Author: Laura Schmidli. Editor: Maria Widmer. Published on December 12, 2024.
Teaching in a team provides advantages within an increasingly complex higher education environment. Multiple instructors can more effectively manage larger classes, provide interdisciplinary context, handle complex educational technology, model collaboration for new instructors and students, and better meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.
In L&S, team teaching happens in many different ways, including:
- Multiple instructors who co-teach a course, each contributing to every class meeting
- Multiple professors who sequentially “divide and conquer” course content according to their areas of expertise
- A course coordinator who leads a team of teaching assistants that each lead their own sections
- Multiple professors who work with a team of teaching assistants to provide instruction across lecture, lab, and discussion sections
With each of these configurations, effective teamwork requires intentional organization and planning. “The most successful teaching endeavors have occurred when the teaching team collaborates before, during, and after each lecture topic” (Dong, 2008, p. 2). Whether your team includes two instructors, or several faculty and teaching assistants, research shows that teams that focus on creating a coherent and cohesive experience for students can improve their learning.
What’s Effective?
Teaching teams can increase student participation and interest, particularly when teams use active learning techniques. Teams can provide students with multiple perspectives on course materials, a wider variety of teaching styles, and more opportunities for interaction and individualized support. Teaching teams are best able to create positive experiences for students when members of the team develop a shared vision, intentionally collaborate, consistently implement policies, and work together to identify targets for improvement.
1. Start from Shared Understanding
Managing individual differences on a teaching team can present a significant challenge to working productively. By starting with shared goals, establishing roles, and determining communication processes ahead of time, teams can prevent conflict and turn differences into resources rather than threats.
Clarify your team’s purpose. Consider why a team teaching model is used for your course, and the benefits the team offers to students and instructors. This aligns with the best practices outlined in the L&S Policy Guidance on Team Teaching, including that team teaching should enrich student learning and be built into the syllabus. Research shows that team teaching provides the most benefit for student learning and for instructor development when instructors can teach together or observe others’ teaching, reflect on teaching with other instructors, discuss emerging issues, and plan teaching activities together (Broberg et al., 2024; Motaref & Hain, 2024; Scherer et al., 2020).
Set goals. Depending on how your team is structured and the model of teaching you use, members of your team may have different degrees of autonomy and agency. No matter what structure you use, creating space for each team member to identify with team goals and set personal goals is important. You may start your team’s work by reviewing course outcomes and having each team member set a personal goal for the semester. You could also begin by establishing norms and working agreements with your team that can determine how you work together (Haag et al., 2023). Both of these approaches allow all members of the teaching team to contribute to a shared understanding of what is important and why. Starting this way can help frame the team teaching situation as one where all members of the team have something to offer and something to learn.
Establish roles. Articulating concrete roles for specific members of the teaching team helps to minimize confusion and duplication of effort. Available roles may vary based on the teaching philosophy and model your course adopts. For example, a peer-led learning model in a Biology undergraduate course situates undergraduate student assistants as mentors and faculty as leaders of the lecture and discussion components (Audette et al., 2023). Other models might have roles for a course coordinator, a head teaching assistant, or distinguish between a subject matter expert who delivers lectures and a pedagogy expert who designs activities. Two instructors used a sports commentating framework to establish roles, where one instructor acted as the play-by-play presenter during lectures while the other was the expert commentator (Jones & Perrone, 2023). Finally, assigning and rotating roles can make tasks more transparent and acknowledge or redistribute unequal power dynamics and skills within a teaching team (Broberg et al., 2024).
L&S Instructor Example: Rotating TA Roles
Josh Weber, Teaching Faculty in the Department of Physics
What do you do? Each week, our TAs cycle through czar roles. The czars’ primary function is to help the course to function smoothly, but they also help us to improve the course. Czars are responsible for organizing, editing, and developing course material, and also for instructing other TAs.
Why do you do it? We want to make sure that more than one member of the teaching team reviews all material. Not just to catch typos, but to ensure that the material is presented in a logical and accessible manner. The course is more well-rounded when we incorporate various points of view.
