By Canadian Press

Concordia University says lectures from dead professor were ‘teaching tool’

Jan 28, 2021 | 11:23 AM

MONTREAL — Concordia University says there should have been no confusion about who was teaching an online class after a student said he was surprised to discover the professor delivering the video lectures had died in 2019.

Aaron Ansuini, a student at the Montreal university, wrote in a series of recent posts on Twitter that he enjoyed the lectures by Francois-Marc Gagnon, who he assumed was the professor of his online art history class.

Ansuini wrote that he searched for Gagnon’s email address in order to ask the professor a question but instead found an obituary.

University spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci says the course listing, as well as communications with students, made it clear that the class was being taught by a different instructor and Gagnon’s lectures were an added teaching tool.

However, Maestracci says the biography of Gagnon included in the course material has now been updated to reflect his death.

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While all classes at the university have moved online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the art history class was offered through a pre-existing platform for online courses.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press