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[ronin]

Hello everyone,
Just wondering if you have experienced something that, for lack of better terminology, I call "shadow teaching".
I came to my present post with a specialized teaching experience in which my employer seemed to be interested, but as soon as I started teaching my subject two very young local faculties started to offer two "new" courses that were very similar to mine. It felt quite weird but I thought it might be just a coincidence.... apparently it wasn't because the "experience" was replicated the following semester ... rather unpleasant of course. Just wondering however if this is widespread (mal)practice?
Many thanks for any feedback, advice or experience you would like to share.

[mingus]

Hello everyone,
Just wondering if you have experienced something that, for lack of better terminology, I call "shadow teaching".
I came to my present post with a specialized teaching experience in which my employer seemed to be interested, but as soon as I started teaching my subject two very young local faculties started to offer two "new" courses that were very similar to mine. It felt quite weird but I thought it might be just a coincidence.... apparently it wasn't because the "experience" was replicated the following semester ... rather unpleasant of course. Just wondering however if this is widespread (mal)practice?
Many thanks for any feedback, advice or experience you would like to share.

What exactly is the problem?   You should be flattered that others find your basic ideas worth copying.

[ronin]

Well there is personal consideration but also some ethical and professional considerations to do:
- what is the need to hire and retain someone with teaching experience, publication, and specialization when any junior can just copy and replicate any course, without any acknowledgment and sometimes even without having PhD?
- I have been  junior myself and progressing with my career I have mentored my junior colleagues but I find that diplomas and actual teaching experiences are important.
- I do not think as professionally and ethically sound to teach a specialized subject that I have not studied myself at length.
But many thanks for your feedback :-)

[hegemony]

Where are you located, i.e. what country?

Where I am, one person often institutes a course, but then anyone in the field (in the same department) can teach it.  We all trade around.  It's considered good for everyone. 

The way you're describing your situation, though, makes me think you're talking about a different teaching system.  I'm still not convinced there's anything to worry about, though.

[ronin]

Okay maybe I am wrong. Thank you for your remarks :-)
I guess it might also depend on the extent of trading and shifting around. I am in Asia.
I would see shifting around normal for general subjects, i.e. core courses that are always part of our discipline but less justifiable for specialized courses. However if this is normal practice elsewhere I may need to rethink.

[mingus]

Well there is personal consideration but also some ethical and professional considerations to do:
- what is the need to hire and retain someone with teaching experience, publication, and specialization when any junior can just copy and replicate any course, without any acknowledgment and sometimes even without having PhD?
- I have been  junior myself and progressing with my career I have mentored my junior colleagues but I find that diplomas and actual teaching experiences are important.
- I do not think as professionally and ethically sound to teach a specialized subject that I have not studied myself at length.
But many thanks for your feedback :-)

A great deal depends on the subject and how it is done.   

(a) It could well be the case that the material is such that it can easily be mastered by anyone.   You will probably disagree, but we do not know unless you provide additional details.   

(b) It is possible that they have done or are doing a good job.   You will probably disagree, but we do not know unless you provide additional details.

(c) If the students are satisfied and the employer is satisfied, then your views on their qualifications, experience, etc. are somewhat misplaced. 

(d) You are assuming that you were hired because of your "experience, publication, and specialization".   That might be the case, and it might not be the case.

What sort of comments were you after anyway?   We could hold your hands and weep with you, but that will not do anyone much good.   My advice: (a) suck it up; and (b) find a way to work with those "shadow teachers", instead of taking an ultimately self-defeating attitude.

[ronin]

Hi again,
I was just interested to know whether others had similar experiences.
I was surprised by this practice because I was used to alternate in teaching the same course but not in replicating the same course with different names and during the same semester. I thought that this practice was not very good for the students because they graduate with courses that carry different names but are essentially the same. But, as you say, if everybody is happy, maybe it is not that bad.

[oldfullprof]

Every department I've been in said, "No-one owns a course."  No-one ever means this.

[ronin]

okay: it seems I may have misformulated my question. I did not mean "owning" any course. I was a bit taken aback from the practice of using the same outline but giving it a slightly different name. This makes one outline and two courses. I have taught in a number of reputed universities and never encountered that but ... well everything can change.

[oldfullprof]

Yep, I'm never surprised by the amount of intellectual theft I sometimes see.  By "owning" a course, I mean that faculty will often not let anyone else teach it. 

[ronin]

I am starting to see the logic of intellectual theft :-)

[cs_prof]

IMHO the concern raised by OP makes only sense for a highly specialized graduate course. As to standard undergraduate courses, the normal practice is just picking someone's textbook and building the course upon it. I would be very surprised if someone teaching, say Calculus II, would be complaining about that other colleagues started offering a course with similar contents. It is the job of the Department Head to decide how to allocate instructor resources and what courses to offer in her/his department to make the academic program work as expected.

Chances are that OP comes from the world I am just unaware of.

[totoro]

It seems that the OP started teaching a course and then another faculty member copied their syllabus exactly but called the course something else and then that students are allowed to claim both courses for credit towards their degree. Now that is weird if I understood correctly, though only the last part really. Though, it would be nice to ask permission to copy the syllabus.

[oldfullprof]

I was about to teach a social psychology class for a CC in TX once when they switched and gave it to someone else.  The guy called me and wanted my notes, powerpoints, and syllabus.  I hadn't created them yet.  When I told him that, he backed out.  They canceled the class.  Their reason for jettisoning me was that I lacked 18 grad units in psych.

[systeme_d_]

IMHO the concern raised by OP makes only sense for a highly specialized graduate course. As to standard undergraduate courses, the normal practice is just picking someone's textbook and building the course upon it.
<snip>
Chances are that OP comes from the world I am just unaware of.

Quite possibly, Cs_prof, since that's not at all how standard undergraduate classes in the humanities are designed.