Community-Academic Team Teaching in a CBPR Course: Lessons Learned about Course Instruction

Area of Science:

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
• Higher education pedagogy
• Interdisciplinary collaboration

Background:

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves collaborative partnerships between community and academic stakeholders to address local issues.
• While undergraduate engagement in CBPR courses yields research and professional skills, instructor experiences remain underdocumented.
• This study details lessons learned by community and academic instructors co-teaching an undergraduate CBPR course.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the experiences and lessons learned by community and academic partners co-teaching an undergraduate Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) course.
• To identify key pedagogical strategies and challenges in facilitating CBPR learning within an academic setting.
• To provide insights for optimizing collaborative teaching models in community-engaged research education.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of co-teaching experiences in an undergraduate CBPR course.
• Instructor reflection on partnership dynamics, curriculum delivery, and student learning.
• Identification of best practices and challenges in community-academic team teaching.

Main Results:

• Co-teaching offers unique opportunities to model partnership and collaboration for students.
• Nontraditional learning experiences within CBPR courses facilitate skill development and reflection.
• Differing community and academic priorities can challenge collaborative teaching, highlighting the need for explicit discussion of power dynamics.
• Successful co-teaching requires intentional dialogue about priorities and academic knowledge's influence on classroom dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Community and academic partners can effectively team-teach undergraduate CBPR courses, enhancing transferable skills.
• Integrating traditional and nontraditional learning, alongside modeling collaboration, is crucial for success.
• Addressing potential power imbalances and providing structural support, like funding for community partners, are essential for sustainable collaborations.