Team Teaching

Co-Facilitative Approach – All members in the team collaborate across all aspects of the unit, including design, teaching and assessment. Students can contact any member of the team for feedback/advice.

In the classroom, this approach allows for dynamic, rich, and personalised lessons, where students work more closely with educators.

This approach is common for units with multiple Convenors.

What it entails

• All members in the team collaborate on design, instruction and assessment.
• Different instructors can be responsible for delivering specific content at lectures and on the course/unit iLearn site, based on their area of expertise. 
• Instructors only assess their own students’ work and provide feedback/advice to these students.
• Students direct their questions and feedback to the instructor responsible that that section of the unit.
• Teaching team meets occasionally to discuss how their respective sections are progressing according to the collaboratively basic structure. 
• This approach is highly collaborative and is often the model of team teaching that instructors default to when a course/unit is delivered by a group of convenors rather than just a single convenor.

Benefits

• Exposes students to complementary instruction styles and instructor personalities.
• Models multiple ways of presenting and engaging with information
• Models successful collaborative working relationships
• Leverages expertise and strenghts of instuction team 

Considerations

• Student and/or course/unit-specific needs can be overlooked without approproate planning, montioring and coordination between instructors.
• Requires preparation and planning to ensure all team members are aware of their roles, responsibilities and course/unit schedules.
• Requires strong communication and rapport between the instruction team. Instructors will need to establish a good working relationship.

Suitable for

• Situations where students are required to engage with a variety of strategies, theories and concepts and would benefit from exposure to instructors' strategies, experiences and perspectives.
• Units where content is clearly dileneated into themes/modules.
• Larger course/unit cohorts (ie. lectures and iLearn unit content) rather than tutorials. 

Activities and Scenarios

• Skill building tutorial. When large class is focused on learning a skill or engaging with materials over discussing ideas, team teaching can give students more direct instruction.
• Dual Lecture. Where the lecture is delivered as dialogue between two instructors, or the piece they deliver is based on their expertise within a wider topic for that lecture, i.e. two education academics present two halves of a lecture, or a cultural historian and a quantitative data scientist work together to deliver a class on the 2020s Australian Housing Crisis.
• Game Show. Content delivered as a contest or friendly competition, such as a Family Feud style team quiz, debate, or other activity. Conversely, co-instructors can model or roleplay a given interaction to the class as a teaching tool.
• Targeted Instruction. Giving support/benefit to group of students in a tutorial who under/overperformed on a key assessment or excel in each topic/method.
• Personalised Instruction. A small group is formed each week with rotating randomised members, so that every student has at least two opportunities across ~10 tutorials to receive more direct instruction and engagement with an instructor. Small group could operate independently in parallel to big group or engage with big group through activity. Similarly, a small group is formed each week with self-selected membership, dependent on tutorial topic interest. Opportunity for students interested in a topic to receive accelerated learning and direct instruction on a topic they're interested in and have prepared for.

Parallel Approach – All members in the team collaborate across all aspects of the unit (including design, teaching and assessment), but implement aspects of the unit within their own designated group of students or section. Team members only assess their own students’ work and provide feedback/advice only to their own students. They engage in frequent collaborative meetings with teaching team to debrief, discuss how the unit is progressing, problems and student feedback.

In the classroom, this approach allows for a standardised approach to teaching across a wide cohort, and can allow for dynamic conversations and activities to be undertaken with ease.

This approach is common for units with a large teaching team.

What it entails

• All members in the team collaborate on design, instruction and assessment.
• Different instructors are responsible for delivering specific content at lectures and on the course/unit iLearn site.
• Instructors only assess their own students’ work and provide feedback/advice to these students.
• Students direct their questions and feedback to this same instructor.
• Teaching team meets frequently to discuss how their respective sections are progressing according to the collaboratively basic structure. 
• This approach is highly collaborative and common to units with high enrolment.

Benefits

• All staff have an active instructional role.
• Allows for a lower student-teacher ratio.
• Allows for small group instruction and a more personalised learning experience.
• Provides the opportunity for students to work with their peers.

Considerations

• Requires all instructors to have strong knowledge of the content and be familiar with the lesson goals.
• When two instructors are working in the same classroom, it can be difficult to manage noise, space, and distractions.
• Requires careful coordination and preparation between instructors, both outside and inside the classroom.