What impact does it have on students? The czar roles encourage TAs to be more invested in the course, and more on top of the material. Students benefit from TAs who care more and have some sense of ownership of the course. Students also benefit from the fresh ideas that the TAs bring to the course.
What might you change in the future? We may expand czar roles to give them even more control over the course. We would also like to better catalog the czar’s contributions, building up a library of resources for the benefit of future students.
Guiding Questions
- Why does (or might) your course use team teaching? What are the benefits of team teaching for your students?
- What instructor roles in your course might encourage team members to more equitably distribute work and contribute to the team’s success?
Tip: When a teaching team includes graduate students who are still learning how to teach, it is important for these teaching team members to be compensated both for “contact time” in the classroom as well as time preparing to teach and reflecting on teaching (Radzimski et al., 2024). Be sure to consider how all roles and responsibilities for L&S TAs, including preparation and learning, fit into their workload. See Drafting TA Workloads for more information.
2. Schedule and Structure Collaboration
Scheduling time and setting expectations for collaborating can help team members develop rapport, establish collaborative habits, and work together more effectively.
Meet regularly. Scheduling regular team meetings sets common expectations and allows all team members to devote time to the course (Broberg et al., 2024). Many teams meet once per week in order to reflect on recent class sessions, address challenges, and plan for upcoming activities. Meeting regularly also helps team members build working relationships and develop rapport. In addition to regular team meetings, consider scheduling periodic meetings for tasks that are pressing at specific times, like adding grading-focused meetings after major assessments to support consistent and fair grading processes. When all team members protect their planning time, it indicates commitment to collaborators (Vogler & Long, 2003)
Communicate transparently. Determine how your team will communicate internally. Technology can help your team share information, including tools like an email list, a Microsoft Teams or similar channel, and document repositories. Consider using a shared document to collaboratively construct meeting agendas prior to the meeting, so that synchronous time can be used more effectively (Hamrick et al., 2023). Some teams also use tools like a weekly email or a running document that helps members of the team share an understanding of the most important goals and tasks for the week. Be sure to determine ahead of time which channels will be used for which types of information, distinguishing between immediate and less urgent communication methods (Richmond et al., 2013).
Attend more class meetings. Can you expect multiple team members to be present during all (or most) class meetings? Being present in the classroom together helps members of the team form a partnership, develop shared context, and teach more consistently (Dong, 2008). Research suggests that when students can interact with multiple instructors during class, their learning improves because they are more likely to receive individual attention, get prompt assistance with questions, and be exposed to multiple perspectives on class material (Campbell et al., 2018; Metzger, 2015). When students are exposed to multiple viewpoints, they can develop critical thinking skills by synthesizing these perspectives and relating the information to a larger conceptual framework (Letterman & Dugan, 2004). Instructors can also support each other during class by dividing tasks like lecturing, managing technology, organizing group work, taking attendance, or responding to questions (Lo et. al, 2007). Two instructors who used a sports commentating framework to establish roles while co-teaching online were better able to adhere to clear roles during lecture and found that students were better able to follow the narrative arc of the class (Jones & Perrone, 2023). Finally, having multiple instructors present during class creates opportunities to provide and receive feedback on teaching and observe student engagement.
Guiding Questions
- What communication channels does your team use, and for which purposes?
- Which team members attend which class meetings, and why? Could more team members attending meetings provide more opportunities to share workloads and learn?
L&S Instructor Example: Meeting Regularly
In 2024, Sarah Jedd shared her expertise in managing and supporting the Communication Arts 100 teaching team on Episode 23 of the L&S Exchange Podcast.
“We have staff meetings every week where we touch base, see what’s going on, troubleshoot things that are happening with students, and also work through the lesson plan because we want to make sure that somebody who’s never taught a class before or somebody who’s never taught CA 100 before is completely prepared. We try to keep people three or four weeks ahead of where the students are so that they when a student has a question, an instructor can confidently answer it, even if they’ve never taught CA 100 before.”
