The 1990s can be termed the decade of collaboration and cooperation in many areas of human endeavour, including distance education. A quick survey of books and articles generated during this time reveals a kaleidoscope of collaborative initiatives implemented inside institutions, across institutions, by different organizations within countries, and by organizations across countries. Much has been written about benefits of collaboration, difficulties inherent in the collaborative process, successes, failures, and requirements for successful collaboration. Summaries of conditions necessary for effective collaboration abound. While it may appeal to some to have neat formulas and recipes, in my experience the context of each collaborative venture is different and demands that people ask new questions and look for new answers. The reality is never neat and tidy, but rather chaotic and messy.

Within the borders of our country and in the broader Southern African region, people are demonstrating in practice how to maximize meagre resources by working together to improve the professionalism of people working in distance education and, by implication, the quality of distance education. I believe information about such partnerships should be shared widely to enable us to benefit from these experiences. We urgently need to hear success stories that inspire and encourage us to keep alive the vision that, by working together, we can achieve more than by struggling on our own.

Thus, it is fitting that I begin this article by celebrating collaboration. In working with people in a range of staff development projects and initiatives, I have become aware that we need examples of what can be done with regard to collaboration, as much as we need an understanding of the obstacles and pitfalls. I have chosen five ‘snapshots’ of successful collaborative efforts, which I believe have some relevance for people working in collaborative initiatives anywhere. These snapshots reflect the following important areas of staff development:
•    training and development needs;
•    training and development agenda;
•    training and development methods and strategies; and
•    career paths for people in distance education.

The theme linking the snapshots is making it happen. Pictures of collaboration, theories in use, and reflections on pertinent staff development issues should help us to see what is possible. I hope they will stimulate ongoing discussion, and inspire us to find ways of building capacity together.

A crucial step in staff development is to identify who should be trained and their needs, in order to establish what the training should comprise. The first snapshot focuses on a project that investigated the training and development needs of senior managers working in distance education organizations in South Africa.

Description of the project
It has become increasingly clear to SAIDE staff members who work with a range of distance education organizations that that there is a shortage of well-developed management expertise. This need became an area of focus within a larger research initiative, which investigated more generally the competencies required of distance educators working within the South African context. The research project was conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in partnership with SAIDE in 1997. Through preliminary negotiations, it was decided that SAIDE take responsibility for coordinating the management component.

The research was limited in scope, focusing on investigating the standards of competence required by people managing distance education programmes in higher education organizations in South Africa. The research consisted of a survey of documentary material and a record of perceptions of some senior managers from five different distance education institutions, private and public.

The training needs that arise from the specific context in which managers have to operate are often glossed over, and the expectation is that managers cope on a trial and error basis. This research has identified some key contextual areas which need attention when planning and implementing training and development for senior managers, including the following:
•    Managing change was identified as a key competence, which should be linked to concrete internal change processes and external pressures for transformation. All the issues should be explicitly addressed in competence standards.
•    Managers need to understand the statutory context pertaining to the education system - which is reflected in a range of legislation and proposed new structures - as well as new emphasis on quality assurance as the core of an improved education system.
•    Managing the tension between market and economic demands and educational values in a productive way is a vital competence in educational management.
•    Managers need to understand and manage changing funding arrangement.
•    Research findings indicated that the way in which top level management relates to individual programme and project levels needs further exploration.

Some lessons learnt
•    It is essential to have clarity on the nature of the relationship of the partners, especially where one partner is subject to a host of bureaucratic requirements. Through trial and error we discovered that the working arrangement was more characteristic of a consultancy than a partnership, because the parameters of the project were determined by the organization funding the project.
•    Much time needs to be spent working towards a common understanding of the outcomes of the project from start to finish. One cannot assume that each partner has a common understanding of the outcomes of a project. It may also happen, as it did in this case, that the original outcomes have to be amended in the light of emerging realities. This is particularly important in a situation marked by dynamic change and flux. It is imperative for the successful outcome of any project that lines of communication remain open throughout the process, that barriers are identified early, and that solutions agreeable to all are found.
•    The interpersonal dynamics and coordination involved in a collaborative effort take time. This needs to be incorporated into the implementation plan, both conceptually and financially.

