Teaching in the humanities is as wide-ranging as the human experience extends, yet as each of us who teach introductory survey classes can attest, our personal/professional experiences are stronger in one or two of the areas we’re teaching, and almost never are we experts in all of the areas that we teach. This presentation builds on educational theories supporting the value of interdisciplinary/collaborative approaches to teaching, with a focus on the benefits for both students and professors when professors who teach in different areas come together to teach a common topic from different points of view and with their own, unique teaching styles. The presentation highlights a particular example of a learning community in the humanities in which multiple professors teach a single introductory survey course. The presentation features the experiences of Professors in Art, Literature, and Music, who form a professorial trio at Kishwaukee College in Malta, Illinois each Spring to teach a thematic approach to the humanities that takes advantage of each of their areas of expertise. The presentation surveys the literature supporting the value of collaborative approaches to teaching and highlights the challenges the professors experienced along the way in the evolution of the class toward its current incarnation as a class that now features a final Capstone Project in which students create a unified work of their own that brings together these different aspects of the humanities.

Authors:
Todd West, Kishwaukee College, United States
Miles Halpern, Kishwaukee College, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Todd West is currently an Associate Professor of English at Kishwaukee College in Malta, IL, USA. General interests include teaching English, literature, and humanities classes, and researching the impact of AI on student learning.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

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