Improving Collaborative Teaching in Large Introductory BSW Classes

Abstract

This reflective and conceptual article, which is based on a literature review and the subjective experiences of the authors, discusses the simultaneous collaborative delivery of 3 sections of an introductory undergraduate-level course in social work. Each section of the course consisted of roughly 100 students. The instructors strived to produce and to apply content and evaluation procedures equally to all 3 sections. Benefits included standardization of course content and improved fairness in evaluation. The challenges included addressing inconsistent test results and differences in the material each instructor stressed, as well as expanding the process to courses taught by other full- and part-time faculty. The authors conclude that more systematic data collection and analysis must be the next step in continuing to improve collaboration in the delivery of multiple, large, introductory courses.

Keywords:

• collaboration
• teaching
• social work
• large classes