Chapter 12: Strategies for Navigating Team-Teaching Hurdles: Best Practices in Peer Coaching to Enhance Teaching and Learning Available to Purchase

Preparing educators to meet the evolving needs of students requires substantial faculty and institutional commitment. Faculty need access to resources and support for continuous professional development that aligns teaching skills with learner expectations. Institutions can optimize faculty development initiatives by facilitating collaboration among academic units to create an infrastructure that supports teaching efforts across academic disciplines. This approach provides opportunities to enhance the teaching skills of faculty teams within and across academic units while supporting the effective dissemination of resources. Faculty development which supports the growth of teaching teams is particularly important in health professions education where heavy emphasis is placed on faculty role modeling and teaching of team-based skills. Peer coaching is one faculty development tool that optimizes university resources through support strategies for the development of teaching teams, rapport building and collegiality, as well as the integration of structured feedback. The duality of role modeling and shared learning in this faculty development approach provides unique benefits and challenges that are influenced by institutional characteristics. This chapter explores best practices for navigating team teaching opportunities and challenges and proposes faculty support strategies for peer coaching in this dynamic environment.