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Staffing troubles have fired up at the Nova Scotia Community College’s IT campus, and it’s the students who may end up burned.
According to students, instructor David Jellicoe, faculty at the Leeds Street Institute of Technology, has been let go by administrators for copying his lessons wholesale from online sources.
Jellicoe was up until this week teaching several courses, including web design, operating systems and a PHP programming class. It was in the latter that a student discovered something fishy, after coming across a $10 PHP course online which eerily matched the assignments Jellicoe had been handing out exactly.
“He did nothing himself,” says NSCC student Allen Pooley. “So, we’re paying five, six hundred bucks for a course I bought for $10.”
Other students determined web design lessons Jellicoe was using were close to a decade old, and software he was distributing to his class was pirated. Pooley says he brought the evidence to a meeting with the college’s academic chair. Shortly thereafter, Jellicoe was put on leave pending an investigation.
Rosalind Penfound, NSCC’s vice president academic, says she won’t comment on any specific staff issues, but did confirm a faculty member was investigated due to a copyright infringement matter raised by students.
“We take that very seriously,” she says. “So we’re looking into it, investigating the circumstances around and determining the facts. Only when we have that will we know the position we’re in and the actions we’ll take.”
The biggest concern for Jellicoe’s former students is now what happens to their degrees. Nearly an entire semester of a tightly-scheduled two-year program has essentially been rendered forfeit. Pooley says there’s been some talk of making up for the lost lessons with extra work next semester. But the student already works two jobs, and doubts he has the time or even desire to put in extra time replacing the hours NSCC has already wasted.
“Really, I just want me damn money back,” he says. “We have been essentially robbed for the last two, three months.”
Penfound says the school is still figuring out how to make up the time for the dozens of affected students. She wouldn’t rule out a refund, but says any decision is still yet to be determined.
“Our primary concern is always the students,” says Penfound. “That’s our number one concern at the moment. We now have other faculty who are stepping up to give us a hand to make sure we have that covered.”
That’s little comfort to students like Pooley. While he’s happy Jellicoe won’t rip off any future classes, this incident has still made him lose his trust in the quality of NSCC’s program.
“Really, this is the quality of learning I’m getting out of this?” he asks. “I’m going to go learn online.”
Elsewhere in NSCC’s faculty, one instructor is facing disciplinary action because a naughty word ended up on his whiteboard. Information technology teacher William Cunningham is being investigated by administrators after an “inappropriate remark” was displayed to students. Unlike Jellicoe, NSCC says this other instructor remains at work while the incident is examined.
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2014.
The complainant, Allen Pooley, is one to talk, as he didn’t show up for most of September and October’s classes, and has done this as a simple vendetta when he realized he wasn’t passing. He has also dropped out of the program for a supposed “business opportunity”, but not before gloating about his actions all over Facebook, and then, like the coward he is, took the posts down. A man’s career has been ruined, and other students have had their lives negatively impacted while Pooley scuttles away. Hope he can sleep at night.
Another excellent question: what are students paying for? The material they are learning from, or the teacher’s experience and facilitation? What does it matter WHERE the material came from? I can download anything from the Internet…it doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to understand it unless someone who knows the subject puts it in context. The better question is: was Jellicoe doing his job and helping the students understand the material?
The problem with the source is that it wasn’t cited, it was presented as original material, and it was not being presented in a way which helped students understand it. I discussed it with several classmates before proceeding with the actions I took; I knew it would impact more than just me, so I wanted the opinions of others to weigh in as well. Everyone I spoke with said it needed to be followed up on, so I took it forward.
Attacking Allen makes no sense. If Jellicoe did something that the law states he shouldn’t do, then it is not Allen’s fault Dave is suffering the consequences. I feel super bad for Jellicoe, he’s not a bad guy and he’s been through a lot, and there are way worse things than plagiarism. But you can’t blame Allen for students being screwed over. If you get caught doing something wrong, it’s not the fault of the person that catches you. It’s your own fault.
I wish Jellicoe weren’t being penalized so harshly, and I wish students weren’t being cheated out of their learning outcomes, but Allen was fully within his rights to report this, since it is a crime, especially if he and other students were being negatively affected by it.
I can’t say much about Jellicoe because I never had him. But William Is one of the best teachers NSCC has and one of the best I have ever seen. One of the best education experiences provided by this teacher, and I have been to three didn’t secondary schools. He can relate to students, and therefore bring a topic down their level to make it easier to understand, we are all adults at this college are we not? He doesn’t desver to be smashed in this article.
