Co-Teaching is Great! - But Only if There is Time : Teacher Perspectives on Online Co-Teaching

Abstract

In response to recent societal trends and growing demand for online education, several higher education institutions are building online curriculums and collaborating in teaching. There is an extensive body of literature of student experiences in online teaching, but more research is needed on teacher experiences, especially when courses are co-taught across universities. To examine the advantages and challenges of co-teaching in large-scale online courses, we collected survey and interview data during 2017-2019 from 16 teachers who have been teaching in the national “LITO - basic business studies” online module. Based on a qualitative analysis, the advantages and challenges were classified into three distinct categories: teacher, student, and university levels. All in all, numerous important benefits were identified, with peer-support, sharing, and networking being among the more significant ones. Organizational support for co-teaching was identified as being a critical factor enabling the benefits.