system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Academic dishonesty

We use OWL/Cengage for homework. If you get a chemistry question wrong, it will generate a similar question with different chemicals or values. Anyway, I would purposely get the answers wrong so OWL would show me the way to calculate the answer. I would then get the 2nd or 3rd attempt correct by using the formula OWL used.
My question is this: I turned in a homework assignment using this method and my professor reported for me for academic dishonesty, because I didn’t use the methods or formulas she taught. I was too much of a nervous wreck to do anything but nod and stammer, so I didn’t argue back or anything. Would this really be cheating? Wouldn’t this be like copying down a formula or equation? This is my first violation, and I have no idea what to say to the Dean, and I think he decides the punishment. Please, any advice would be great. Sorry if I’m rambling or not making sense. 

Edit: Thank you for your replies. I'm still quite a nervous wreck, but feeling a lot more confident! Thanks again!
gpt
You explain to the dean what you did, what you thought you were doing, why you didn't think it counted as dishonesty. You might also note that there was no instruction that you weren't allowed to do it this way, and that in fact you thought this way was helping you learn better than in class. You apologize if this was against the rules, promise never to do it again if so, and emphasize that your goal here was to learn, not to cheat. 

In short: just be honest about what you did and why you did it, and you'll be fine. Maybe you technically broke a rule but it doesn't sound like you were trying to get out of any work. You are unlikely to receive any serious punishment assuming what you say is true and if you comport yourself with seriousness (and not, say, obstinacy).