Team Teaching: collaborating by example

Description

Symposium presentation / panel discussion for EdX seminar reflecting on co-teaching

Abstract
In session 30, 2020, three lecturers from the School of Communication and Creative Industries worked together to develop and deliver a new third year subject, CCI303, Communication and Creative Industries Project 1. The challenge was to deliver a subject that would serve every student, in every discipline, within the school by 2021. Having only 8 double degree students in 2020, we were able to pilot the subject on a smaller scale.

Using a pedagogical model that had been previously tested within the research project, Picture Justice Australia, we scaffolded multidisciplinary learning and teaching materials around the Design Thinking Methodology. Students were given the task of contributing work to an online exhibition that focused on the theme of ‘student health and wellbeing’ from a range of different perspectives and disciplinary approaches. Learning and teaching materials were developed and delivered by the multidisciplinary teaching team, with at least 2 lecturers present in every online session with students.

In this panel discussion, we discuss the roles of the lecturers and what perspectives they contributed, ways in which the subject design worked to present opportunities for collaboration, and how the learning and teaching environment provided a model for students to actively collaborate across disciplines for a shared outcome. We share with you the student work, and the future potential of this model for both on-campus and online learning.

This experience allowed me to evaluate my own professional skills and knowledge of practice by adopting a “teacher as student” focused model to the subject delivery.Working in a new team of academics from diverse disciplines on a subject methodology that was new to me allowed me to develop an authentic student-centred perspective. While the methodology was new to me it complimented my own professional and industry knowledge adding greater depth to the teaching experience. I was initially quite nervous about my capability against others who had far more experience with the content methodology, but was soon put at ease by the collaborative and supportive learning environment encouraged by my peers. It has been one of the most rewarding teaching experiences of my academic career so far both from observing student growth and experiences in collaboration and creative practice and in my own professional development as a teacher.

Period	19 Nov 2020
Event title	2020 Charles Sturt EdX Learning and Teaching Conference: Maximising Student Success in a Post-COVID World
Event type	Conference
Location	Bathurst, Australia, New South WalesShow on map
Degree of Recognition	Regional