Session Type
Poster
Room
Atrium
Start Date
8-7-2015 12:00 AM
Keywords
Co-teaching, faculty development, instructor perspectives, student perspectives, classroom observations
Primary Threads
None of the Above
Abstract
Co-teaching has been suggested as a method for dissemination of evidence-based teaching strategies [1] and offers potential benefits for both students and faculty. Students benefit from a variety of teaching perspectives and expertise [2] while faculty benefit from participating in an extended professional development opportunity. We report on two co-teaching arrangements, both involving non-PER (Physics Education Research) mid-career faculty being paired with PER faculty. Data was collected using a variety of methods, including in-class observations of instructor behaviours and student engagement, student surveys and diagnostic tests, and pre- and post-semester interviews with the faculty involved. The two arrangements adopted different co-teaching models. In the first, the instructors took a blocked approach to splitting class facilitation duties: One instructor was primarily responsible for facilitation in the first half of the semester, while the other was primarily responsible for facilitation in the second half of the semester. There was some planned “speckling,” in which the secondary instructor would take on a public teaching task for a few minutes each lecture. The second arrangement adopted a more explicitly collaborative approach: Both instructors were responsible for pieces of classroom facilitation in every class, with multiple changes of control within each lecture. These instructors planned out the facilitation distribution prior to each lecture, and often made contributions during the other’s turn. We will report on the differences and similarities in these two models, including instructor dynamics in the classroom, instructor perspectives, and the resulting student perspectives, engagement, and learning.
[1] Henderson et al, Am J Phys 77: 274, 2009
[2] Jones and Harris, College Teaching 60: 132–139, 2012
A comparison of co-teaching models in large-scale introductory physics courses
Atrium
Co-teaching has been suggested as a method for dissemination of evidence-based teaching strategies [1] and offers potential benefits for both students and faculty. Students benefit from a variety of teaching perspectives and expertise [2] while faculty benefit from participating in an extended professional development opportunity. We report on two co-teaching arrangements, both involving non-PER (Physics Education Research) mid-career faculty being paired with PER faculty. Data was collected using a variety of methods, including in-class observations of instructor behaviours and student engagement, student surveys and diagnostic tests, and pre- and post-semester interviews with the faculty involved. The two arrangements adopted different co-teaching models. In the first, the instructors took a blocked approach to splitting class facilitation duties: One instructor was primarily responsible for facilitation in the first half of the semester, while the other was primarily responsible for facilitation in the second half of the semester. There was some planned “speckling,” in which the secondary instructor would take on a public teaching task for a few minutes each lecture. The second arrangement adopted a more explicitly collaborative approach: Both instructors were responsible for pieces of classroom facilitation in every class, with multiple changes of control within each lecture. These instructors planned out the facilitation distribution prior to each lecture, and often made contributions during the other’s turn. We will report on the differences and similarities in these two models, including instructor dynamics in the classroom, instructor perspectives, and the resulting student perspectives, engagement, and learning.
[1] Henderson et al, Am J Phys 77: 274, 2009
[2] Jones and Harris, College Teaching 60: 132–139, 2012