Hey Mad_Student; I just want to agree with that. I’ve never had William as a teacher there, but did have a chance to speak to him outside of classes and found him to be a remarkably passionate, intelligent, and very interesting person to talk to. I don’t know why his issue is brought up in the same article, as the proximity alludes to a connection which just isn’t there.
I graduated from NSCC in 2008 and am still paying off my student loan. If I found out that one of my professors had stolen the ciriculum from a MOOC that I could have instead paid 10$ for I would be pissed as fuck. Allen did the right thing by reporting plagiarism to the school. Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t the easiest thing to do. I’m proud of Allen for doing the right thing.
I agree with angry student. You are paying for the instructor to teach and make the material and content understandable. More so to inspire and build on your passions. Did this instructor do this? Was he knowledgable in this area.
In the IT world things are changing and evolving rapidly. Instructors should be seeking out the most relevant and up to date material. If a web site has good content I see no reason why a person cannot use this in good faith. I agree disclosure of where material originated and proper referencing for intellectual integrity is needed.
I had friends who had Jellico as a instructor and they said he was intense, passionate and there for his students. He challenged people out of their comfort zone to learn. He would help link student with opportunities to develop skills and make connections in the work force.
If this was simply a author et al, 2013 reference that was put in the material then I think this is a over kill. If this was a hidden agenda as retaliation by the student then they have to live knowing they could of really destroyed someones life.
I hope the truth comes out and reasonable actions are taken.
The thing is that what Dave taught, he did not put it in terms that could be understood easily. Whenever he was asked a question, he would either answer with a completely different answer than what was asked, or would just skirt around it. He could never fully explain what was going on, just talked about what “he” was doing slide by slide. Very little information and help was given, and in most times, debugging had to be done from the help of our peers due to mistakes and unfinished lines in the slide decks.
The content he ripped it from was way more informational about what was going on. In this case, Dave was doing worse than the content which he was copying from. In one instance, a frame of a video had an error in it. A screenshot was taken of that frame, and compared against the same exact error that was in our slide deck. The mistake was later corrected in the videos, but was left completely untouched by Dave. Contacting the owners of the content anonymously, they had no idea that Dave was even teaching this content. There was no reference or mention of the originating content, and even the content creators demanded they know what was going on, so surely no agreement or licence was made for Dave..
When I learned that the content was being sold for $10, I was down right pissed. I’m glad that the school was made aware of the situation. Over the course of time as well, I also found that he was also distributing illegally obtained software and eBooks. He didn’t even bother removing “(Retail + Keygen)” from one of the folder names. This was also brought up with the school, and could be a contributing factor as to why he was relieved from the college.
As anyone who has been an NSCC student knows, there is a procedure for gaining recognition of prior learning (The RPL forms). This means if you have already met the Learning Outcomes of a course through your previous learning or work experience, you do not have to take or PAY FOR that course. Every student who had to take Mr. Jellicoe’s PHP course should have been given the opportunity to take the $10 online version before September and get a recognition of prior learning from NSCC.
To be fair, Braden, the class was never given a formal set of outcomes that were to be covered through out the semester. It was only until a classmate searched for two of the assignment names on Google to find the original content came from a paid course from an online learning source. As changes to staff have been made, the course in question is being extended into the next term, making a class of hours from 60 hours to 90. All this is because not all of the original outcomes as taught by Dave were covered and/or proven in an assessment.
AngryStudent your comments about Allen Pooley seem quite short-sighted. Mr Jellicoe is the one who negatively impacted the lives of students not to mention the integrity of the entire IT program. Due to Allen’s actions, Mr. Jellicoe will not be able to pull the wool over the eyes of any more students at NSCC. Allen could have easily dropped the program and walked away without blowing the whistle, and future students would have continued taking the same substandard class. I for one hope this situation is a catalyst that leads to an improvement in the standards and quality of classes in the IT department of NSCC, giving all students more value for their money.
Concerned_student, I’d say failure to provide a course outline with clear learning outcomes is yet another problem of Mr. Jellicoe’s class.
I won’t weigh in on either side of this teacher debate, but I do want to say that if Angrystudent wants to call others cowards online, they should at least be using their own name to not be hypocrites. Heck, without that we don’t even know if you’re actually in his class or just someone else concerned in this issue with a bone to pick.
