1. The Road Less Travelled: Student Success through Team Teaching
Jodi Clark-Miller & Nora Way (Faculty)
Division of Arts Education & Business
March 14, 2017

2. Team Members NORA JODI Education Education Teaching experience
Semi-retired
Part-time faculty
Education
Teaching experience
Full Time Faculty
Cross disciplinary appointment

3. Where in the world is Medicine Hat?
Google, 2017

4. Saamis Teepee
(Peters, n.d)

5. Welcome to Medicine Hat College
Medicine Hat College provides education that prepares students for further studies, careers and life. Our people are passionate about unleashing the potential of every student- intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Through every encounter we have with students- and all that we do- we seek to recognize and encourage their potential as learners, workers and global citizens.
Flickr.com, 2017

6. Welcome to Medicine Hat College
Opportunities to Learn
Degrees in partnership with Alberta universities
University transfer allowing students to start degrees here
Certificate, diploma, and applied degree programs for careers and employment
College preparation
Apprenticeship trades
Continuing studies for career enhancement and recruitment
Conservatory of Music and Dance
English as a Second Language
Campuses in Medicine Hat and Brooks

7. Our Situation
University Transfer Sociology Course: Current Social Issues
Students:
1st and 2nd year University Transfer Students (Arts, Sciences, and Education)
Diploma students – Addictions Counselling, Social Work, Child and Youth Care Counsellor, Occupational/Physical Therapist Assistant, and Speech- Language Pathologist Assistant.

8. Team Teaching: Operational Definitions
Co-teaching
“Two or more instructors are teaching the same students at the same time within the same classroom” (Goetz, 2000).
“The instructors work together but do not necessarily teach the same groups of students nor necessarily teach at the same time” (Goetz, 2000).
Our experience has been a combination of team and co-teaching.
We are presently teaching this course for the 3rd time.

9. Faculty Perspective Positives Challenges Breadth of experiences
Educational
Professional
Personal
Interdisciplinary
Reciprocity of mentoring
Innovation in evaluation
Brainstorming
Affirmation/Validation
Open Communication
Sharing successes and frustrations
Commitment
Time
Trust *
Availability
Workload
Triangulation

10. Students – Review of Literature
Challenges
Positives
Confusion
Decreases focus
Less substantive and rigorous
(Bucci and Trantham, 2014)
Different perspectives – encourages deeper engagement (Woods, 2007)
Expanded critical thinking (Hoare, et. al., 2008)
Collective dialogue (Game and Metcalfe, 2009)

11. Student Perspective
Diversity and experiences make the topics and classroom interesting
Styles are different but have not created confusion in expectations
Assignment and grading expectations are clearly communicated
Rarely do we communicate with a student without including the other instructor
Students have adapted to different styles
The students understand that we are a team
Students know our schedule and we stress contact format

12. Lessons Learned Outline topics Outline schedule
Design evaluation methods
Agree on rigor
Meet often prior to course
Communicate frequently
Equity in workload
Have fun and encourage each other

13. References
Bucci, L. & Trantham, S. (2014). Children and violence: An undergraduate course model of interdisciplinary co-teaching. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 26(1), Flickr.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from Goetz, K. (2000). Perspectives on Team Teaching: A Semester I Independent Inquiry. Retrieved from Google. (2017). Retrieved from Hoare, A., Cornell, S., Bertram, C., Gallager, K., Herslop, S., Lievan, N., & Wilmore, C. (2008). Teaching against the grain: Multi-disciplinary teamwork effectively delivers a successful undergraduate unit in sustainable development. Environmental Educational Research, 14(4), Peters, H. (n.d.). The Saamis Teepee. Retrieved from Woods, C. (2007) Researching and developing interdisciplinary teaching: Towards a conceptual framework for classroom communication. Higher Education, 54(6),