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Volume 3 Issue 7July/August 1999

Collaboration Is True Genius

Debbie Olson
Specialist, CVU

Summer is the time for the mind to wander, especially when the outside temperature is hovering between 100 and 105 degrees. In this state of mind, I have come to the conclusion that all too many ingenious technology projects fail by utilizing strategies that resemble the Wiley Coyote vs. Roadrunner cartoons.

For those of you who don’t remember, Wiley Coyote is a self-proclaimed super genius whose life goal is to catch the Roadrunner, a fast moving bird of few words. The cartoon always ends predictably with the coyote being foiled, despite an impressive number of high-tech gadgets he has purchased and assembled from the Acme Corporation catalog, where he seems to have an unlimited line of credit.

Perhaps the coyote could have benefited from the thinking on the development of the California Community College Regional Centers. Why, you may ask, do I connect the two? Because the message behind the coyote is this: technology, funding, and imaginative, sometimes genius, thinking has not ensured the success of his goal. The coyote’s ineptitude, lack of thorough preparation or failure of some Acme product ultimately leads to a predictable end, wherein the coyote is always as much humiliated as he is harmed.

The California Community College Regional Centers, on the other hand, realize that in a global society, where timely information is the most important commodity, collaboration is not simply desirable, it is inextricably tied to success. In a world in which technical complexity increases at an accelerating rate, there are fewer and fewer arenas in which individual action suffices. The most urgent projects require the coordinated contributions of many talented people. In short, none of us are as smart as all of us.

The California Community College Regional Centers are committed to finding ways to enhance access and provide greater educational opportunities through individual and campus collaborations. The ultimate success for this project will be measured by the increased numbers of students who are satisfied with the quality of education and the choices available regarding course and degree programs and delivery technologies.

And so, the five Regional Centers are off and running...presumably not into the side of the nearest mesa.