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I have a professor who used the same lecture notes, same assignments, and same exam questions word for word from from another professor at a different university (who posts his notes, assignments, and exams online). She mentions she "makes her own exams", however the questions are identical to the online past exam and assignment questions.

It's a masters level class and the exam questions are quite specific. We are given an abstract to read and then asked to perform calculations/analyze the abstract.

Is this common or "allowed"?

Eva
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  • How do you know she didn't create these materials herself, and share them with the other professor? – ff524 Apr 17 '16 at 18:01
  • Also see Is it acceptable for paid online course to use quizzes and materials from elsewhere on the internet? – ff524 Apr 17 '16 at 18:06
  • Also see How widespread is sharing of slides/assignments among educators? – ff524 Apr 17 '16 at 18:09
  • That's a valid question. Since she is a new associate professor in the field, I made the assumption since the other professor had labelled their content "past midterms and exams 2005, 2006, 2007" - years before she was hired to teach. – Eva Apr 17 '16 at 18:10
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    Maybe she was that professor's TA and actually wrote the exams in 2005-2007 :) or maybe they are friends, and developed the materials collaboratively. Personally, I've been in situations where I developed materials for a new course, and they were used by another professor (who I shared them with) before I even taught the course for the first time. – ff524 Apr 17 '16 at 18:13
  • Anyways, if you want to know if it's wrong for the instructor to use non-original materials without citation, that's already well covered by the duplicates. If you want to know whether the instructor has the right to use these materials at all, that's not something we can answer since we don't know about any license or agreement that may exist between the author and your instructor. – ff524 Apr 17 '16 at 18:17
  • You're right in that professors who have good teaching material should be able to share it with others in the field. Thanks for taking the time to answer my question! :) – Eva Apr 17 '16 at 18:26
  • I think this question has interesting aspects that the linked-to-question does not, so I have voted to reopen. In particular the question here is not just whether the instructor has the right to reuse someone else's course materials, but whether it is problematic to give no indication of the wholesale copying (and even claim the contrary). In my opinion, dishonesty done in one's academic job should be considered some form of academic dishonesty, even though it may not be plagiarism. This is not a victimless crime: if I were the copied professor, I would feel victimized by this. – Pete L. Clark Apr 17 '16 at 20:00
  • Moreover it is (in my opinion) also problematic to give exams which are (even largely) the same as extant exams available on the internet. Taking more than one exam from the same source is highly inappropriate and risks compromising the academic integrity and fairness of grading of the entire course. – Pete L. Clark Apr 17 '16 at 20:04

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If 1st professor published his/her notes and question with a license which allows that, it's almost ok. If 1st professor published questions without anything which looks like a license, the 2nd professor should ask permission.

The main pros of using notes and questions made by somebody - optimization of work. Why should anybody invent a bicycle if we can get already invented bicycle and use it?

Bill Barth
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Schullz
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  • Funny how plagiarism is considered "optimizing" and "not reinventing the wheel" for professors, yet for students it's grounds for failure. – user3932000 Sep 28 '20 at 12:18