What to do when a colleague uses your hand-out/materials
What if a colleague uses your hand-outs and other materials or adopt some of your procedures and present them as hers without even mentioning your name as source. Will it be more efficient to talk to the person or to just keep quiet about it.
I would not if someone uses my handout as long as it is not use as original work by the user. Credit must be given to the author of the work. Using another idea indicate that is a good and aid other in their endeavors not to re-invent the wheel. Will this be wrong of course not taking credit for such work would be wrong.
If the person was a new instructor, they may have been instructed to investigate shared files to enhance their presentation. I would help them to develop their own lesson plan, to become a better instructor.
Mary,
I have always believed that good ideas are worth stealing. However, if those ideas are being profited on then that is a totally different circumstance. I encourage people to use ideas and make them their own. I know this is a touchy subject, we should all continue practicing our professionalism and if we use someone elses idea, at least ask before we do it.
Philip Campbell
I think most of the decision depends on the experience level of the person who is using your materials. If the person is new to the school and/or teaching, chances are I am going to be letting them know what I use in class and willingly let them use these materials. I wouldn't expect them to tell others "I got these materials from ..." I would expect that as the instructor was more familiar with the course and the material, he/she would adapt what I do their own way.
If this was someone, however, who has been there a while, and always seems to be taking your hard work and pawning it off as their own, that is a different situation. I might say something then.
If I recognized some of my own handy work and suspected it was mine. I would approach the instructor and politely inquire about the issue while making small talk. If they did indeed use my material without asking, I would let them know that all they had to do was come ask and more than likely I would have said yes, just give me credit when credit is required.
I have willingly shared exams and other materials with instructors in the past to help them assemble their own. I have had others do the same for me when it came my turn to teach that class for the first time. It's really not that big of a deal to me. Just ask.
The one time I did get upset was when I did a search for materials/ideas and found one of my own documents available for the whole world to acquire. I did not post it and never was able to find out who did it. Now that did tick me off a bit.
