Team-Teaching Guidelines

There are any number of reasons departments/programs might decide to offer team taught courses, ranging from the very nature of the discipline to the possibility of exposing students to cutting-edge interdisciplinary developments. Given the variety of reasons that may prompt the perceived need for team taught courses, departments/programs are best positioned to determine if such courses appropriately enrich their offerings.

There are several practical considerations that departments/programs should keep in mind when weighing whether to offer team taught courses.

1. Will the department be able to provide students with the courses required by their major/minor (or by related departments/programs) if the faculty commit to a team-taught
   course?
2. Will the team-taught course contribute to or become part of the departments’/programs’ regular curriculum?
3. Is the course likely to attract students?

Please remember that each faculty member responsible for a team-taught course receives full credit for the course in the semester in which it is offered. It is expected that an individual faculty member will offer no more than two courses in a team-taught format in any single academic year.

Team-Taught courses can be offered at any level, from the introductory to the senior capstone (with the exception of First Year Writing Seminars). Likewise, team-taught courses can be offered within a single department or between or among multiple departments/programs. The level of the course will often determine some its specific arrangements.

While team-taught courses may take many forms, they often follow either a "tag-team" or "collaborative" model:

• The tag-team model – each instructor teaches various chunks of the course that touch on
  their own areas of specialization, trading off as the topics require.
• The collaborative model – all the involved faculty members take responsibility for all
  aspects of the entire course.

1. In any team-taught course, students should be encouraged to meet all instructing faculty. Depending on the type of course, it may prove beneficial for students to have a defined relationship with one faculty member throughout the semester who then takes the lead in assessing and assisting that student. In other courses, it might be best if this work is rotated among faculty throughout the course. Whichever method is employed, be sure to communicate it clearly to the students.
2. Faculty members are expected to meet in advance of the course to establish its syllabus and expectations. Additional meetings should take place throughout the semester as needed for planning, adjustment to the schedule, discussion of assignments, etc.
3. Faculty should establish clear grading standards and share grading appropriately in order to uphold consistent expectations, which are communicated clearly to students.
4. All faculty members who are listed as instructors of record for the course are expected to attend all regularly scheduled class sessions for the course.

While this memo focuses on team teaching, we encourage faculty to explore other innovative approaches to teaching. For example, in recent years some faculty have created course clusters in which different courses with related themes include common readings and hold evening events in which students from each of the classes come together to learn how different disciplines approach a similar topic. Occasionally, faculty teach paired courses, urging students to take both with the option of attending special discussion sections to explore the synergies that develop when different disciplines investigate related topics. If you are interested in pursuing these teaching models or others, we urge you to reach out to the associate dean for curriculum and the BCLT for assistance.