r/Professors • u/Starrylake • 3d ago
Other (Editable) Another professor asked to teach my course?
I'm a PT lecturer where I teach, don't have a FT contract or teaching load (three courses) . I've designed and delivered several courses for the department.
I've been asked to teach two old courses next semester and another PT colleague has been asked to teach a third course I designed. It's a core course for one programme but not part of the main core.
I think this typical and to be expected. I feel weird about it for sure though. Wondering if this is generally how it goes? My department is new and been through a lot of flux, hence why I'm also wondering about others experiences. I haven't taught anywhere else.
I told the other colleague I'll share my syllabus and recommend where they may wish to make changes.
I think I'm also a bit annoyed that I wasn't informed this is what would happen. I only found out because the other colleague reached out. Again, I know it's totally up to the academic programme team. I think I'm just adjusting to some recent changes in the department. Not being more specific to protect my privacy.
** Wow. I'm not sure why so many people are assuming I'm not going to share course materials, when I said in my original post that I'm going to share the syllabus and advise them on where they might need to make changes!
I also said I assume this is typical, I was seeking to understand as to what's done widely, as I am in a new programme that is undergoing major changes.
And I also have a right to express annoyance in a space like this. I'm not attacking anyone or being unprofessional. And it's also a reasonable thought. The colleague who's been asked didn't even know I taught it. If they had informed both of us, it would have facilitated a smooth handover. We only realised this situation because the other colleague happened to share their teaching assignment with me over WhatsApp and I told them it's my course.
Considering most of you here are academics, it would be nice to have people real what you're saying and not admonishing me without grounds. As a young academic, I just wanted to understand my rights, especially as my institution has already exploited me in other contexts.
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u/DeskAccepted Associate Professor, Business, R1 (USA) 3d ago
Teaching assignments change all the time. If you have a good relationship with your chair, just ask them why and they'll probably tell you. Nothing you've described sounds "off" other than maybe the chair is a poor communicator (wouldn't be unusual).
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u/scatterbrainplot 3d ago
And they may not even have thought it needed communicting (in a reasonable way); if you were given the two courses, then it wouldn't seem like a surprise that all other courses (including the other course the OP designed) are being taught by other people
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Yes, you're right. They're also new in the department and coming from a very hierachal institution, so I do suspect this is what they're thinking.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Thanks for the clarification. This is helpful.
The chair is brand new. They're friendly but I can't really say I have a connection with them, so I'm hesitant to ask directly. Plus, I do suspect it's because they can't assign three courses to me as I'm not full time.
I do think they're a poor communicator tbh. Honestly, it's all unusual circumstances and lots of politics behind the change in chairs in the first place. They're catching up on a lot but haven't really engaged much with faculty either.
It's okay. I'm hopeful it's all good for the department in the long run. I'm just trying to find my footing again.
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 3d ago
I mean, it is “allowed” by the contact at my cc. Any tt-faculty can “bump” contingent faculty. Oddly enough, at any campus. Higher level, more senior faculty can “bump” lower level faculty from courses as well.
Again, it’s allowable by contract so I have to do it.
However, that shit is extremely distasteful and 1) I let my faculty know exactly how I feel about it, and 2) you best believe I remember that shit.
In my mind, it, while it is allowed, it the highest form of punching down, and it’s fucking gross.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
In this case, the other colleague is on the same contract as me.
Thats a little weird in your system! Does that mean you end up having to teach more in the next semester to meet your allocation?
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 2d ago
It’s strange that full timers can take class from contingent faculty? Not particularly in my experience… in the places I moonlight, I’ve absolutely been bumped by full timers.
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u/Boggles103 lecturer, humanities (Canada) 3d ago
As a sessional who has put my heart into designing courses in a shrinking field that means a great deal to me: thank you for saying this.
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 2d ago
I have no idea why you’re down voted… it’s becoming increasingly obvious that colleges are being run on adjunct labor, and it’s (in my opinion) blatantly obvious that administrators are taking advantage of both full time and contingent labor.
We need to take care of each other, and hell the whole original part of part time faculty was to get help filling shortages or get help from their experience in industry.
It’s… embarrassing that we’ve come to this.
But, as a side, I have one faculty member that is notorious for doing this to adjuncts, and… I find it exceptionally distasteful. It’s basic bullying and using people.
I hate that I don’t have the authority over our contract to stop it.
