How do I clear my name when wrongfully accused of cheating? I'm pursing an online engineering degree at ASU. In a introduction circuit class, I have a flimsy idea of what I'm doing and little time (each class is only 7 weeks long) to try to figure it out, so for some assignments I take my best guess and my mentality is if I miss some points, so be it, as long as I understand the gist that's being asked.

This class had a relatively huge project where we submitted photos and the program files for 2 related circuit designs and it was broken down into 3 parts, 1 part for all of the lab information, 1 part for the first program file for the first design and 1 part for the second program file. When it came to the lab part, I had a good idea of what was asked and by the end I thought I knew what I was doing.

For the 2 program files of the circuit designs I tried making similar circuits to those that were in examples in lecture videos for my class, but they didn't work correctly. So instead, I researched using a YouTube video by the TA in my class, a tutorial about the type of circuits being made and a powerpoint from a different university. I did NOT copy a single design presented in the video, tutorial or powerpoint. I re-checked and I can guarantee that my design does not look exactly like any of the ones viewed in the learning materials I used. Instead, I took components from each of the designs until I had something that produced the logic I theoretically proved it could be in the lab report.

I received an email from the TA asking why I submitted an entirely different project than what was being asked, and my only simple answer is that I had no idea what I was doing. Obviously, that isn't a good enough answer when someone is implying you cheated. So in a long response email I explained that I didn't feel confident in what I was doing and I tried to make something that worked and I explained how I did each part of the project and linked him the learning materials I used. 

He hasn't responded, but I would like to know if anyone knows, is there anything I can in a situation like this where it's implied that I cheated and even though I most definitely have not, I can't prove that I didn't given the learning environment? What can I do?
How do I clear my name when wrongfully accused of cheating?


Putting myself in the shoes of the TA, I would say that you haven't even been accused of cheating.

You say:


  I received an email from the TA asking why I submitted an entirely different project than what was being asked, and my only simple answer is that I had no idea what I was doing. Obviously, that isn't a good enough answer when someone is implying you cheated.


The answer is right there: Your TA asked you why you submitted an entirely different project than the one you were supposed to complete and you said you didn't know what you were doing, which, by the way, completely confirms your TA's suspicions (i.e., that a clueless student completed a project in one of the most completely incorrect ways).

TL;DR: I wouldn't worry about the cheating "accusation." 

(but do worry about whether you are putting your best foot forward with respect to completing course assignments and projects the way they're intended to be completed, etc.)