to do. I do not know if that was right or wrong. I did not cheat, but I am afraid that my other professor will not trust me and might even hate me. Did I do the right thing?

Answer 1

In many cases relating to examination rules it is possible to detect a breach of the rule but it is difficult to say whether the breach was accidental or was done intentionally, with a view to gaining an advantage in the exam. In the case you describe, it sounds like you are indeed in breach of the exam rules, insofar as you had unauthorised material available during the exam. So no, what you have done is not right --- the right thing would have been to take proper care in clearing your browser of other tabs and clearing your environment of any other unauthorised material when setting up for the online exam. Having failed to do this puts you in breach of the rules whether it was accidental or deliberate, though obviously the latter is worse.

A more sober professor would simply explain to you that you are in breach of examination rules, without speculating as to intention (or characterising it as "cheating"), and would then implement the relevant disciplinary procedure for breaches in a dispassionate manner. Sometimes professors get cranky about such things, and he has probably seen many genuine attempts to cheat before, so in this case it looks like he's also sceptical of your explanation and he has given you a dressing down about the matter. I also find your explanation strange and not fully forthright --- you initially characterise things by saying that "it appeared to [the professor]" that you had an unauthorised tab open, but then you concede that this is true. So why characterise this professor's observation as a mere "appearance" rather than just saying that he saw the unauthorised tab? In any case, all you can really do here is wait to see whether this professor implements the disciplinary system to report you for a breach, or decides not to. If there is action to discipline you over the matter then you will have an opportunity to put in your explanation of events and that evidence will be taken into consideration.

As to explaining this to another professor for purposes of getting advice, all you can do is explain what happened. If this is your first breach of rules then it is likely that people will give you the benefit of the doubt that it was not intentional. (They might get sceptical if it happens again.) Remain calm and put the matter in perspective, and bear in mind that academics deal with matters like this with sufficient regularity that they are fairly routine. I've had students breach rules in my courses before (probably intentionally in some cases), and I don't hate ---or even mildly dislike--- any of them.

Answer 2

If all you mean by "is what i have done right?" is going to the other professor for advice and counsel, then, yes, you did the right thing there.

Getting advice from a trusted professor is always valuable. You didn't have to do that, potentially exploring your earlier breach of the rules, intentional or not.

I doubt that the other professor would think poorly of you for approaching them unless you took it to them as a complaint against the first professor.

I can't offer advice, though, on your relationship with the first professor. You may suffer for it, whether justly or not. But you need to be more careful about the rules in the future, as I'm sure you realize.