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It has come to my attention, that some of the professors I studied with as an undergraduate, plagiarized their lectures.

In some cases, it was word for word. In fact, they did not even explain it any better or add anything, merely translating or in some cases just copying the original text.

The books in question were not cited as a source for the lecture, rather as a suggestion of additional "literature" for the lecture, most of the time, among many other suggestions, and not on top of the list.

I reside in Germany.

Peter Jansson
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Mad
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    Short answer: no unless the instructor claimed the material as their own “creation”. In fact in some situations sticking to one or few textbooks - which presumably have been proof-read and edited by professionals - is an entirely acceptable option. – ZeroTheHero Jun 03 '23 at 15:38
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    It is not clear whether the professor has used lecture notes to produce some "publication" or whether the lecture follows something published. Either way, I do not see any issue! – Peter Jansson Jun 03 '23 at 18:07

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There is no expectation that lectures consist only of original work. (Otherwise, most of us lecturing would be doing a very poor job). Embedding others' works and good examples is just part and parcel of creating good lectures. If I prepare lectures, I often read many books and some journal articles. When it comes to writing the slides, I would have difficulties finding the correct attributions. After years of teaching the material, the provenance of the material taught can become difficult to reconstruct.

Thomas Schwarz
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In a word, only if the course material is not put across adequately in the lectures.

In some IT modules like databases and SQL, I think it's common enough to basically cog a whole (well known) online course, transfer it to overhead transparencies and extemporize lectures over it in class.

Before the web, it was common for lecturers in physical sciences, and engineering particularly, for a lecture course to essentially follow the layout and example problems of one or other common textbook. From my experience in freshman economics lectures, a similar process was applied although with a much wider range of extemporizing and time distribution on the various concepts.

This works out fine where the plagiarized lectures/textbooks are well synthesized, structured and presented; yet predictably not so well when they are not.

I would regard some areas of physics to be hard to wrap one's head around and dumbly following textbooks and online courses may make it harder still were students to see the lectures as the furthest horizons of communication on these topics. To that extent a lecturer's own perspective and input is important - though so many renege on this aspect of their appointment.

In the latter case - and obviously in cases where the lecturer shows utter contempt for the task of lecturing - I would approve of the class (or a strong number of it) reporting the lecturer in question - not a single member of the class since cynical class members may try to avoid publicly supporting the complainant to curry favor with the poor lecturer.

But I can't see any benefit in reporting a lecturer simply because he/she uses an existing course of lectures and where they are adequate for purpose.

Trunk
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  • It is not a matter of benifit, rather of principal and morality, – Mad Jun 03 '23 at 18:15
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    @Mad Lectures do not claim to be original. The reason scientific articles need to attribute is because 1. without attribution, it is assumed that the work is yours, 2. because it puts a tag of provenience on the work - you can judge if the source is trustworthy. In a lecture, the lecturer is the "compiler" of the knowledge and thus the trustworthyness is the lecturer's, but there is no assumption of originality. The lecturer does not usually pretend it's their original work. There is no moral dilemma here. The lecturer is not paid for producing original work. – Captain Emacs Jun 03 '23 at 18:31
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    Morality? Let's not get so heavy here. Let's just deal with the ethicality of this. If the plagiarized course is well-chosen and delivered, where is the issue? The professor has provided a good ladder gor learning. – Trunk Jun 04 '23 at 07:28
  • @Michael_1812 i can not believe you compare this to a very dark side of german history, this is insulting, disgusting. you should apologize – Mad Jun 07 '23 at 18:32