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AIBU?

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Original poster

I've been accused of cheating on a course

188 replies

flopsyandjim · 08/03/2021 18:32

Apologies if this is long but I don't want to drip feed and I swear what I am saying is the truth.

For background: I am a disabled person. I have multiple disabilities both physical and mental - I have ptsd and have been suicidal in the past.

Despite my disabilities, I have achieved a Cert HE, a BA, a PgD, a MSC and I plan to do a PHD in the future.

I have always been employed and I did these courses distance learning or part time. I am currently employed in a university - this is relevant.

During lockdown, I did several upskilling modules to keep me busy if I wasn't able to go to the gym etc. I also enrolled in a online A level course and got a grant for the cost of this due to my disabilities.

I have had a lot of problems with this course due to its inaccessibility eg I am visually impaired and have highlighted these issues repeatedly to little change. I failed some assignments first time around and I am working on resubmissions. I have regular talks with other students and some of them are not happy. There are no exams, just written assignments.

Well I've now been contacted by one of the A level course tutors to say that my essays have been found on a cheating essay website alongside my picture as my profile picture.

I've never heard of this website before today. I went to have a look and there are some of my essays on there (do not know how they got them) alongside several lesson plans for such as "how to learn English" (which are not my work at all). It also has me registered as studying in India (which I never have).

I told the tutor that this is not my account and I have no idea how the essays got there. I have never shared my essays with any one other than my tutors.

He says I need to get them taken off or there could be serious repercussions. I cannot get them off if it is not my account. I have tried contacting the site to ask for them to be removed but their FAQs say they don't remove content once uploaded?

I am terrified. Whilst I don't care if I get kicked off the A level course (even though I'm innocent), I am worried about what implications this could have for me in other areas. Could my work find out? Could it affect my hopes of doing a PHD?

On that basis, all my assignments for my degree and postgrad courses had to go through turnitin and never did any issues come up. I got Merit and Distinction passes.

Why would I cheat on an A level course I don't even really need? Why?

I am terrified about what this could mean for me and also worry that other students on the course could be impacted. I am honestly innocent and I'm trying to get it resolved. I've changed all my passwords in case of a computer or email hack. I don't know what else I can do. Help and advice very much welcome, especially from those with experience of something like this. Sorry for the length.

OP posts:
forinborin · 08/03/2021 18:35

Have you ran your essays through one of "free" online plagiarism / grammar tools?

FollowingFlitwick · 08/03/2021 18:35

I can't help you op but didn't want to read and run.bit sounds very stressful and I hope it resolves quickly. Hand hold from me.

StopGuacAndRoll · 08/03/2021 18:36

These websites ‘scrape’ the internet for essays. Would yours have been uploaded anywhere?

BlackBucketOfCheese · 08/03/2021 18:37

Wait, so how did the work get there?
Have other students from your course had work published on there? If they haven’t mentioned it, could you search their names on that site?

Is the course run by a college or one of those online providers and do you have named markers? Can you ask for an internal investigation?

boredinthouse · 08/03/2021 18:39

Did anyone look over the work on your behalf OP? A proofreader or anything like that?

UhtredRagnarson · 08/03/2021 18:42

Is it definitely your essay? If so did anyone have access to your laptop or email? Could some have managed to get into your student account?

crosspelican · 08/03/2021 18:48

Firstly, I would address the theft of your work.

Somehow, somebody has accessed your files and uploaded them. My assumption here would be that this was done maliciously, in order to "frame".

I know you probably won't want to share the name of the service provider that you are working with for this a-level, but when you say that you have been complaining to them about the accessibility, do you think you have antagonised a member of staff? Or have you got on the wrong side of one of the other students who might want to harrass you?

I would turn it STRAIGHT back onto them, and say that you have been a target of harrassment here. That somebody has taken your image and your work, and has fraudulently set you up as selling essays online.

Ask what they intend to about the fact that somebody at their organisation has been maliciously sharing YOUR work online alongside YOUR image and falsely presenting it as being for sale.

NerrSnerr · 08/03/2021 18:49

Has anyone else had access to your essays? Have you emailed them to course mates or anyone else?

umberellaonesie · 08/03/2021 18:51

Have you used any software to assist you with your visual impairment that could have been hacked?

Billy310 · 08/03/2021 18:53

@forinborin

Have you ran your essays through one of "free" online plagiarism / grammar tools?
This. I know a teacher who ran one of her students' essays through her school's plagiarism software, and scored a hit. The essay in question was for sale on about 3 different websites. However, the student and her parents strongly denied she'd bought it. After investigation they were able to demonstrate she had run the essay through one (or maybe more, can't recall) free grammar checker tool - and it had scraped the essay and listed it for sale. There was a certain amount of tech expertise needed to satisfy the school from her computer records that she had not been to the sites in question at the time the essay was submitted.