The significance of the above project is that it started as a small, manageable collaborative initiative resulting in a definite output. The report can be viewed as a stimulus, a platform on which subsequent parts of the research can be built. This example also shows how useful it can be to work towards a small success, and then use that as a stepping stone to broaden participation in order to achieve more ambitious goals.

Incidentally, this project might lead to another collaborative venture. SAIDE - as a member of the Professional Development Consortium, which was formally established in 1997 - presented the management research report to member organizations. At a meeting of the Consortium Management Board (CMB) in 1998, an in-principle decision was taken to support a second phase of the research project to:
•    Conduct an investigation into the processes required to translate management competencies into unit standards (as per national education and training model and guidelines);
•    Modify the list of standards of competence for managers in the South African context in the light of the analysis of the context in which managers work;
•    Research current strategies for training and developing management staff and develop case studies reflecting South African and international practice; and
•    Organize a seminar on management issues directly related to the work envisaged above.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Finding and selecting the most appropriate training and development activities require an understanding of the particular needs of the target group and information of what is available. Such activities do not necessarily have to be formal and structured, but they can include informal and unstructured methods of developing staff. This is an area that lends itself particularly well to collaboration, as the next two snapshots illustrate.

Description of the project
The Professional Development Consortium, consisting of SAIDE, UNISA, Technisa, Technikon Southern Africa, Sached Trust and Vista University (VUDEC), began as a collaborative venture to develop a diploma course for people working in distance education. It soon became evident, however, that partners did not share the same level of commitment to the project. Broadening the scope of the Consortium emerged as a much more viable arrangement. It was finally agreed that the Consortium would share on all matters pertaining to professional development. In particular, the parties agreed to:
•    Develop, evaluate, and/or make available programmes, courses, and modules for distance education practitioners appropriate to the South African context;
•    Keep members of the Consortium informed of developments and plans with regard to the aforegoing;
•    Provide a system of quality assurance for such programmes, courses, and modules;
•    Provide for effective dissemination mechanisms of such programmes, courses, and modules
•    Determine which programmes, courses, and modules will be developed by or in collaboration with the Consortium, and determine the aims, curriculum, structure, and administration of such programmes, courses, and modules;

Since signing the agreement, some headway has been made in sharing information about existing training and development events offered by members’ own organizations and those arranged by other organizations nationally and internationally. Members also have access to databases, and searches can be undertaken at a member’s request in any area of staff development, such as management and administration, professional development, course design, and learning support.

There is scope to expand this type of information-sharing, and to make it more meaningful by obtaining qualitative data through a review process. We have done some short reviews of a few existing management modules in order to assess what is already available in this area. This type of information was useful in deciding whether or not to use an existing management module, to adapt it, or to develop our own modules.

More details about what was decided is shown in the next snapshot. Short reviews of relevant training and development programmes, courses, and modules makes it easier for staff developers to select the most suitable training and development events for their staff.

Some lessons learnt
•    Sharing information is a relatively straightforward way of collaborating and success can often be achieved quite quickly. It does require, however, that someone coordinates the process, and keeps the information circulating.
•    Information sharing has been needs-driven, with members making requests as they need information. Some members respond more actively and generously than others, depending on their priorities and commitments.

Description of the project
The management and research module of the Postgraduate Diploma in Distance Education course, offered by UNISA and co-developed by SACHED, was planned for development during 1998. A strategy was agreed to by members of the Consortium described in the previous snapshot that, where possible, an existing management module be selected and adapted. After reviewing management modules from three different courses, it was found that none of them fitted adequately with the curriculum.

Initially, it was decided to use a text book and write a ‘wrap-around’ study guide. However, at a ‘pressure cooker’ workshop held in August 1998 and attended by some members of the Consortium, it was decided that the framework for the module would be that of a ‘Professional Conference’, with a keynote address in the form of an academic paper addressing all the issues raised in the first topic. Topics would constitute themes with at least one ‘paper’ or ‘workshop’ presented per theme, which would allow for different authoring voices and styles. A different author was assigned per theme. It was decided that a textbook called Managing Open Systems would be the ‘key resource’ to be used in every section/theme of the conference, although it would be supplemented by other resources.

