He had been enjoying the video lectures by the professor, François-Marc Gagnon, and Ansuini searched online for his email address. What he found instead was an obituary for the professor, who passed away almost two years ago.
“I thought at first that just coincidentally there was some other prof who had passed away with the same name—like, oh, that’s very odd,” he remembers. Then it sunk in that the professor he thought was teaching him was no longer around.
So he shared the situation on social media, in a Tweet that soon went viral.
“HI EXCUSE ME, I just found out that the prof for this online course, I’m taking *died in 2019* and he’s technically still giving classes since he’s literally the prof for this course. And I’m learning from lectures recorded before his passing….. it’s a great class, but WHAT”
Aaron Ansuini, a student at Concordia U., was surprised to find out that the professor listed on his syllabus and featured in his video lectures passed away in 2019.The attention led to coverage in national publications including Slate and The Chronicle of Higher Education, which ran the headline: “Dead Man Teaching.”
What does this unusual moment say about teaching?
