Introduction
As technology links distant sites in an electronic web of information and new communication channels, people around the globe are pulled together in new and unexpected collaborative structures. The purpose of this paper is to explore the levels of collaboration required for successful distance education applications. This exploration will be accomplished through 1) a description of a continuum outlining the local (micro) to international (macro) levels of collaboration in distance education, 2) a graphical depiction of the components found along the continuum, and 3) a discussion of the implications for change in higher education institutions engaged in distance learning activities.
The Collaboration Continuum
The continuum of collaboration can be described from a local, or micro, level to an international, or macro, level. There are four key points on the continuum: team instructional systems design (ISD), student-to-student collaboration, class-to-class collaboration, and institution-to-institution collaboration (see Figure 1). Additional divisions appear when the continuum is viewed from a state, interstate, or international perspective.
Team Instructional Systems Design (ISD). Collaboration is necessary in distance education at the micro level of course development. Price (1994), in a review of ISD models, found that the team approach was the most effective design strategy in distance education settings. Whereas within the "organized anarchy" of the traditional higher education institution "the academic is the only cog in the teaching chain" (Eastcott 1981, 73), in distance education contexts multiple "cogs" are needed. Because it is impossible for the instructor to be an expert on all matters relating to the planning and delivery of a course, a course design team—including a technical support staff, student support services, instructional designers with graphic capabilities, and the instructor—is needed for the development and implementation of successful programs (Elliot 1990; Holmberg 1989; Willis 1992). Kember and Mezger (1990) refer to this team-based environment as the larger system in which distance education opera
tes, as opposed to the smaller system of a traditional university.
Other components of ISD include needs assessment and evaluation. Attention to these functions calls for new forms of collaboration between instructor, students, and support staff in the distance education environment. Use of new forms of communications technology necessitates additional assessments of student needs, experience level, and access to technology (Dunnet 1990; Harry 1992; Hedberg and McNamara 1989; Milheim 1991; Moller 1991). Collaborative evaluation has been cited as particularly effective in distance education, specifically in reference to the multiple parties—including students and support staff—involved in the overall process (Tovar 1989). By evaluating not only the course, but also the support service departments (library, registration, tutoring, site facilitation, technology maintenance, etc.), whole-system improvements can be achieved. This type of collaboration in ISD, with its various components and roles (Thach, Murphy, and Korhonen 1994; Willis 1992), is becoming a requirem
ent for successful distance education endeavors (see Figure 2).
Student-to-Student Collaboration
A second level along the collaboration continuum reflects integration and teamwork among students at local and distant sites, that is, student-to-student collaboration. Yi and Majima (1993) cite examples of American students who had previously demonstrated individualism and competition among themselves uniting as a team at a distant site and assisting one another to answer questions posed by the instructor at the home site. The environment of a few students at a distant site appears to inspire a spirit of collaboration. Additionally, collaboration between groups of students at distant sites is another component of successful distance education courses in higher education, one which appears to be aided by the integrative nature of the technology (Murphy 1993).
Audio, computer, and video teleconferencing, because of their interactive nature, encourage collaboration. Moore (1994a,1) describes audioconferencing as "a learner-centered, relatively inexpensive, robust, and flexible medium that can be well integrated with other media in a distance education program." This "undervalued" technology has been used worldwide to link university students at different sites. For example, Moore reports that he teaches a class via audioconference from The Pennsylvania State University to ninety students located in nine cities in four countries (Moore 1994a). Electronic mail networks and listservs represent other modes of technology that promote interaction and collaboration among students at different sites. McMann (1994), in a discussion of the moderator role in computer-mediated conferencing, refers to a situation in which students in a university class taught via a listserv counseled, advised, and encouraged other students who were having difficulty connecting to the service
in the first few weeks of class. This type of collaborative and supportive action is seldom witnessed in traditional classrooms. Students taking university classes taught via two-way videoconferencing can collaborate on research and coursework with other distance students, their instructors, and outside experts (Hakes et al. 1993).
Moore (1989) cites interaction among students as instrumental to learning. In a distance education context, student-to-student collaboration—and thus interaction—appears to happen more spontaneously than in traditional face-to-face instruction. The local site is increasingly recognized as being able to provide a supportive atmosphere that may not be replicated across distance. Moore (1994b, 3) notes that students at their local sites tend to cluster around an informal leader in an environment characterized by "a high degree of participation, division of labor, and collaboration." These new types of collaborative systems, brought about through communications technology, may prove beneficial to learning and teamwork in the future. Indeed, promoting teamwork and collaboration, rather than competition, among students at distant sites has been found to enhance collegiality and learning (Jones and Timpson 1991).
