Overcoming Pedagogical Solitude: Fostering Collaboration and Innovation Through Teaching Triangles
In Feb 2025, I interviewed Matthew Lazzara about his experience with instituting a Teaching Triangles program within the department of chemical engineering at UVA. Matt makes a compelling case for the benefits of peer observations, making this a good introductory article to share with colleagues who may have reservations.
The term “pedagogical solitude”—first coined by Lee Shulman in 1993—aptly captures the experience of many academics. Behind closed doors, instructors work in isolation, disconnected from their peers. While faculty are active participants in scholarly communities and engaged in collegial exchange about research findings, methods, goals and challenges, conversations about teaching rarely occur. This lack of dialogue not only negatively impacts teaching quality; it can lead to feelings of isolation and burnout.
Dorothe Bach, CTE associate director and professor, interviewed Matthew Lazzara, professor of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering, who set out to disrupt this pedagogical solitude by introducing “Teaching Triangles” into the chemical engineering department’s mentoring program. Lazzara initially had the idea after observing several of his mentees’ courses, "I have four [faculty mentees] … I went and observed a couple of their classes, and it struck me that nobody ever came and watched one of my classes, and we don't do that as part of our mentoring of each other as faculty. We don't usually observe each other's classes, but I think you can learn a lot if you do."