Collaboration (2006)

 

Pre Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning
2006 virtual conference

THEME 3: COLLABORATION
4-22 September 2006 

Report of the Moderator
Dr. Balasubramanian Kodhandaraman

Introduction

Commonwealth of Learning (COL) organized a series of e-mail based virtual conferences as a part of the " The Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning " (PCF4) . This conference aims at exploring the contribution of open and distance learning (ODL) and technology-mediated learning in overcoming poverty and building a more stable and prosperous world.. One of the four themes which were discussed in the virtual conference was collaboration relating to ODL and technology-mediated learning which can make a meaningful contribution to development process.

The virtual conference explored many different ways in which ODL stakeholders work to achieve maximum benefit. This could be partnerships among educational providers, civil society and private industry. More than 70 participants subscribed for the virtual conference. Among these 70 participants, 23 participants shared their perspectives and experiences through 49 e-mails. The virtual conference had a moderator who moderated the conference between 4th September and 25h September 2006.

As a prelude to the conference a background paper of the moderator was circulated to stimulate discussions among the participants. The background paper while defining the collaboration stressed the importance of reaching the learners among marginalized groups in the society. It quoted Soren Kaplan who pointed out

Creating and structuring opportunities for people to network, communicate, mentor, and learn from each other can help capture, formalize, and diffuse tacit knowledge. Communities become a boundary-less container for knowledge and relationships that can be used to increase individual effectiveness and enhance community development.(1)

The background paper argued that it is important that the different dimensions of collaboration are understood, particularly given the new challenges and opportunities associated with the digital revolution. A clear framework for collaboration in ODL and other education approaches would guide planning and implementation of development learning. The moderator urged the participants to share their perspectives and experiences which could help in defining a framework for collaboration in ODL for development.

One of the important points which emanated from the virtual conference is that collaboration is the best option to ensure the maximization of scare resources and the participants argued that it is necessary to understand the different forces which enhance collaboration.

Questions

The virtual conference on collaboration brought forward many important issues. Some of the important issues which were raised during the conferences were:

• What would be the starting point in developing collaboration?
• In the era of globalization and competition, what are the ways in which collaboration occur between tertiary organizations?
• Are we still following the conventional education model of teacher-student relationship? - whereas reaching the millions of unreached  to stimulate learning would probably require a different framework. Instead of seeing them as learners can we see them as collaborators and  view the entire process of learning as interactive learning- where "teacher" and "student" learn from each other.
• We are still talking about the supply side? In the context of development goals, do we understand the demand side (particularly the billions of poor people)? Can we argue that the lack of understanding of the demand (of the learning community) is one of the reasons for failures in collaboration?
• The conventional education approach is sectoral with specialties and super specialties. Learning for achieving development requires a framework for synthesis since the millions of poor people prefer a holistic framework. Such synthesis is possible only through effective collaboration.
• How can technology play a role in collaboration?
• Much of the focus tends to be on courses that terminate in an exam for some type of certification while there is a hunger for knowledge necessary to navigate real life that does not require certification. Can collaboration help to fulfill this hunger?

Institutional

The discussions during the conference brought out certain interesting institutional initiatives with collaboration as key theme;

1. The creation of a  Virtual Permanent Forum, triggered by the creation of a new body  within the UN system: the United Nations Permanent Forum for  Indigenous Peoples (an advisory body to ECOSOC): http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/index.html . The Virtual Permanent Forum aims at strengthening the dialogues between nations through live e-learning environment and strengthens the collaboration efforts to reach the indigenous people.
2. The Indian experience of using the satellite EduSat, a collaborative effort  is able to reach more than 10,000 schools. The collaborative efforts between teachers, technicians, students and government authorities have helped to address issues such as power shortage.
3. The initiatives of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), in India are based on collaboration in providing television and radio based programmes such as Gyanvani and GyanDarshan. The Electronic Media Production Centre (EMPC) at IGNOU, New Delhi serves as a 'nodal' resource centre in production, dissemination and transmission of educational software in the country utilizing a wide range of communication tools and techniques. The facilities are being shared with State Open Universities, Educational & Training Institutes as well as other sectors, including the Central and State Governments Ministries/Departments, NGOs and Corporate Bodies.
4. The use of open software tools which give every one equal editing rights and equal say have enhanced the scope for collaboration. Many participants felt that the focus should be on utilizing the developments in ICT to improve teaching/learning environment.
5. The collaboration between institutions in Tasmania and Mainland Australia in vocational education in paramedical training has helped to reduce the development time and cost.
6. One of the participants identified the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) as an interesting example of collaboration. The Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) emerged from the 2001 Summit of the Americas. It is the forum for hemispheric innovation in the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to strengthen democracy, create prosperity, and realize human potential. The ICA strives to create a true hemispheric community by connecting the citizens of the Americas and promoting hemispheric integration through innovative uses of ICTs. ICA works with groups (NGOs, public sector, private sector) to broaden access to connectivity in the Americas.
7. One participant described the activities of a voluntary group whose pilot project based on collaboration   in Sierra Leone enabled secondary schools and the main teacher training college to download and edit for local needs teaching materials from the Internet.

