Team members may come from closely allied disciplines, or they may derive from fields as disparate as art history and theoretical physics. Thus, while team teaching is frequently connected with an interdisciplinary approach to learning, the mere presence of a teaching team in a classroom does not by itself indicate a crossing of disciplines. Given the two or more instructor model, two versions of team teaching in the strict sense can be identified. All instructors are jointly responsible for course content, presentations, and grading. They interact in front of the class, discussing specific topics from divergent perspectives.
All instructors are jointly responsible for course content and grading.
However, they take turns presenting material appropriate to their individual areas of specialization. At times when they are not called upon to lecture, other participants remain in an essentially subordinate role, contributing no more than occasional comments and questions. A third model is occasionally called team teaching, but lacks the shared responsibility and coherent structure of the first two. In this version, one coordinator alone is responsible for course content and grading. Extensive and regular use is made of guest lecturers and panels, and the material presented in this manner is an integral part of the overall course design.