Suitable for

• When teachers have equal expertise.
• When there's a lot of information being covered in one lesson.
• When there is a large cohort which may benefit from a ‘divide and conquer’ approach.

Activities and Scenarios

• Parallel Tutorials. All staff work together to develop lesson plans, which they then deliver to their own classrooms.
• Breakout Rooms. Applying this approach within a lesson is promising and can operate like 'breakout' rooms, where ideas are discussed in smaller groups before being presented to the whole class. In some classrooms, it may be beneficial to sort students into homogenous groups, where further benefits can be made by aligning instructor expertise with student groups, topics, and learning needs.
• Group Learning Documents. Parallel Teaching is ideal format for developing Group Learning Documents - a sharable and widely accessible living study document. Each group carries out their lesson as planned, which is recorded in situ by students or summarised after the fact by instructors. These are then collated into a single document which highlights similar conversations between tutorials or stand out points that would be good to ensure the entire cohort hears.

Specialty Approach – All members in the team collaborate across all aspects of the unit (including design, teaching and assessment), but team members are not delegated to teach particular whole sections or classes. Instead, certain team members may teach a segment/topic, or facilitate an activity, within a class in the unit (because it falls under their expertise area). Specialists typically only assess work produced from the sections they have taught, and interact with students involved in those sections.

In the classroom, the specialty focus allows for deep focus and understanding on a single topic, or allow for a holistic view of a topic through several smaller ‘station’ activities.

This approach is common to units which are divided into specialities.

What it entails

• All members in the team collaborate on design, instruction and assessment.
• Different instructors are responsible for delivering specific content at lectures and on the course/unit iLearn site, based on their area of expertise. 
• Instructors often assess only the work from their sections and provide feedback/advice to these students.
• This approach is highly collaborative and common to units with multiple topic experts working together.

Benefits

• All staff have an active instructional role.
• Allows for flexible grouping and tailored teaching approaches.
• Allows for a lower student-teacher ratio.
• Allows for small group instruction and a more personalised learning experience.
• Provides the opportunity for students to work with their peers.
• Keeps students engaged across multiple activities.

Considerations

• Requires significant planning.
• When two instructors are working in the same classroom, it can be difficult to manage noise, space, and distractions.
• Requires very careful coordination and preparation between instructors, both outside and inside the classroom.
• Requires students to be familiar with the task or activity, and the time this takes to pre-teach needs to be factored in.

Suitable for

• When instructors have expertise knowledge on a variety of topics and students would benefit from instruction on these topics.
• When a larger complex topic or task can be divided into more discrete sections or steps

Activities and Scenarios

• Holistic practice workshop. Where several activities - delivered rapid-fire in a single session, or over several weeks - work together to inform a single practice (i.e. an archaeology unit with stations simulating field work | lab work | analysis | communication). Activities can be designed as a team and then delivered by individuals.
• Tasting Stations. Ideal for first-year units, Tasting Stations are independent activity stations which engage students unfamiliar with the topic and offer them 'a taste' of whatever topic that station covers. Best delivered rapid-fire, as part of a 1-2 hour session. The modular and expertise-driven nature of this activity also translates well to outreach activities. Potential to deliver activities - as they are or scaled up/down - in other units at your campus or beyond your institution.
• Viewpoints. Governed by a singular discussion topic, students rotate through several areas/roles, each asking students to adopt a viewpoint towards that topic. They consider its wants, needs, and goals, record them, and then rotate to the next station. The lesson winds up with a discussion or activity (in small groups, or as whole class) which has students comparing those viewpoints.
• Focused Instruction. When a class has identifiable mixed discipline backgrounds (i.e. 1/4 of the classroom are Education Majors in a History unit), an activity can be tailored to this cohort's focus and experience. This scenario can also be used when instructing a discreet variety of methods, such as when 3/4 of a class self-selects to focus on one method, while 1/4 the other.

Supportive Approach – Involves two or more team members collaborating to design the foundation or basic structure of a unit they are co-teaching, with the more experienced instructor taking on the role of teaching team leader, and mentoring the other members. Design of teaching activities, delivery of materials, and student feedback is divided according to the more experienced teaching team leader, with input from the rest of the team according to their own expertise and goals. Common for the team leader to co-deliver classes alongside their inexperienced colleague. Students direct their questions and feedback to either team member. The teaching team meets fortnightly to discuss how their respective sections are progressing according to the collaboratively basic structure.