I do hope you manage to get this sorted out, and encourage you to be persistent in your attempts.

Porridgeoat · 08/03/2021 18:55

Which tutors received the essay. Contact student services as I wonder if one of the tutors misused your essay or if was intercepted somehow

crosspelican · 08/03/2021 18:55

After investigation they were able to demonstrate she had run the essay through one (or maybe more, can't recall) free grammar checker tool - and it had scraped the essay and listed it for sale.

WOW. I had no idea that was a thing!

Original poster
flopsyandjim · 08/03/2021 19:00

I haven't used any free grammar sites or anything like that, I didn't know they existed!

The course provider is the industry body for that type of qualification. Very well respected industry body and plagarism is a big no no in that industry. The course is an A level equivalent course although I'm saying A level for simplicity, sorry. I don't want to name the course or the industry body - it would be immediately outing.

I did upload my essays to dropbox but I cannot think of anywhere else. My one drive also. And they will be sitting in my email inbox from conversations with my tutor.

The only persons who have had access to my laptop are DH and DD.

I don't know if anyone else could have gotten into my student account. I have not shared my log in details with anyone.

I use Zoomtext software for my visual impairment, I'm not sure if it can be hacked although it hasn't been working properly for a few weeks and keeps telling me to upgrade but then it doesn't upgrade? I did mean contact the supplier but now I wonder if that is a hack?

OP posts:
SchrodingersImmigrant · 08/03/2021 19:02

Fucks sake. Off to google my essays since I did run some through online check!

Op, Do you have anyone who can help you sort it? Maybe the uni since you are an employee can help you get them taken down?

forinborin · 08/03/2021 19:02

This. I know a teacher who ran one of her students' essays through her school's plagiarism software, and scored a hit.
I had seen exactly the ops situation when I googled a specific thing from my academic environment (a very niche/ internal task, and 100% specific to the university, dealing with internal stuff - I just wanted to know more about the topic). An essay-style answer to the task was published for sale on one of such websites, and yes, from a fake student in India. I am quite sure, however, that it was grabbed exactly in the manner I described when one of the previous years students had checked their grammar online. I went to one of these platform - it actually says in the t&c that you forfeit all intellectual rights to the content when uploading.

rulerbirds · 08/03/2021 19:04

What about your photo? Where is your photo from?

UhtredRagnarson · 08/03/2021 19:05

In that case OP I would ask the tutor to investigate how your essay got onto the internet when they are they only persons who has access to it.

NerrSnerr · 08/03/2021 19:06

@rulerbirds

What about your photo? Where is your photo from?
That's a good point? Has it been taken from social media?
rulerbirds · 08/03/2021 19:06

So list exactly where you have put your essay? Did it only get emailed to one tutor? Did you share it with any other students? Is it your essay word for word? How did your tutor find it? I think you need to speak to the head of student complaints at the institution with the Dean copied in. List exactly what you’ve written here and say you want the course tutor investigated

rulerbirds · 08/03/2021 19:07

Could your email have been hacked?

forinborin · 08/03/2021 19:07

I am quite sure, however, that it was grabbed exactly in the manner I described when one of the previous years students had checked their grammar online.
By being sure, I don't mean that I conducted a proper investigation - only that it was such a narrow question, that 100% had zero academic resale value - say, it asked to demonstrate a specific regulatory- mandated statistical technique based on a completely invented dataset of internal pseudodata.

ihaveallergies · 08/03/2021 19:08

Contact your student union

Joeblack066 · 08/03/2021 19:13

Could OfQual help? X

PerpetualStudent · 08/03/2021 19:14

I teach at a university. If you were my student, I would be working with you and my department admin team to get to the bottom of it. Yes plagiarism is unacceptable but in a situation like this it seems likely your essays have been scraped/harvested in some way.
The way your current course leaders are handling it doesn’t sound very professional- did they elaborate on what they meant about ‘serious repercussions’? It all sounds very threatening and unhelpful.

You mentioned you work for a university. Is there someone at your work who could help get to the bottom of this/get your content off the website - someone who deals with academic copyright or legal stuff?

RaspberryCoulis · 08/03/2021 19:18

But you're not being accused of cheating.

You're being accused of enabling other people to cheat by selling your essays through a website.

There is any manner of ways this could have happened, especially if you're using Dropbox, or storing your essays in cloud storage, or emailing them to yourself.