Dive Brief:
- When faculty create online courses but pass them off to other instructors to teach, emotions can run high.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports a University of Texas at Austin associate professor of classics took to her blog to complain when her chosen successor for a course she created did not get selected for the job and she only found out in passing.
- Because online courses are labor-intensive to create, colleges and universities are increasingly having to navigate the tricky hand-off between instructors so that courses can run longer than their initial creators teach them.
Dive Insight:
The flare-up at the University of Texas at Austin reflects challenges of the digital age. As the Chronicle reports, many faculty in other departments have long gotten used to the idea of creating a course and then passing it off. And many professors may certainly feel less protective of their material than the associate professor in question. However, the situation here is a good reminder to academic leadership to be sensitive of the circumstances and communicate administrative decisions openly and honestly to avoid surprises and hurt feelings later on.