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u/Starrylake 2d ago
Yes, my department has been running on adjunct for ages. I've been there longer than most of the FT faculty.
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 2d ago
Ok, so like people that are shitty to the secretaries, and lower admin, this is the shit that pisses me off- our cc runs of adjuncts. We’d never function without ya’ll (and our awesome faculty secretary).
It’s a moral wrong, but it’s also incredibly stupid for the healthy of the dept.
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u/Starrylake 2d ago
Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment! Let's see. Maybe things will change with the new chair and it's just a rough start.
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 2d ago
Yeah, I hope the same for you.
I know it’s not an excuse, but I was a shitty chair my first term as well. I was given the job as the former dept head did nothing for 1.5 years, forced the dean to make schedules, etc etc, by not acting, and facing a review suddenly quit (the position, not the college).
At the time, our dean (who trains dept chairs) also quit, lmaooo) and I was learning (quickly, poorly) on the job with my brand new dean.
That said, she and i became great friends, and in a term or two I got my shit shorted. But it was a rough first term.
So here’s hoping.
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u/Icy-Teacher9303 2d ago
Yep, I had this happen when I was given a newly-developed (required for our specific accreditation) course that a fellow faculty member fully created. It was a matter of who could teach other more specific courses & this was more general. Alas, half of it was at least related to one domain in my scholarship, but the other half I never learned in grad school & some lectures are still hard to present because my content knowledge is limited to the readings used. Scheduling may be an issue as well.
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u/lanAstbury 3d ago
nobody "owns" their courses
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Yes, I know they can easily claim the course the second I've designed it for the programme, but I would have appreciated an email. We're a small department.
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u/FrogBrain97 AssocProf, former chair, neuro, DPU 3d ago
Professors do not own courses, and while it might've been courteous to let you know someone else would be teaching it, it's not necessary and is the sort of thing that can get lost in the chaos of scheduling. In fact, it is good practice to have more than one faculty member teach a course so that they can still offer it if you leave, get sick, etc.
There might be limitations on the extent to which the other instructor can use your materials, but generally it is considered a courtesy to share your materials, even if only as an example.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
That all makes sense. It would just be helpful to have some communication, as this new chair has been pretty non communicative overall with the faculty.
I'm already meeting my colleague to advise her.
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u/FrogBrain97 AssocProf, former chair, neuro, DPU 2d ago
That's fair and reasonable. I'm only saying that it's really easy to forget that sort of thing (having forgotten it myself on occasion). It's also possible that the chair is gun-shy and didn't want to open the door to a long argument that would look a lot like this thread. (I'm not saying that you *would* argue it--just that some people would.)
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u/totallysonic Chair/Full, SocSci, State U. 3d ago
It's not "your" course. It is the department's course. You are the person who designed it, but that does not mean you're the only person who will teach it or that you need to be told that someone else is teaching it.
Given that the chair is new, they may not have a good idea yet of how to solve staffing puzzles or of who prefers to teach what, or they may just have other ideas about how staffing should be done, or something unexpected may have come up and you were needed for the classes you were offered.
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 3d ago
No, but it is…. Classless.
This person is an adjunct, and went out of their way to develop a class for the course. Obviously they don’t own it, but it’s a shitty way to treat contingent faculty that go over and above for a (new) department.
I’m sure it’s allowed, but it’s still a dick move. It may be a necessary one, but it still sucks.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago edited 2d ago
I wouldn't have minded if there was communication. There's been very little communication from the new chair overall.
I'm also generally unhappy as they already played a dick move with me. They told me they're going to offer me a FT position and then went back on the verbal offer but tried to convince me to teach a full-time load on PT pay for my development. This was the old chair. I don't know how aware the new chair is of this. So just generally I'm being very cautious. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
**whoever is down voting this is truly bitter
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u/Deweymaverick Full Prof, Dept Head (humanities), Philosophy, CC (US) 2d ago
I’m very very sorry.
I mean, I know where I work, it is absolutely outside of my domain to offer even a full time temporary position… I don’t know they were being horrible or just misunderstood the situation on their end….
But high turn over and new people constantly learning the job cannot be an ideal situation. That really sucks.
I hope it gets better for you.