In the classroom, this approach is like a solo-led unit, where there may be no visible team teaching element to your students, though the team leader may join their colleagues’ class for a variety of reasons.

This approach is common to units with a single Convenor, and units with an experienced ‘core’ teaching team which has capacity to mentor an inexperienced colleague.

What it entails

• All members in the team collaborate on design, instruction and assessment.
• A more experienced instructor mentoring junior colleagues and dividing the work according to these colleagues’ expertise and goals.
• Instructors assess the work from their sections and provide feedback/advice to these students.
• This approach is common to small units with one Convenor, and to units with an experienced ‘core’ teaching team.

Benefit

• Supports a team member who is new to the unit, or inexperienced in the classroom.
• Gives real-time help for students who need it, while avoiding the pausing of the lesson to help them.
• Helpful if the class makeup is particularly challenging and/or if the teacher is still finding their feet.
• Provides newer teachers the chance to observe their experienced colleagues
• Allows for uninterrupted observation, which can inform changes to the unit delivery, behaviour interventions, and opportunities for professional development.

Considerations

• Can create a dynamic in which students see one teacher as the ‘real’ teacher
• May set up a false expectation that one-to-one support is immediate
• Requires clear planning and goals to ensure all staff’s time is well spent
• Fewer opportunities to develop true ‘co-taught’ classroom experiences.

Suitable for

• When a junior colleague would benefit from a senior colleague’s mentorship and experience.
• When students need more individual support.
• When specific observation of the classroom is important for data-gathering purposes.

Activities and Scenarios

• Upskilling a Colleague. A less experienced colleague assists in the delivery of a lesson to learn the content, delivery method, and/or skill.
• Supported Instruction. A large class is divided into small groups, with one instructor checking in on every group, and the other sitting with a selected group in need of help.
• Active Lecture. One instructor delivers a lecture, with the other running the mic to field questions and engage in dialogue with students. Instructors swap roles during lecture break, weekly, or relative to their expertise.
• Standardising Delivery. Two instructors observe each other’s lessons for the same unit, learning from their colleague's delivery of the same material.
• Difficult cohort. One instructor delivers content as planned, with the second observing difficulties, making notes, and offering strategies for intervention and resolution after the fact.

Basic Approach – Involves two or more team members collaborating to design the foundation or basic structure of a unit they are co-teaching, but then are delegated to take complete ownership of their ‘piece’ of the unit, including design, modalities, texts, assessment design. They only assess their own students’ work and provide feedback/advice only to their own students. Students direct their questions and feedback to the instructor responsible that that section of the unit. Teaching team meets occasionally to discuss how their respective sections are progressing according to the collaboratively basic structure.

In the classroom, this approach is like a solo-led unit, where there may be no visible team teaching element to your students, though instructors may ‘cross-over’ into their colleagues’ class for a variety of reasons.

This approach is common to units with two or three Convenors.

What it entails

• Two or more team members collaborate to design the foundation or basic structure of a unit.
• They deliver their own 'piece' of the unit and are responsible for all that entails.
• Teaching team reconvenes periodically to assess how the session is progressing and if changes in the basic structure of the unit can be updated for future.

Benefits

• Individuals have autonomy over their piece of the unit.
• Focused delivery of learning activities and content to students.
• Clear to students which staff member is responsible for which part of the unit.
• Potential for staff to learn new methods and co-develop innovative assessments and strategies from their colleagues.

Considerations

• Potential for a fragmented student experience, leading to confusion and prioritizing one 'piece' of the unit over another.
• Challenge to balance assessments across multiple unit parts.
• How the unit is functionally delivered, and how the order of delivery impacts student experience.

Suitable for

• Large units which deliver related content/ differing content with similar methodology.
• Units which teach a series of core yet discrete skills.

Activities and Scenarios

• Co-Badging: This approach to team teaching lends itself to 'co-badged' units - large units which are offered in multiple programs under different course codes. These units are usually interdisciplinary, and require careful design and understanding of their student cohorts.