Class-to-Class CoIlaboration
The first macro level of the continuum represents a third form of collaboration, class-to-class collaboration, which is illustrated by situations in which students in distance education classes offered at one institution share information, invite discussion, and work on team projects with students in classes at one or more different institutions. An example of this form of collaboration is the Globaled Project, a network of graduate classes from the Universities of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Wyoming; Texas A&M University; and San Diego State University (Gunawardena et al. 1994). Globaled students communicated with each other and documented research on distance education over a listserv established on the Internet.
Class-to-class collaboration is reflected in the many satellite educational programs of AG*SAT (Agricultural Satellite Corporation). AG*SAT is a forty-six member consortium—comprised primarily of land-grant institutions in the United States—that produces and delivers educational programs via satellite. A special feature of AG*SAT programming is its frequent use of two-way audio communication (usually through a toll-free telephone line offered by the sponsoring consortium member) to link classes from various universities. For example, a veterinary medicine class delivered at Texas A&M University via satellite was downlinked to over twenty veterinary medicine classes offered at other universities around the United States (R. Zent, personal communication, March 1993). Students from the different universities could communicate with the instructor via the toll-free telephone line and all participants could hear questions and comments from any of the sites.
The unique aspect of class-to-class collaboration is the opportunity for students to communicate with their counterparts in other classes, which can be in the same state, across state borders (as in the case of the Globaled Project), or across national borders (see Figure 3, page 11).
Institution-to-Institution Collaboration
Beyond class-to-class collaboration at the macro end of the continuum is the fourth level of collaboration: ins institution-to-institution collaboration. Here, different institutions work together to offer complete degree or continuing education programs to students at distant sites. An example of this collaboration is the Master in Library Science degree offered by the University of Arizona via satellite. Universities in other states collaborate by downlinking the signal to their sites, assisting students with registration, and ensuring local library support. Regents College, part of the University of the State of New York, represents another model of institution-to-institution collaboration. As a regionally accredited institution that offers no direct instruction of its own, Regents College offers to its external students the assessment of credits obtained from other institutions, proficiency examinations, and, ultimately, the university degree. Additionally, the college now provides information about un
iversity-level coursework through correspondence study and other independent study options through its software program "DistanceLearn" (Feasley and Jordan 1992) and through The Diversity Directory (Dumbleton and Gayle 1994).
Both class-to-class and institution-to-institution collaboration can take place within the same state or province, between different states or provinces, or between countries. Distance education associations have been formed to promote this type of collaboration. The Western Canadian Committee for University Distance Education (Wagner 1988) and the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications in Colorado are two examples of such associations.
International institution-to-institution collaboration appears to be increasing markedly. Linkages exist between individual universities and among groups of universities. A recent example of collaboration between individual institutions is the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica-Rome master's degree program in information systems and computer science, which is being delivered to Russian graduate students at the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (Gransden 1994). An earlier example of this institutional "twinning" is the nuclear history coursework offered simultaneously to Tufts University and Moscow State University (DeLoughry 1988). Murphy (1990) reports that such institutional twinning has promoted cooperative planning and development of instructional programs to avoid the threat of cultural invasion or imperialism.
Collaboration among groups of universities is evident in the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), which fosters cooperation and promotes the use of communication technologies for human resource development among educational institutions in the fifty-member Commonwealth. Although not strictly a university collaboration, the COL enrolled over 15,000 individual Commonwealth members in a course on networking offered over the Internet in 1992 (Irvine and Wilson 1993). The North American Distance Education and Research Network (NADERN) has assembled work groups to explore collaboration among universities in Mexico, the United States, and Canada (Moore 1993a). On-line conferencing fosters international collaboration among university students through such services as Bestnet [Bilingual EnglishSpanish Telecommunications Network (Watkins 1994)] and the Globaled Project (Gunawardena et al. 1993; Gunawardena et al. 1994).
Rossman (1992, 41) contends that the quest for the worldwide electronic university is important because knowledge "increases so fast and becomes outdated so quickly that the instructor can no longer be the expert on everything." Utsumi (1994) has proposed such an electronic university through the electronic Global UniversityTM consortium. Utsumi reports that over the past two decades the consortium has assisted in extending United States data communication networks to other countries-particularly to Japan-and has conducted a number of "Global Lecture Hall" (GLH)TM video conferences employing inexpensive media accessible to less developed countries.
Institution-to-institution collaboration has resulted in increased access to information via distance education technologies. For example, information is available on the Internet through such services as on-line databases, gopher servers, and listservs. The International Center for Distance Learning offers a database on CD-ROM and on line. This database contains information about 27,000 courses taught at a distance in the Commonwealth, an international directory of nearly 800 distance teaching institutions, and details of over 5,700 items of literature about distance education (Ohler, Manburg, and Mizell 1994). In addition, electronic networks have been used recently to complement such international conferences as the International Council for Distance Education 16th World Conference in Bangkok (Anderson and Mason 1993).
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