The Payoffs (and Pitfalls) of Team Teaching

In my more than 40 years of teaching college, I’ve found that as I’m imparting knowledge to others, I learn lessons myself. The greatest lessons that I’ve learned, however, are in team-taught courses (and the students benefit greatly as well!). I’m currently in a program where three different faculty collaborate to deliver a leadership course to students who are taking courses while also engaged in for-credit academic internships. Needless to say, this is a lot of work for all of us. But in all of my time teaching, I believe that the benefits of team-taught courses are tremendous, if they are managed well. Here are the lessons learned:

For the Students. In a traditional, single-instructor course, there may be a tendency for students to unquestioningly accept almost everything that the professor says. The lone professor may be seen as the expert, and this may limit student critical thinking and questioning. In a team-taught course, students are exposed to different perspectives on a shared topic. If the instructors are in class together, they may engage in critical dialogue, and students may then be encouraged to also employ critical thinking and participate in discussion. In addition, professors can model how best to engage in discussion/debate.

Another benefit for students of team-taught courses is that they are exposed to a greater breadth of information on the topic. For example, in a course we offered some time ago, on “Leadership in Science,” students were exposed to a chemist who discussed the realities of pollution, a philosopher/ethicist who discussed the moral implications of leaders’ decision-making, a management professor who discussed the “business” of science, and a leadership scholar who framed the discussion around the implications for leading research and practice in science professions. These complex and multidimensional approaches mirror the complexity of the “real world’ topics the students might be faced with in their careers after graduation.

For the Instructors. Just like the students, faculty members learn about the different perspectives and knowledge bases from their co-instructors. For example, when I team-taught a course a long time ago with a historian, I quickly learned that historians who study leadership put a strong emphasis on the context. They take the historical approach that the situation in which one leads tends to shape the leadership. For example, leaders in times of war are different from peacetime leaders. As a psychologist, we tend to focus on the qualities of the leader – an approach that my historian co-instructor found surprising and educational.

Co-teaching also offers faculty members the opportunity to engage in critical dialogue, and I know from students’ comments that they appreciate, and learn from, watching their professors engage in spirited (and polite and controlled) dialogue.

As someone who has had several opportunities to teach in team-taught courses, I can attest to the fact that I’ve learned much more about the topic when I am challenged by my co-instructors’ perspectives, knowledge, and style.

The Challenges. For students, the challenges are trying to adjust to the different requirements and grading standards of different professors in the same course. Students are also challenged (but in a good way) when realizing from their “dueling” professors that there may be no one correct answer.

For faculty members, the challenges are about coordination and credit. Our educational systems don’t really encourage team teaching. The financial and accounting systems are geared to one teacher, one class. For the most part, my team-taught courses have had to be “subsidized” by funds for special programs, through teaching grants, or through one or more instructors “volunteering” their time.