1. USC VCoP on Collaboration Summary Notes

2. Background Heterogeneous group of faculty/staff who support graduate and undergraduate students in 7 different schools and shared an interest in online collaboration Commitment to meet synchronously once a month; spend 2 hours per week working asynchronously Group started up in September and will conclude this January

3. Planned Outcomes Share the findings with our Distance Learning Network members Post the resources into a database supported by the Office of the Provost Create workshops for others based on this model.

4. Unanticipated Outcomes Participants became familiar with learning theory and had a place to practice it before bringing it to their students. Participants got to try several different types of online meeting platforms Collegial relationships were strengthened

5. Unanticipated Outcomes Group set their own project themes and accompanying goals Survey data was acquired

6. Lessons Learned Individual expectations have not yet been met Participants need to feel ownership Asynchronous activity is challenging to sustain

7. Lessons Learned Communication needs to be simple and well-organized. The more practice from theory, the better for the group to value the investment of their time VCoPs are more of an evolving experience for participants than a typical training/workshop approach to development.

8. Next Steps Get commitment from current members; some will leave Invite new members Invite the members to input on meeting goals and activities Determine our own university platform for supporting the synchronous and asynchronous activity