Collaborative Teaching

Much recent writing has focused on how we can promote collab orative learning by means of various class exercises and assignments (e.g., small-group work, student-led dis cussion, jointly authored papers, or joint test-taking) and on how these efforts ben efit students (Cooper and Mueck 1990; Johnson, Johnson, and Smith 1991; Goodsell, Maher, and Tinto 1992; Bruf fee 1993; Haring-Smith 1993; Kadel and Keehner 1993). In a recent article, we shifted the focus to teachers, arguing that collaborating teachers can serve as mod els for students useful skills and attitudes (Schaible and Robinson 1995). However, in this article we are con cerned with preventing problems and with noting rewards for us as teachers. First, we offer a list of practical suggestions on how to prepare for and carry out collaborative successfully. We use collabora tive teaching to describe any academic experience in which two teachers work together in designing and a course that itself uses group learning tech niques. Then we discuss the benefits for teachers willing to develop the team taught course and to commit themselves to collaborative, student-centered pedagogy.