inventio
creative thinking about learning and teaching
October 1999: Issue 2, Vol 1 In this IssuePast IssuesAbout inventioEditorial Board
 

Sharing Authority: Faculty Collaboration in the Classroom
A Roundtable Discussion
         

 

 Section 1: Introduction

On 6 October, 1999, a small invited group of university faculty involved in collaborative teaching convened to discuss with inventio exactly how they negotiated the complex issues of authority within the classroom, in relation to both faculty collaborators and students enrolled in their classes. They included Ashley Williams, one of the founder faculty members of New Century College and leader of NCC's initial course for freshmen, NCLC 110.  Kim Eby, leader of NCLC 140, the final course in NCC's freshman syllabus, joined her, as did Elizabeth Gunn, joint coordinator of the Social Sciences cluster within NCLC 140, Teresa Michals, Director of the George Mason University's Linked Courses Program, and Elizabeth Patten, Associate Director of The Freshman Center & Educational Programs and Research. The article below is an edited transcript of that discussion, and inventio thanks all the faculty involved for their willingness to participate, to discuss and hone their ideas and, most critically, to illuminate the process of teaching.

Ashley Williams The most interesting issue to start off with for me is the notion of what constitutes academic, and specifically pedagogic, authority. I'm not sure I have an easy answer to that question, but I think I have a more complex answer now than I would have had before I embarked on collaboration.

Elizabeth Gunn I agree. Collaborative teaching and collaborative learning with students have reconfigured my ideas. Yet authority, sharing authority between me and my co-teacher, continues to be a major issue for those of us who collaborate. Who's going to be in charge in any one classroom situation? How to define that, either explicitly, or as an issue with the students? The students know that faculty have authority, and in some ways we almost owe them some authority. But how do you create that effectively?

Next Section: "Articulating Goals"