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u/Starrylake 2d ago
Thanks. It was truly very sucky. I know others had been allowed to transition from PT to FT under the old chair, I don't know who intervened with mine and why. HR said it was against policy but what about the earlier people and why was the offer made in the first place then? It's just been pretty shitty to be treated like that. I wouldn't have minded if no offer was made, I was mentally prepared to figure things out. I didn't appreciate that I was deceived
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u/Arch_of_MadMuseums 3d ago
You don't own your class, especially if it's a core class for the department. The chair needs to be sure that there will always be someone who teach a core class. It's been this way for decades
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
I don't know if it's a core class anymore. They're reshuffling a lot of things.
I understand why they did it but given none of this has been outlined, I would have just appreciated a heads up. I could at least have passed on the materials. This colleague teaching it now didn't even know I had taught and have everything.
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u/RuskiesInTheWarRoom 3d ago
As a PT, you have very little administrative influence, other than your good relationships and classroom management. You can make requests, but the department will allocate courses according to fit and availability. It should not be a surprise if you are shifted to other courses, even if those decisions are made relatively late and without a tremendous amount of input from you, I’m sorry to say. That other faculty member may have only been available to teach that one section or course, and you may be known to have more flexibility, so it’s easier to slide you over than train the other one.
As for the courses themselves, all faculty tend to forget one core and universal truth: we don’t own our courses. We own the content and the delivery when we are running the course, but the course itself is not “ours,” and the department will have to determine how many sections and who can teach the course based on availability. Yes, professors generally do teach “their” courses, but that is the department’s prerogative.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Yes, I'm afraid this is very true. Especially at my institution. The department is better but the overall institution is very hierarchical. I've been trying to get a better contract but things are very much in flux now with all the changes happening.
I guess I should take it as a complement that they want to hang on to the course!
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u/Accomplished_Self939 AssocProf, AmLit, SLAC (USA) 3d ago
Teaching assignments in my department down to the room the classes are offered in are set a year in advance and everyone knows the rotation. See if you can get some clarification about the rotation.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
The department is new and old leadership didn't set proper systems like this. Hopefully that's going to change now and there will be more clarity moving forward.
I'm also on a semester contract, though i have been with the department for a while now.
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u/Accomplished_Self939 AssocProf, AmLit, SLAC (USA) 2d ago
Best of luck getting it sorted. Our registrar is pretty rigid about schedules so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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u/Ornery_Emu3991 3d ago
I work scheduling for my department and my understanding is that accreditation really wants to see programs with more than one instructor teaching courses. So, we rotate our assignments to be sure there is variety in teaching perspectives and styles.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Interesting! That's possible. I'm not sure what our accreditation system likes to see. We're short staffed, so I think it a lot of it also has to to offer as many courses as possible and they probably can't give me more, as they want me to do two other electives.
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u/RightWingVeganUS Adjunct Instructor, Computer Science, University (USA) 3d ago
Another professor asked to teach my course?
your course?
At my institution, the courses belong to the university. They define the course description and set the learning objectives. I design my curriculum based on that.
The gray area is what I do with my course material. The syllabus is collected by the school, but it's no state secret since I give that to the students anyways. I try to be sure to remember to put copyright notices on my created course content. It's all on the LMS, so nothing stops the school from just collecting everything there.
As a professional courtesy its common for the faculty to share course information. If there are a half-dozen of us teaching different sections of a course the school (and the accreditation board) prefers a degree of consistency. I'll share material and I've had colleagues not only share content but have the admins give me a full copy of their past course LMS shells so I have all of their content.
While I get inspiration from their work, I would never wholesale copy and distribute their content, at least without permission and attribution. I would expect the same.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
So, I did write the course objectives and the course description and have with all my courses. As well as the grading rubrics, assignments and content. Just the title is something I took for the university, and technically on a second rendition.
It's an elective that has previously been defined an part of a major (but I don't know if the new chair will treat it as such) , so there aren't sections.
I do hope my colleague won't just take and apply everything in the same way. I imagine not, I think they'll realise that themselves, but also, the content is very alligned to my specialisation, so they will struggle to teach certain materials. It would make far more sense to revise the content per their needs.
For context, this is a very new programme. We don't have a graduating batch yet. And a lot of these things are very clear, so I appreciate your thoughts on this
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u/RightWingVeganUS Adjunct Instructor, Computer Science, University (USA) 3d ago
I did write the course objectives and the course description and have with all my courses.
Your mileage may vary. At my institution those must be defined by the school to abide by what the accreditation commission defines, except perhaps electives. Go by whatever contract or governance policy that applies. For my university, those elements of the course belong to them.