L&S Instructor Example: Structuring Teams
Philip Lampkin, Research Assistant in the Department of Chemistry
What do you do? To ensure my team is effective at developing new curricula for chemistry teaching labs, I assemble teams that include both teaching faculty and graduate students.
Why do you do it? Teaching faculty have extensive experience in curriculum development but may not be familiar with the intricacies of contemporary chemistry research. Graduate students, on the other hand, are experts on cutting-edge research but are often unfamiliar with curriculum development. By assembling teams that include both teaching faculty and graduate students, I ensure that the curricula we develop are pedagogically sound and innovative.
What impact does it have on student learning? Contemporary chemistry is often missing from teaching lab curricula. By forming curriculum development teams containing both teaching faculty and graduate students, we bridge the gap between the research and teaching lab. Introduction of cutting-edge chemistry to teaching labs helps students be aware of and better prepared for the types of chemistry they’ll encounter in industry or graduate school.
What might you change in the future? I aim to involve undergraduate students in future curriculum development efforts. Optimizing experimental procedures for use in teaching labs would provide undergraduates with research experience and opportunities for authorship on publications, aiding their transition to industry or graduate school.
3. Support Consistent Implementation of Policies
Ideally, students taking the same class taught by a different instructor will reach the same learning outcomes and feel decisions were made consistently.
Set communication guidelines. Start the semester with clear rules for communication so that students and instructors know which instructor should be contacted for what kinds of questions (Metzger, 2015). What rules will work best will depend on the model of team teaching you are using. In large enrollment courses with a large teaching team, a shared email address staffed in shifts may work well in combination with an online student-facing discussion board. In courses where teaching assistants are the primary point of contact, TAs may benefit from centralized documentation and good internal team communication to help them consistently answer student questions (Richmond et al., 2013).
Share goals for each class meeting. Identifying and communicating goals for each week, class meeting, or activity can help all instructors consistently communicate what is important to students. This helps students have a more consistent learning experience (Dong, 2008). Consider asking your team to articulate clear “takeaway messages” for students each week that summarize the concepts students should master in language that students will understand and value (Radzimski et al., 2024).
Consider common scenarios. When teaching teams consider common scenarios together before experiencing them during the semester, each member will feel more prepared to consistently handle these questions (Dong, 2008). It is helpful if a coordinator or lead instructor can document common situations related to attendance, late submissions, grading criteria, and academic integrity. The team may benefit from developing templated communication in response to these scenarios, and considering how course policies support student learning outcomes (Richmond et al., 2013).
L&S Student Voices
Jess Randall, Junior studying Biology and Global Health with Comprehensive Honors
“For team-taught courses with multiple professors, having a clear schedule of who is teaching each topic and when has been incredibly helpful. Constantly adjusting to different teaching or testing styles can be stressful, so I always appreciate any effort by the teaching team to create predictability!”
L&S Instructor Example: Modelling Decision-Making
Tianlu Zhang, Chinese Language Teaching Faculty in Asian Languages & Cultures
What do you do? Our team discusses policies in the weekly group meetings and how to handle student issues as they come up during the semester in group messenger chats. I also include TAs in my email communications with students and also ask TAs to cc me in their email communications with students. This way, TAs can see how I interact with students, and I can also give TAs immediate feedback.
Why do you do it? Discussing and modeling decision-making in context keeps everyone on the same page regarding policy implementations and how to handle cases in real-life situations.
What impact does it have on student learning? Students know that all teachers follow the same guidelines regarding policies, ensuring everyone is treated fairly and with transparency.
What might you change in the future? I collect TAs’ feedback on implementing these policies each semester and will change some policies or the way we implement them if necessary.
Guiding Questions
- How might articulating goals for each class meeting help instructors and students be consistent and accountable? What would these goals look like for one of your class sessions?
- Consider common interactions your team has with students. Which scenarios would be helpful for your teaching team to consider together before the semester begins?