The participants discussed many other collaborative initiatives in UK and in other parts of the world.

The Dimensions of  Collaboration

The conference brought out certain important dimensions of collaboration;

1. The participants warned about barriers in international collaboration such as difficulties of language, educational expectations and procedures, differential standards, administrative headaches etc. One participant characterized collaboration as ways of actually doing different things  instead of the same things in different ways.
2. Another participant described the conditions for successful collaboration and warned about politics, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and "not-invented here" syndrome as reasons for failure. According the participant, collaboration can be successful if the "WHY" is big enough and pointed out that there are numerous reasons why educators should collaborate despite the need to be competitive.
3. Understanding of the various types of stakeholders in "ODL for development" is crucial for collaboration.
4. While collaboration at the national level is not a problem, multilateral and bilateral collaborations often fail due to various factors such as donor relationships, beneficiary-benefactor relationship, etc. Some of the participants emphasized the need for appropriate policy mechanisms for collaboration and felt that collaboration should be based on a "Win-Win" Framework.
5. Collaboration should be based on "learner centric" approaches and not merely on "technology centric approaches".
6. Though there are new stakeholders such as rural poor in ODL, and though there are emphasis on  focusing on enhancing self-directed learning, there is a need for effectively utilizing the traditional medium through collaboration. One participant warned don't run before you walk.

Principles of Collaboration

The virtual conference discussed the principles of collaboration and felt that if the principles are clearly defined, then the issues raised in the conference could be adequately addressed.

An interesting website (2) was referred for its thought-provoking discussions on collaboration.  This site has an interesting report in PDF called "The 12 Principles of Collaboration: Guidelines to for Designing Internet Services that Support Group Collaboration". This report discusses the Reed's Law  of  David Reed (Harvard Business Review, February, 2001) who argues that  in a group-forming network with n members, if one adds up all the potential two-member groups, three-member groups and so on that those members could form, the number of possible groups equal 2n.  This report gives an example; Consider a group of fifteen people; if they are using fax machines and telephone, the value of their network is proportional to 152 or 225. If they use e-mail, message boards and other group support tools, the value of their network could approach a factor of 215 or 32,768!

However such a network is possible only if there is a strong collaboration. This report has propounded 12 principles of Collaboration which are interrelated The 12 Principles are

Purpose: Community exists because the members share a common purpose which can only be accomplished jointly.
Identity: Members can identify each other and build relationships.
Reputation: Members build a reputation based on the expressed opinions of others.
Governance: The facilitators and members of the community assign management duties to each other, allowing the community to grow.
Communication: Members must be able to interact with each other .
Groups: Community members group themselves according to specific interests or tasks
Environment: A synergistic organizational and institutional environment enables community members to achieve their purpose.
Boundaries: The community knows why it exists and what or who is outside and inside.
Trust: Building trust between members and with community facilitators increases group efficiency and enables conflict resolution.
Exchange: The community recognizes forms of exchange values, such as knowledge, experience, support, barter or money.
Expression: The community itself has a "soul" or "personality"; members are aware of what other community members are doing.
History: The community must keep track of past events and must react and change in response to it.

Michigan State University has also developed 11 principles of collaboration3, which are more or less similar to the above. 

Issues

The first six principles are related to human needs and expectations and the final six refers to the framework and structures that must exist to ensure collaboration. The participants felt that purpose and identity are the staring points for collaboration.   The collaboration can exist only if we have a shared goal or interest. Identity emerges from shared purpose. The participants also felt that environment is a crucial factor in collaboration. In many project mode approaches with external funding and with short term experts and consultants, synergistic environment is rarely created. Many projects tend to create a beneficiary-benefactor relationship rather than a collaborative framework. This also leads to the not-created here syndrome in which countries receiving support tend to reject concepts and practices from outside.  The ODL for development can be effective only if the principles of collaboration are adhered to.

The debates, dialogues and discourses on ODL institutions for development led to the following issues:

1. Do the ODL institutions share a "common purpose" with other development agencies such as NGOs, private sector etc for strengthening collaboration?
2. Learning for Livelihood requires an organizational environment which could provide flexibility to think and act "outside the box" enabling them to develop collaborative framework with different types of stakeholders.  Are the ODL institutions have flexibility to think and act "outside the box" and promote learning among informal groups and marginalized sections of the society? Are the ODL institutions with their emphasis on structures and framework, ready for reaching informal groups and addressing development issues?
3. In the context of development goals, do the ODL institutions understand the demand side of the poor people and marginalized sections of the society ? Can we argue that lack of understanding of the demand ( of the learning community) is one of the reasons for failures in collaboration?  Do the ODL institutions realize that mobilizing the learning community is an important area in which collaborative efforts are required?
4. How can technology play a role in helping ODL institutions to consolidate the 12 principles of collaboration and address the issues of development? 

References

1. Soren Kaplan, Building Communities--Strategies for Collaborative Learning
   American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), August 2002, http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/aug2002/kaplan.html 
2. http://www.mongoosetech.com (in particular http://www. mongoosetech.com/realcommunities/12prin.html) 
3. (http://carriers.museum.msu.edu/projectinfo/principles.html)