Some lessons learnt
•    Reviewing existing course materials as a collaborative activity enables partners to make a more informed decision about the best strategy to use when designing a module or course.
•    Planning the module during a short workshop, with a team of people drawn from different departments and organizations, worked well, resulting in innovative learning and teaching design.

Structured mentoring is a training and development method that can be used to prepare staff for and support them in their jobs. This type of training has enormous potential if organized effectively. The following snapshot is an example of a mentorship programme that was collaboratively organized by an Australian institution and two South African institutions.

Description of the project
In 1997, the Royal Melbourne Institute for Technology conducted the RMIT Graduate Diploma in Industrial Education and Training for selected staff from Technikon Southern Africa (TSA) and the Technical College of South Africa (Technisa). As a result of this collaborative initiative, which was sponsored by AUSAID, most of the participants successfully completed the programme. They were awarded the diploma in October 1998. At the same time, staff from RMIT arrived in South Africa to launch a mentorship programme for staff from the above two organizations.

The mentorship programme offers staff an opportunity and incentive to act as mentors to other staff members in their organization. Candidates for the mentorship programme have the option of negotiating agreements for the work as mentors to provide credit for a subject in the RMIT Graduate Diploma course. Alternatively, for staff who have already completed the Diploma course, the way is open to negotiate agreements for their mentoring work to provide credit for a subject in the RMIT Master of Education.

The mentorship programme is currently being used in both organizations, but no data has been collected from participants to determine how successful it is in practice.

A mentor from Technisa whom I met recently, however, mentioned what a powerful impact the programme is having on at least one stock controller, who has grown in confidence and is beginning to show greater initiative in managing his job.

From documentation used during the launching workshop, it is clear that, for a mentorship programme to be successful, full cooperation between the three partners - the mentor, the protege, and the organization - is essential. A powerful incentive for staff to become involved as mentors is to build in recognition for their contribution.

Some lessons learnt
The mentorship programme should be seen as work in progress. It is thus too soon to draw out lessons learnt from this collaborative venture.

The whole concept of career paths for people working in distance education has to be seen within the overall framework of education and training and new NQF and SAQA requirements. Distance education cannot be isolated from the bigger picture, but should rather be seen as an integral part of education and training. More and more, blurring of distance education and conventional education is taking place and people are beginning to see distance education as a set of learning and teaching methods that is suitable in a range of settings.

In the absence of an infrastructure, which facilitates the accreditation of courses across institutions, practitioners on the ground are grappling with these issues and trying to find solutions.

Description of the project
A small team of Consortium members are working together to find ways of linking the Certificate Course with the Diploma Course, and of making the Diploma Course more accessible to a range of target groups. The following issues have arisen from their discussions:
•    The need to give recognition to prior learning (RPL) by developing an RPL instrument;
•    The scope of the postgraduate diploma course must be broadened to include electives such as Communication and Information Technology;
•    More clarity is necessary about how modules from the diploma course could be slotted into existing undergraduate programmes, such as B.Tech, and others;
•    The need to decide whether or not it is possible to speak specifically of a career in distance education;
•    The importance of integrating what are perceived as ‘mainstream’ modules / courses (such as curriculum development and assessment practice) into learning programmes of distance educators specialising in different areas, such as course development; and
•    Not all staff development needs to be formal and accredited.

Most people agree that articulation across organizations is desirable, but in practice there are still too many barriers preventing sharing of resources. The work of this team is a small step in the direction of building bridges that will enable individuals to develop career paths in the near future.

The snapshots presented reflect different ways in which staff are collaborating within the South African context. They are attempts to use scarce resources by engaging in common projects which will benefit all.
Collaborating is not always an easy road to travel. Many are actually frightened off by perceptions of insurmountable barriers. It has, however, been the experience of those involved in establishing the Professional Development Consortium that no barrier is too big to overcome.
We have found constructive and creative ways of dealing with differences, and are beginning to reap the benefits of lengthy bargaining sessions and of sticking with projects through thick and thin.
We have learned that dogged determination, commitment, a sense of urgency, a sense of humour, flexibility, openness, and an attitude which expects problems, but sees them as possibilities, are essential ingredients for making collaboration happen.

Christine Randell is a SAIDE consultant specializing in course design and professional development