4. Don't Forget Continuous Improvement
Teaching in a team provides more opportunities for observation and feedback, as well as more ideas for improvement.
Reflect regularly on teaching. Consider adding space during regular meetings for team members to reflect on what worked well and what didn’t work well (Richmond et al., 2013). Regular open debriefing sessions allow instructors to gather advice, see challenges from another point of view, and work with others to improve their teaching. To support group debriefing, individual instructors may want to reflect in the moment, for example, by asking at the end of each class session, “What did I learn today that will be useful to me as an instructor?” (Scherer et al., 2020).
Gather and review student feedback. How students perform on specific assessments provides evidence of their learning and of the effectiveness of our teaching. In addition, asking students to reflect regularly on their experiences can inform revisions to course design, implementation, and assessment strategies (Metzger, 2015). Consider adding a mid-semester student evaluation or more frequent low-stakes opportunities for students to reflect on their learning, such as exit tickets that ask students to evaluate the effectiveness of their study strategies, the concepts they have struggled with the most, or the activities that have helped them learn best. Evaluating student feedback as a team can provide more interpretations and ideas for improvement.
Support instructor growth and innovation. Being part of a teaching team presents an opportunity to learn from and with other instructors. Team teaching itself can be a form of professional development, especially when teaching observation and mutual feedback are part of the team’s work (Álvarez et al., 2024). Consider providing opportunities within your team for instructors to observe each other, bring in their own interests and teaching styles, regularly discuss new activities and approaches, and collaborate on developing teaching skills and strategies.
Guiding Questions
- Where is there space in your teaching team’s schedule to reflect together on teaching and observe others’ teaching?
- If you observe a colleague teaching, what student behaviors might you look for to provide your colleague with feedback?
- How might your team work together to interpret student feedback and share ideas for improvement?
L&S Instructor Example: Supporting Instructor Identity Development
Cameron Jones, Student Lecturer in the Department of Statistics
What do you do? Whether I’m working with TAs or co-instructors, I make sure my teammates know from day one that I have full trust and confidence in them to make their own decisions, follow their instincts, and speak their minds. There’s a fine line between putting faith in their abilities and leaving them out to dry, though, and I think that consistent communication, positive reinforcement, and supporting each other when needed are how to stay on the right side of that line. This creates an environment where we continually push each other, and the course itself, to grow and improve.
Why do you do it? When TAs and instructors feel the course structure encourages their individuality in teaching rather than suppresses it, everyone benefits. Confident, individualistic instruction doesn’t have to come at the cost of inconsistency or inefficiency, though. A team of mutually confident instructors is willing to try new things together, or try the same core idea in different ways.
What impact does it have on student learning? Students can feel when an instructor’s teaching identity is flowing through an activity or lecture – and they can feel when it’s not. Furthermore, teachers who are empowered to make their own decisions are more accountable and accessible for students. It can be frustrating for students when something that could be handled with their immediate TA or instructor turns into a bureaucratic issue for the whole team.
What might you change in the future? I would love to be even more aggressive with TAs and co-instructors experimenting with new techniques in different sections, sharing the results and perpetuating those ideas that succeed! We are so lucky to work with such talented and unique TAs & instructors, and the more we can lean into their individuality for the good of the whole, the better.
Challenges and Opportunities for the Future
What can another discipline offer to your course learning outcomes? Co-teaching and team teaching can present unique advantages for interdisciplinary courses. For example, social work and law instructors have teamed together to share multiple disciplinary perspectives in a course on domestic violence (Campbell et al., 2018), native and non-native speakers have co-taught language courses to model different pathways to language acquisition (Álvarez et al., 2024), and English and engineering instructors have co-taught graduate-level research and writing courses to offer multiple perspectives to students (Dong, 2008).
