This Q&A was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond –
Question
Dear Jonas,
I am trying to team-teach a large course with another faculty member, and I am finding it very frustrating. When I had my own course, I knew exactly what the students were seeing in each class, I could decide exactly what went on assignments and exams, and the students could come directly to me with any problems or questions. Now I seem to have to concentrate more on coordinating with my colleague than on teaching the course. Also, the students seem confused about who is responsible for the course.
The most troublesome part is that I don’t know what to do when the students complain to me about the way my colleague is teaching. I’m not sure what to tell them, because in many cases I agree with their criticisms. Should I ask my colleague to change the way he is teaching? I am not comfortable with this. Much of it comes down to a matter of teaching style, and I don’t feel confident enough in my notions of the best way to teach to impose these ideas on my colleague (who actually has much more teaching experience than I do).
What should I do?
Signed: Team Player
Answer
Dear Team Player,
I am not surprised that you are finding special difficulties with a team teaching situation. In individual teaching, one need only worry about one’s own teaching practices, while collaborative teaching requires an integration of values, philosophies and disciplines. Team teaching is not just “turn teaching”. Teaching partners need to be unified and cohesive about the structure and implementation of a course. These things don’t just happen by themselves; they require specific efforts and planning on the part of the collaborating teachers.
Before beginning a team-taught course, it is important to establish a clear definition of roles. Who will set the assignments, and who will write the exams? How will the exams be graded? If any responsibilities are to be shared, you should determine who is responsible for what and how coordination will occur. A genuine collaborative effort on the syllabus often yields a more thoughtful set of learning objectives and corresponding decisions about course content. Once the course is underway, on-going communication, with meeting and planning time built in, is a necessity. Decisions should be made with a free exchange of ideas and negotiation to reach consensus. This way, all collaborators have a shared responsibility in guiding the course, and a shared accountability.
To deal with student criticisms, an atmosphere of trust and respect among the collaboration teachers must be established. This can only be done face-to-face, so meeting regularly is essential. If, for example, you have a meeting where you discuss all the feedback from students and how to respond to them, participants must feel free to mention criticisms as well as any positive feedback from students. You can set the tone by being open to constructive criticism of your teaching and encouraging your colleagues’ openness to student feedback. Afterwards, you can respond to your students and explain what actions are being taken and why. It is sometimes helpful to establish a pattern of giving each other feedback through attending the first few classes, regardless of who is teaching.
But a major question remains, is collaborative teaching worth the trouble? One has to make additional efforts in team teaching in areas that don’t apply to individual teaching. Sometimes, a class is so large that the work is clearly too much for one instructor, and team teaching is a practical way to divide the labor so that each instructor has a manageable workload. Beyond this sharing of labor, there are other benefits to collaborative teaching. By working closely with colleagues, one gets a chance to see and learn from others’ teaching practices. A team of teachers can bring in a much wider range of expertise than a single professor. The collaboration also provides intellectual stimulation and a natural forum for discussing teaching practices as well as providing new ideas that you might experiment with in your own teaching.
Collaborative teaching is much easier for (and with) some people than others. By the nature of their research discipline, some faculty will be quite accustomed to working in collaboration with peers, while others will be used to working alone. Keep this in mind when requesting or making teaching assignments.
You may be team teaching because of its benefits, or because of departmental requirements. In either situation, as in any relationship, communication between the partners is essential to success.
Hope this helps!
Jonas
Quick Tip
Conduct a midterm assessment (see Jonas on Midterm Assessment, 11/07/01) and review the results together with the teaching team. This is a good starting point for a discussion on how to improve teaching practices.
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This content was adapted with permission from the book Chalk Talk: E-advice from Jonas Chalk, Legendary College Teacher, edited by Donna M. Qualters and Miriam Rosalyn Diamond.
Browse the complete Index of Teaching Challenges – Chalk Talk