ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 2000 /1003

COM M UNITY & COLLABORATION |

Building a successful collaboration

Colgate University’s collaboration for enhanced learning

by Mary Jane Petrowski, David Baird, Karen Leach, and Judy Noyes

Henry Ford once wrote, “Coming to ­gether is a beginning; keeping together 
is progress; working together is success.” This 
month’s article takes a closer look at how 
one working group composed of librarians 
and information technologists spent their in­
augural year becoming a true collaborative.

How did we build a 
successful collaboration 
and what helped to make A lth o u g h  m u
it work? In retrospect, the 

cu ltu ra l d iffe r“Collaboration IQ test” in 
Betsy Wilson’s inaugural lib r a r ia n s  a n d
article helped us to un­ te c h n o lo g is ts
derstand the various fac­
tors underlying our suc­ b o th  o rg a n iz
cess.1 " c o lla b o ra tiv

a n d  a co re c o
Vision
Leaders within our insti­ ad v a n cin g  th
tution of higher educa­ m is s io n . . .
tion recognized that fac­
ulty who wish to invest 
energy into rethinking 
how technology may improve student learn­
ing would benefit most from the collective 
expertise and synergy o f librarians and in­
formation technologists. This vision grew out 
of earlier experiments with different models

o f faculty support that did not work as well 
as we had hoped.

At a preliminary series of “idea incuba­
tion” meetings, the complementary interests 
and expertise of library and information tech­
nologists staff were evident. Although much 
is made of the cultural differences between 

librarians and informa­
tion technologists, we 
discovered both organi­is m a d e  o f th e  
zations had many “col­

c e s b e tw e e n  laborative personalities” 
fo rm a tio n  and a core commitment 

to advancing the educa­e  d isco v e re d  
tio n a l m issio n  o f 

o n s h ad  m a n y  C olgate.2 We believed 
e rs o n a litie s "  that the new partnership 

would provide the most 
itm e n t to  

promising model of sup­
d u ca tio n a l port for faculty and stu­

dents at small colleges.

B o rro w in g  b ra in s
In September 1999, the 

Collaboration for Enhanced Learning (CEL) 
was formed with four information technolo­
gists and three librarians. CEL members were 
selected because of their common interests 
in information literacy, technology, and ex­

ch  

e n

 in

, w

a ti

e  p

m m

e  e

About the authors 

Mary Jane Petrowski is head o f library instruction; David Baird is director o f  the collaboration fo r enhanced learning; Karen 
Leach is chief information officer; and Ju d y  Noyes is university librarian a t Colgate University, e-mail: mjpetrowski© 
mail.colgate.edu, dbaird@mail.colgate.edu, kleach@mail.colgate.edu, andjnoyes@mail.colgate.edu

mailto:dbaird@mail.colgate.edu
mailto:kleach@mail.colgate.edu
mailto:andjnoyes@mail.colgate.edu


1004 / C&RL News ■ Decem ber 2000

perience assisting faculty with incorporating 
technology into the curriculum. Two infor­
mation technologists moved into the library, 
and a seminar room was converted into a 
lab for meetings and group work. Such pro­
pinquity made us neighbors and greatly fa­
cilitated informal exchanges of information 
and ideas.3

Administrators never told the group how  
to do things—-just w hat to do. The new group 
initially worked to articulate their mission and 
common goals:

The CEL is a resource for faculty who want 
to develop more creative connections be­
tween teaching, learning, and technology. 
This may include using technology to sup­
port good practice in undergraduate teach­
ing; developing special projects that might 
require more resource-based learning analy­
sis, and synthesis 
o f in fo rm a tio n ; 
exploring interna­
tio n a l or 
crosscultural col­
laborative activi­
tie s ; or im p le ­
m en tin g  o n lin e  
p r o je c ts  and 
group pro blem ­
solving activities.
CEL members are 
co m m itted  to 
working with fac­
ulty to improve 
the ed u catio n al 
uses of technology 
at Colgate and to 

The Collaboration for Endevelop informa­
front row from left: CEL Di

tion tech n o lo g y  Science Librarian Peter E. 
and inform ation In stru c tio n  M ary Ja n e
literacy across the Technology Education Ju
curriculum.'1 from  le ft: Instructional 

Nardelli, Systems Libraria
Technology Planning Ric

R e so u rce s Instructional Technology 
In October 1999,
Colgate University submitted a grant proposal 
to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund requesting 
support for two educational technology staff 
positions for CEL.5 In March 2000, Colgate 
University was awarded a $260,000 grant to 
provide seed funding for a director and an 
instructional technology specialist. Colgate 
will absorb the cost of the new positions over 
the three-year grant period and will continue

the positions beyond the life of the grant. 
Colgate will fund faculty workshops, CEL 
travel, student assistants for faculty devel­
oping technology-enhanced courses, student 
training programs, and equipment and soft­
ware required for programming in support 
of curricular innovation. Colgate also pro­
vides support for program evaluation.

