[spne]

One (not uncommon) scenario is when two identical (or high match) assignments are turned in, and the professor does not know if (1) the students collaborated or (2) one student cheated off of the other. Penalizing both students is clearly wrong if one student did the assignment properly without cheating, and the other student copied the first student's work.

How can the professor determine which student cheated (or if both students cheated), without spending substantially time looking into it and talking to both students?

[effigies]

> Penalizing both students is clearly wrong if one student did the assignment properly without cheating, and the other student copied the first student's work.

I had a professor who would actually give the person who did the work the worse grade, under the justification that you can never get rid of demand, but you could discourage supply. I thought it was a pretty clever solution. If I'd worked my ass off and somebody copying me got a 50% where I got a 0%, I'd be much more careful about what I shared.

[tyree732]

> (2) one student cheated off of the other

You might believe that it's morally wrong to penalize the person who did the work, but I would have to disagree with you. Both Cheating and giving others the ability to cheat undermine the credibility of an institution and harm the legitimate efforts of others.

[rimmjob]

not really. people who do the work are usually pressured to share it, and are ostracized if they don't. I don't really think its fair to punish a victim unless there's some kind of evidence that they played a more insidious role.

[skeltoac]

Neither student is a victim in the scenario you give. Peer pressure does not make one conspirator innocent.