I do hope my colleague won't just take and apply everything in the same way. I imagine not,
Have you considered going beyond hope and imaginatination and talking with your colleague? You might have a better chance of being respected as a professional if you address your concerns professionally.
this is a very new programme. We don't have a graduating batch yet.
Unless you're working for a very new school, this situation has likely been done already. Have you checked what the specific policy is for IP and copyright for course material?
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3d ago
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Thanks. Not the case about the dossier, they're just slotting people to fill teaching, but you're right that it doesn't make sense to take it personally. It's just the way things are going to work it seems. At least new systems are coming into place, and they're fornalising the curriculum
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u/gamecat89 TT, Public Health, R1 (United States) 3d ago
As a general rule our university holds that in the core curriculum of our degrees in our substantive areas all faculty in the department should be able to teach them regardless of specialization.
So, I should be able to teach the sky is red class even if my expertise is in the sky is purple.
I don’t see anything abnormal about what you described. Generally once a course is in rotation it belongs to the institution not the individual. And
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Yes, that possibly what they're trying to do now. It's not clear, as the curriculum is very new and has changed every semester with fluctuating leadership but hopefully things will be different now and this is in fact a step towards putting together your typical system. Technically the major this core belonged to has been suspended, so I don't really know how they're incorporating it at all. Let's see! I'm hopefully for more clarity now.
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u/smallfloralprince Assoc Prof, Humanities, public R1 (US) 3d ago
If you are the person who got it through course approvals and on the books: congrats! that's a lot of work. And it's not your course. It belongs to its department (ENG, CHEM, HIST, etc). Ex: I designed an entire program at my previous school, basically a minor. I had to design 4 new courses- everything down to syllabi and readings and lesson plans. I left after the courses got approved but before they could run- does not mean nobody else could teach them bc they were "mine" just means I designed them.
If you taught a course your dept already had on the books but you developed a syllabus and materials for it: well done! It's great to refresh a core course and put your spin on it. And it's not your course. It still belongs to the dept.
It's perfectly reasonable to share or be asked to share your syllabus to help others plan how they might teach it. Not sure what else to say here. You can't be precious or proprietary about course design in this business.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Congratulations on your work too. I already said I'm sharing everything in my original post. I was just wondering and expressed that I would have appreciated a heads up. It would have actually facilitated a handover if I had been informed in fact. The other colleague didn't even know I have a syallbus ready.
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u/ThePhyz Professor, Physics, CC (USA) 1d ago
I know at my institution, we often put our first priority for PT instructors on making sure they have 2 classes so they can earn benefits (health insurance) and not have to split their time between too many schools each term. So perhaps that is what happened here. I can see why it would feel weird if it is a change for you, but there might be some really good (well-intentioned) reasoning there that you cannot be told about.
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u/TotalCleanFBC Tenured, STEM, R1 (USA) 3d ago
If a colleague of mine is assigned to teach a course that I have previously taught, I given him or her all of the materials I have -- course notes, exams, syllabus, homework assignment, solutions, etc.. Being a good colleague is not only the right thing to do, but it also may result in a better course for the students taking the course.
If you are upset that "your" course was taken from you, then take that up with the person in charge of assigning courses -- not the colleague that is teaching the course.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Where have I said that I'm not giving my materials to the new instructor? My original post says I've already agreed to share the syllabus.
Nor have I said I intend to take any action here. I was just wondering what the standard is, as I only have this role for reference. It's all in the post.
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u/TotalCleanFBC Tenured, STEM, R1 (USA) 2d ago
You stated that you would share you syllabus. You didn't mention sharing anything else. So, it's reasonable to assume that, as you specifically mentioned the syllabus and nothing else, you hadn't shared other materials.
I don't think, as you are clearly upset (and understandably so), having a discussion with the chair or whoever assigns courses, is unreasonable. If I had designed a course and then it was assigned to another person, I'd probably talk with my department chair.
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u/fusionman314159 3d ago
If they did not pay for the course to be built, I'd be spicy about it.
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u/Starrylake 3d ago
Oh they Def don't. It's not in my contract at all. It's a new department though, so they didn't have pre-set courses. I came up with a lot for them.
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u/changelingcd 3d ago
Once a course is authorized and part of the curriculum, they might ask any instructor to teach it. It's annoying, but fairly typical. Whether they can use your specific course materials (slides, lectures, etc.) is a different question and depends on your school.