Difference between honor, verified, audit and staff in openedx
Honor
Users are automatically enrolled as "honor". Honor code certificates are free of charge to all students and are available for all except a few specific courses.
An honor code certificate of achievement certifies that you have successfully completed a course, but does not verify your identity (ref).
Verified
You've verified your identity by using a webcam and an official ID from your country or region.
When you register for a course that offers a verified certificate you will be asked to submit your photo and a photo of an official ID through the use of a webcam. As your course progresses, you may be asked to re-verify your identity (ref).
Audit
When you audit a course, or you take a course that doesn’t offer verified certificates, you’ll automatically receive an honor code certificate if you meet the requirements to pass the course.
If you audit a verified certificate course and pass, you will not receive a verified certificate, but you can participate in any or all activities and exams.
Staff
Course staff can access additional, optional information when a learner creates their account (such as the level of education completed) to find out more about the learners who enroll in their courses.
Some courses include a wiki, which provides a public forum for both students and course staff to access, share, and collaboratively edit information about the course (ref).
I've had a related issue before, that I found some users are enrolled as audit and others are enrolled as honor in a course, and I searched a lot and read Drakes answer.
After a lot of research and investigation, I noticed that users enrollment can be related to course mode. I used to add honor mode to courses to django admin panel, so if a user enrolled in a course before I added honor mode, he will be enrolled as audit.
Just added this answer to indicate this link for future visitors. And I'm now looking for a way to move audit students to honor, because, in the latest openedx release, they don't get certificates.
Edit: seems we found what we were looking for in: theSite/admin/student/courseenrollment/