Classes taught by the dead and copyright

I feel like this should be a bigger story.

HI EXCUSE ME, I just found out the the prof for this online course I’m taking died in 2019 and he’s technically still giving classes since he’s literally my prof for this course and I’m learning from lectures recorded before his passing

..........it’s a great class but WHAT

IDK SOMETHING ABOUT IT IS WEIRD

I mean, I guess I technically read texts written by people who’ve passed all the time, but it’s the fact that I looked up his email to send him a question and PULLED UP HIS MEMORIAM INSTEAD that just THREW ME OFF A LITTLE

...that feeling when a tenured professor is still giving classes from beyond the grave

There’s job security, then there’s this lmfao.

Also like, all dystopian “you can retire when you’re dead” jabs @ the institution aside—this is actually really sad and somebody should have realized that.

This prof is this sweet old French guy who’s just absolutely thrilled to talk paintings of snow and horses, and somehow he always manages to make it interesting, making you care about something you truly thought could not possibly be that interesting.

It’s fucking sad man wtf

Why would you not tell someone that? Do you think students just don’t give a shit about the people they spend months learning from?

And like, it’s shitty that won’t get to thank him for making all of this information so engaging and accessible

I tend to you know...actually talk to my teachers a lot?

Idk man it’s just a weird thing to find out when you’re looking for an email address.

I’m getting a little tired of people comparing teachers to reusable objects so I’m going to go ahead and mute this lmao.

It’s weird to romanticize labor the way some of you do, and it’s weird to act like it’s normal to just not tell students that their teachers dead, goodnight!

Emphasis added.

The last time I was in the faculty senate at UTRGV, a recurring argument was about who owned courses that were created for online teaching. At the time, I thought there was far too much time spent discussing the matter.

But this example shows exactly why that question of who controls course materials matters. It is a sharp and sad reminder that as far as many institutions are concerned, teaching does not require personal interaction if pure Skinner boxing will do. Professors do not even rise to the level of interchangeable cogs. Professors are a mere convenience once they have created content.

Update, 13 April 2022: Oh yeah,  I forgot to mention:

This happened again. Again!

This time, it’s a university in Bristol that just gave students video lectures by a deceased professor.

First year mathematics undergraduates at the uni were made to watch a series of pre-recorded lectures by Dr Lynne Walling, who had died a few months earlier of terminal cancer.

The students were being taught by Dr Walling during the autumn term. However the teaching of her material carried on for many months – despite passing away last May. ... (Students) were apparently extremely “distressed” once they found out.

No kidding.

External links

Dead man teaching (Added 26 January 2021; The Chronicle of Higher Education caught up)