A student is writing an online test and while the student made sure to place their phone out of reach they forgot to turn off the sound. During the online test, the student hears their phone ping with messages numerous times. The student stays focused on the online test and does not check the messages on their phone while the online test is in progress. After the online test, the student checks their messages and realizes that other students were sending pictures of questions and answers from the online test The student is worried that they will be at risk of an Academic Offence because they received these messages. Has an Academic Offence occurred? Yes No

Question

A student is writing an online test and while the student made sure to place their phone out of reach they forgot to turn off the sound. During the online test, the student hears their phone ping with messages numerous times. The student stays focused on the online test and does not check the messages on their phone while the online test is in progress. After the online test, the student checks their messages and realizes that other students were sending pictures of questions and answers from the online test The student is worried that they will be at risk of an Academic Offence because they received these messages. Has an Academic Offence occurred? Yes No

Answer 1

No. While receiving the messages creates a difficult situation for the student, simply receiving unsolicited messages does not, in itself, constitute an academic offense. The student did not solicit the information, nor did they use the information provided. The key here is that the student maintained academic integrity by completing the test independently. However, the student *should* report the incident to the instructor or appropriate academic authority. This demonstrates academic honesty and allows the institution to address the cheating of the other students.

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