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“We may be in a
common sea in higher education,
but in truth, we are rarely in the same
boat.
Typically, we sail around solo.”
…
“In the bigger boats of teaching communities, we have the potential to take
our students, our institutions, and ourselves into deeper water and stronger
currents.”
Quotes
taken from
Teaching Communities within Learning Communities,
By Jean
MacGregor
Director, National Learning Communities Project
Washington Center News, 2000.
The Challenges
of Collaborative Teaching
Learning Communities
are designed to not only benefit the students involved,
but also the instructors. In fact, one of the fundamental goals of Learning
Communities is to enhance professional development through collaboration
with other faculty. Ideally, collaborative teaching facilitates the sharing
of pedagogy, research and teaching approaches while developing stronger
working relationships between faculty members. Realization of these ideals,
however, does not come without challenge.
Indeed, one of the
greatest challenges in LC development is simply the pairing of instructors.
How should this be done? Should a coordinator choose the partners? Should
instructors choose each other? If so, how should an instructor determine who
they should teach with?
What are the most important things to consider? Subject matter? Teaching
styles? Scheduling? Planning habits? Dedication? Flexibility? What seems to
be a simple first step proves complicated. Moreover, once this first step is
taken and the pairs are made, how will partners delineate power between
them? How will seniority play a role? Will one subject take the back burner?
Finding teachers that
work well together is not only important for their own sanity, but also for
the effectiveness of the Learning Community. If instructors are poorly
paired, it could adversely affect their students. For example, one of the
objectives of a Learning Community is to foster team-building and
collaborative thinking skills. How will students develop these skills if
their instructors are having trouble working together?
The Washington Center
for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education has compiled
case studies that highlight some of the problems that can arise between
teaching partners. The following chapters might be helpful in anticipating
potential problems:
In addition, the
following article, which appears in Chapter Four of Sustaining and
Improving Learning Communities by Jody Levine Laufgraben and Nancy S.
Shapiro, treats some of the issues that arise in collaborative teaching:
In an effort to
support the personal and professional development of City College Learning
Community faculty, each participating instructor is
provided with a copy
of Sustaining and Improving Learning Communities by Jody Levine
Laufgraben and Nancy S. Shapiro. Discussion and critique of the book among
LC faculty is encouraged.
Click here for a review of the book by Mark Wiley, Department of
English, California State University, Long Beach.
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Solutions:
StrengthsQuest
In their article,
“The
Challenges of Teaching with Others,” Laufgraben
and Tompkins suggest a
variety of methods (i.e. solutions) that may be used to improve the
success of Learning Community faculty teams. Another solution being used in
San Diego City College’s Learning Communities is the Gallup Organization’s
StrengthsQuestTM.
With StrengthsQuestTM,
participating faculty may identify and develop their own strengths, and they
may also better understand and utilize their teaching partner’s strengths.
What
is StrengthsQuestTM?
StrengthsQuestTM was
developed by the Gallup Organization as an assessment instrument for
determining personal strengths. Through decades of psychological research
the Gallup Organization identified the 34 most common strengths in
individuals worldwide. Taken online, the StrengthsQuestTM
assessment identifies and ranks an individual’s five most dominant
strengths.
Philosophy
The StrengthsQuestTM
philosophy is based in Positive Psychology, and purports that
individuals maximize their success by nurturing and developing their
strengths rather than by correcting their weaknesses. Using this
strengths-based approach, individuals can gain increased self-awareness and
confidence, as well as increased awareness of different strengths in others.
This increased awareness between individuals is especially useful in team
development.
Strengths-awareness not only fosters better understanding and communication
between partners, it can also increase team creativity, productivity, and
overall effectiveness.
Recommended
StrengthsQuestTM
links
For more information about StrengthsQuestTM,
please visit the
StrengthsQuestTM
website.
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