One argument against team teaching views it as more resource-intensive. Adopting a “dispersed model” is one way to gain some of the benefits for students and instructors while reducing the financial impact. Consider an example course focused on romanticism in the arts: Faculty in history, art, and English could each teach a cross-listed section in their own department, and once per week these three sections could meet together for a team-taught meeting that explores the interlinking of the disciplines on this theme (McDaniels & Colarulli, 1997).
While many faculty collaborate on research teams, fewer faculty collaborate on teaching teams. Are there ways that teaching collaboratively can translate into research relationships? For example, implementing new teaching strategies while measuring student learning, student satisfaction, and instructor satisfaction can yield publishable findings, made easier by co-writing with peers (Lo et. al, 2007).
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References & Further Reading
Álvarez, I., Fuertes Gutiérrez, M., & Gallardo Barbarroja, M. (2024). Team teaching in languages: A scoping review of approaches and practices in higher education. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 18(1), 59–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2023.2229798
Audette, D. S., Bennett, S., Chan, M. C., Chapman, D., Elmendorf, H., & Floyd, J. (2023). Building an inclusive community of learners by centering a strong culture of care in large lecture classes. Frontiers in Education, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1167879
Broberg, M. R., Salinas, J. C., & Khalifah, S. (2024). Lessons learned through multi-year team teaching of an engineering course for pre-college students. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2–47728
Campbell, E. L., Reedy, A. R., Baird, M. J., & Baird, D. M. (2018). Better together: Co-teaching in undergraduate applied psychology courses. Psychology Teaching Review, 24(2), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsptr.2018.24.2.3
Dong, K. (2008). Team teaching to instill integration in a multi disciplinary classroom. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. 13.1179.1-13.1179.8. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2–4398
Haag, K., Pickett, S. B., Trujillo, G., & Andrews, T. C. (2023). Co-teaching in undergraduate STEM education: A lever for pedagogical change toward evidence-based teaching? CBE Life Sciences Education, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.22-08-0169
Hamrick, T. R., Almasri, A., Hulcher, C., Zhang, X., & Oppong-Anane, A. B. (2023, July 30). Tips for Top Tier Team Teaching. 14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2–44849
Jones, C. E., & Perrone, G. G. (2023). Utilising features of sport commentating to provide a framework for co-teaching the online lecture. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 20(7), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.7.05
Letterman, M. R., & Dugan, K. B. (2004). Team teaching a cross-disciplinary honors course: Preparation and development. College Teaching, 52(2), 76–79.
Lo, J., Lohani, V., Gregg, M., & Goff, R. (2007). Multiple perspectives on implementing a team teaching model. Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2–2216
McDaniel, E. A., & Colarulli, G. C. (1997). Collaborative teaching in the face of productivity concerns: The dispersed team model. Innovative Higher Education, 22(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025147408455
Metzger, K. J. (2015). Collaborative teaching practices in undergraduate active learning classrooms: A report of faculty team teaching models and student reflections from two biology courses. Bioscene, 41(1), 3–9.
Motaref, S., & Hain, A. (2024, June 23). Optimizing Co-Teaching Strategies for Success in a Neuroinclusive Large Mechanics of Materials Class. 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. https://peer.asee.org/optimizing-co-teaching-strategies-for-success-in-a-neuroinclusive-large-mechanics-of-materials-class
Radzimski, V., Sargent, P., & Leung, F.-S. (2024). Time and space to thrive: Mathematics graduate students in a team teaching model. PRIMUS, 34(7), 735–745. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511970.2023.2214893
Richmond, L. P., Anderson, M. A., Tucker, T. W., & Powell, G. M. (2013). Navigating the role of graduate student on the teaching team: Life in the incubator. SCHOLE: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 28(1), 88–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/1937156x.2013.11949698
Scherer, H. H., O’Rourke, M., Seman-Varner, R., & Ziegler, P. (2020). Coteaching in higher education: A case study of instructor learning. Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education, 3(1), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.36021/jethe.v3i1.37
Vogler, K. E., & Long, E. (2003). Team teaching two sections of the same undergraduate course: A case study. College Teaching, 51(4), 122–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567550309596426
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