A Recent DEI Survey Reveals Sharing and Collaboration Needs

The Institute for Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) recently conducted a survey to look see how Developmental Education Initiative (DEI) projects want to share and collaborate. Specifically, the survey asked participants to reflect on how their DEI communities integrate resources, tools and collaborative opportunities available to them on CompletionMatters.org, and how we at ISKME might best support the college completion agendas of our member organizations. We wanted to understand what tools and resources might facilitate new collaborations and deepen existing collaborations. We learned that while a culture of sharing already exists across DEI cluster members, CompletionMatters.org can add value by building an even more vibrant network, facilitating online collaboration and showcasing successful practices.

DEI cluster members are ready to share and collaborate. Respondents revealed that they currently share information outside of their organizations, and would be interested in sharing with the CompletionMatters.org community. Many respondents reported that they have an immediate interest in collaboration and obtaining feedback on a current project. In order to participate in collaborative online activities, respondents wanted to know how these engagement activities would directly benefit them and their work. The survey also found that an already thriving knowledge sharing culture exists, although DEI cluster members indicated that their positive experiences in online communities like CompletionMatters.org could be made even better. As such, it appears that DEI cluster members want general information and resources on how to sustain, scale, and measure the success of their projects, and that online resources could showcase successful implementations of completion initiatives in order to inspire and model accomplishment.

As a result of this survey, ISKME has identified several ways to enhance the experiences of DEI cluster members when they visit CompletionMatters.org. We will ensure that resources are available that specifically address sustaining, evaluating, and scaling education projects, and showcase such resources in curated collections (or “research nodes”) that pull together important content in a centralized, easy-to-access format. The goal will be for CompletionMatters.org to be a place where members can learn from the successes of others.

CompletionMatters.org will address the technical needs of members by providing one-on-one instructional support on how to upload resources, curate collections of materials, and create discussion posts, blog posts, and comments. We will also assist community members by reaching out to those contributors who are ready to collaborate immediately, while simultaneously encouraging new collaborations by facilitating face-to-face workshops. By working together virtually and in person, our goal is to make sure that CompletionMatters.org provides a dynamic space for collaboratively working toward college completion goals.

[This blog post is also available on CompletionMatters.]