Teaching from our strengths and interests
Linda’s experience in tertiary teaching was particularly important in developing clear learning outcomes, aligned assessments and the discipline of lesson plans to guide the teaching and learning. She encouraged critical thinking and an opportunity for ‘in-class’ activities that supported the students to work together. The assessments included peer feedback and group work. The programme of learning was created to incorporate a blend of face-to-face lectures and online activities. Due to the semester timetable (including practicum) most of the theory lectures took place in the first six weeks of the semester.
Vivienne has a background in early childhood education with a particular interest in social justice and critical pedagogy. Her teaching is informed by feminist practice and she has a strong commitment to challenging power relationships inherent in the teacher/student relationship. In order to evaluate the changes to the paper Vivienne and Linda kept a journal over the semester and built in regular opportunities for students to give feedback using a critical incident questionnaire (CIQ) developed by Stephen Brookfield (1995).
Both Vivienne and Linda shared the teaching with each taking a topic of their own interest to develop the lectures. For example, Vivienne focused on gender and sociological theory while Linda focused on class and theory of family. Over the three years of teaching the paper a large bank of resources was accumulated both online and in class materials. Each lecture included a range of audio-visual resources with a focus on contemporary materials to stimulate discussion based on topics that we anticipated would be familiar to many of the students. The text book was used in each lecture as a reference point to maintain a New Zealand focus (McLennan, McManus & Spoonley, 2010).
As we developed the paper over the three years we deliberately sought out materials that would challenge students to think critically about the topics rather than provide them with ‘information’ to be consumed passively in class. This decision was in part based on our strong commitment to teaching and learning as a shared activity but also reflected our different teaching styles and backgrounds. For example, when teaching the gender lecture,
Vivienne became very aware of how her teaching was informed by her feminist beliefs and strong commitment to social justice issues. This awareness was overtly present in the resources selected and in her style of teaching.
Linda was always aware and mindful of the learning environment and ways in which student engagement was gained, maintained or lost. On reflection upon these observations, lessons were reviewed accordingly with new ways being tried in order to fulfil the needs of different learning styles.
In the process of writing and sharing journals we found a shared common vision for the paper. The joint expectation for sharing ideas and thrashing out problems was particularly valuable when journal entries exposed some difficult emotional responses. A strong sense of trust between us was established and it was important that vulnerabilities could be discussed without fear of ‘exposure’ in the wider context of the department. The shared vision for the paper created a space for both of us to challenge preconceived and taken-for-granted teaching strategies. We both felt safe to experiment in the knowledge that the experience was validated through a joint commitment to enhancing the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Other unintended outcomes of collaboration were the opportunities for us to model aspects of effective teaching practice by providing students with diverse perspectives on a topic and seeing that different perspectives can be illuminating rather than necessarily
‘critical’ or ‘argumentative’.