R e s p o n s ib ilitie s
While the grant was being prepared, the group 
quickly became involved in the President 
Charles Karelis’s Asynchronous Learning Ini­
tiative. During the Spring 2000 semester, 
Colgate began an investigation of the effec­
tiveness of online threaded discussions in a 
residential liberal arts setting. There were 700 
students in 34 courses taught by 24 faculty 
representing the Humanities, Social Sciences, 

and Natural Sci­
e n c e s  d iv isions 
were involved in 
the in itial p ilo t 
p r o je c t.6 The 
project took front 
and c e n te r for 
many months as 
CEL m em b ers 
worked to select a 
Web course shell, 
install softw are, 
offer faculty work­
s h o p s , p ro v id e 
one-on-one con­
sulting, and attend 
numerous group 
debriefings where 

nced Learning members faculty members 
ctor David Baird, Assistant 

shared their suc­gtmeyer, Head of Library 
e tro w s k i, D ire c to r of cesses and frustra­

th A. Doherty. Back row tions. E x ten d in g  
chnology Specialist Ray C o n v e r s a t i o n s :  
Cindy Harper, Director of G e ttin g  S ta r te d  d Grant, and Director of 
rryl Simcoe. w ith  A s y n c h r o ­

n o u s  L e a r n in g  
Tools in a  Liberal Arts Setting, a forthcoming 
CEL publication, will showcase and share good 
practice at Colgate.

The b e st in n o v a to rs a r e n 't lo n e  
g e n iu se s
When the dust finally settled in June with 
the appointment our new leader, we turned 
our attention to strategic planning. At last the

ha
re
Ta
 P
di
Te
n 
har
Da



C&RL News ■ D ecem ber 2000 / 7005

"The illite ra te  o f th e  fu tu re  w ill 

not be th e person  w h o  ca n n o t 

read. It w ill be th e  g ro up  t h a t  d o e s 

not know  h o w  to  le a rn ."

group was finally in place and ready to plan 
for the future . . . but there was a bigger 
issue. Some group members thought our 
group dynamics needed work. How could 
we move beyond our current com m ittee­
like approach to solving problem s and 
thinking? How could we bond? Maybe g o ­
ing off to a conference together would 
help. Despite the private reservations of 
some CEL members, we took a group road 
trip to the 11th International Conference 
on Creativity in Colleges and Universities 
held at Northwood University in Midland, 
Michigan, July 20-23rd .7

For most of us, the truly valuable parts 
of the conference were the two-hour work­
shop and after-dinner talk given by the 
Boyle brothers (Brendan and D ennis) who 
work for IDEO, a product design company 
in Palo Alto, California. Their “brainstorm­
ing and rapid prototyping” w orkshop viv­
idly demonstrated the value o f generating 
many ideas rapidly, focusing on problem 
solutions, encouraging early innovations, 
and design goal management. “Stay fo ­
cused . . . one conversation at a time . . . 
encourage wild ideas”: their process for 
designing toys, shopping carts, and Palm 
Pilots seemed equally applicable to edu­
cational projects.

Dennis Boyle’s talk on how  to build a 
culture of innovation and inspire a cre­
ative team was an eye-opener. The char­
acteristics of a highly collaborative c r e a tiv e  
culture include curiosity, a habit o f reach­
ing out for ideas and help, and having 
group members who are both humble and 
confident.8 “The D eep D iv e” vid eo re ­
minded us that people ca n ’t be creative 
without heavy doses o f freedom  and fun.9

One ye ar la te r
What a difference a year makes! Our per­
spective has changed from “I” to “u s” (and 
from “them” to “w e”). W e’ve becom e more

playful in our approach to work, while set­
ting aside more time to think. What has 
the new improved collaboration produced? 
In the past few  months w e ’ve undertaken 
a phase II asynchronou s learning pilot 
project; prototyped a curriculum develop­
ment Intranet for CORE 152 (a place for 
faculty to share teaching resources, peda­
gogical tips, assignments, e tc.), and devel­
oped a W eb site for the Center o f Ethics 
and World Societies that will eventually 
provide access to speaker W ebcasts.

Our final words o f advice (paraphrased 
from Alvin Toffler): “The illiterate o f the 
future will not be the person who cannot 
read. It will be the group that does not 
know  how to learn .” W e’ve just started.

N o te s
1. Betsy W ilson, “The Lone Ranger is 

dead: Success today demands collabora­
tio n ,” C&RL N ew s (Septem ber 2000): 6 9 8 -  
701.

2. R o b e r t S. F r e e m a n , S c o t t  B. 
M andernack, and Jo h n  Mark Tucker, “An 
Issue in Search o f a Metaphor: Readings 
o n  the M arriageability o f Libraries and 
C o m p u ter C e n te rs ” B o o k s , B y tes , a n d  
B rid g es: L ib ra ries a n d  C om p u ter C enters in 
A c a d e m i c  In s tit u tio n s , e d ited  by Larry 
Hardesty (Chicago: ALA, 2000): 13-25.

3. The m agazine F a s t C o m p a n y  rou­
tinely profiles businesses that design for 
propinquity.

4. See http://cel.colgate.edu for a full 
description o f specific goals.

5. A copy o f the grant is available at 
http://cel.colgate.edu/.

6. Constance Harsh, “The Asynchronous 
Learning Pilot Project: A Report,” Colgate 
University, Spring 2000. 26 pages. A copy 
o f this report is available upon request 
from any o f the authors.

7. Inform ation on next year’s confer­
e n c e  (Ju ly  1 2 -1 5 , 20 0 1 ) is available at 
http ://www. northwood. edu/abd.

8. To read more about IDEO’s unique 
“knowledge-brokering” culture, see Andrew 
Hargadon and Robert I. Sutton, “Building an 
Innovative Factory,” H a m a r d  Business Review 
(May-June 2000): 157-66.

9. ABC’s Nightline, “The Deep Dive: One 
Company’s Secret Weapon for Innovation,” 
February 19, 1999 [video: VHS], ■

http://cel.colgate.edu
http://cel.colgate.edu/