I just want to point out how lovely and wonderful Bill Cunningham is. He’s an absolute gem of a human being who really and honestly cares about his students and their well-being while in his classroom, let alone how much he cares about our futures. I’m glad the school didn’t suspend him.
While I understand that thing that happened with MR. Jellicoe, the fact that Bill Cunningham is receiving disciplinary action for something so frivolous absolutely enrages me. To be completely honest, it’s his “distinct” personality that keeps everyone engaged and excited to go to his class! Bill would never try to hurt anybody’s feelings or put anybody down. It’s very evident that he is passionate about what he does and often says how proud he is to work at such a great school. Everybody I know is grateful to have him not only as a teacher but also a friend. For instance, one time I missed my bus and Bill went out of his way to drive me home. That goes to show that he truly cares about his students. While he may have a crass sense of humour, he has the best possible intentions and uses it to his advantage to keep his students engaged, motivated and having fun
Bill being mentioned at the end is a crock! Bill might be a bit different than some instructors but he is passionate about the success of his students. He doesn’t sugar coat things, he gives real world examples from his own life, tells us why we should ask questions and overall CARES about the students experience. I am not saying the other instructors don’t but with Bill it is the most obvious thing, the students are the focus. If he gets close to the line it is often to make us remember something and if he crosses that line it wasn’t malicious.
concerned_student — What software was distributed, and how was it distributed, by Jellicoe? Asking as a former student. A few of us are having a discussion about the matter on Bookface now.
What was the software though? As a former student, I would want those taking the course to be using industry standard tools to learn. If NSCC doesn’t want to open up its budget to license proper software, that’s more an institutional failing.
Bill Cunningham is an amazing knowledgeable teacher who actually gives a F$@K about his students. He wanted everyone in his classes to learn. He would let you re submit an assignment to make sure you knew what you did wrong and how to correct it( learning from your mistakes) Bill teaches with passion and enthusiasm. He may push the limits sometimes but not to hurt or embarrass anyone but to motivate, to get a point across, to make sure you’re listening or just to get a laugh to help lighten what may be a stressful situation.
As for Dave. I like Dave. He obviously made a mistake but I don’t think he did it with any intention to be unfair to the students or to cheat them out of an education. I had Dave teach me for a couple courses and although he was a bit wordy with explanations and didn’t always get to the point of my questions he did eventually give me an answer or assist me with the problem. Everyone gets stressed, everyone makes mistakes and everyone feels the pressure of life taking a stranglehold on them feeling cornered like there was no way out. Dave does know how to explain what he was teaching just should have been more forthcoming as to where his material was coming from. Other teachers relied sometimes on work done by other faculty from other campus’s but it was not secretive…they would simply say..a colleague of mine set up all these examples that you have as a base to work with. Two years there wasn’t the greatest experience of my life nor was it the worst. Most teachers( including Dave) came to work with a passion and I didn’t feel like they didn’t want to be there. Most were enthusiastic with a few who really stood out. Basically Jellicoe made a huge error in judgement but I don’t feel it should be the end all to the man’s career. Let him come back stronger, redeem himself with work that he has created and continue teaching with the enthusiasm that he often showed. If you showed interests and cared then he showed interest and cared that has to speak of the man’s integrity that he wanted you to learn. I’m not taking anything away from what Allen did he had every right to feel like his education was being cheated I am just saying that everyone deserves a comeback to show that they are capable of doing so. These words are coming from a man who is 40 and has a family and knows how hard things can be at times ,who has been through a lot and now is a compassionate father of two wonderful boys. I took a lot of useful stuff away from Dave’s class, mind you I don’t use it because I chose a different career path in the IT industry but information which Dave along with my peers and Google helped me to understand.
Cheers!
Allen Pooley did not ruin the instructor’s career at all. He brought forward a critical area of any academic institution, which are the issues of copyright and plagiarism. Being a former student of the iT program, concerns about the way classes were being taught were brought forward to the Academic Chair’s attention. They would sit down with you and make you feel like your concerns were being addressed, but often nothing would be done about them. Also, technologies that were being taught were at least 10 years old. These technologies were not pertinent to most business or corporate environments, essentially ill preparing students for jobs in the IT field. This article is well written and is perhaps what is required for NSCC to make more positive changes for future students. With regards to Bil C, this is a man that would take the time to listen what students had to say, and would go out of his way to ensure for his students were taken care of.