At my university, our leadership has been moving to position our school to be one of the top public research universities in the country. That is a lofty goal, and given the competition, it’ll be tough to move up from whatever our current positioning is. (There are different ways to measure school standings.)

The school held a public forum recently about these ambitions, and it was refreshing to hear of this sense of ambition for the school. During the public conversation, some aspects emerged that were intriguing.

Knowing Each Other

The school had assigned a blue-ribbon committee to examine the research output of the campus. Part of their work was to assess what the campus was outputting. I’m sure they looked at moneys coming in and going out. They were mapping the infrastructures on which people were building the research. But they were also apparently mapping the human talent on the campus—to understand where the advancements were being made. They were examining the interwoven connectivity of talent—based probably mostly on formal talent. And as I’ve listened, I’ve noticed that people are also tapped for their unofficial talents—their second or third language skills. With the repositories of research output, the school is also aware of the rich body of publishing resources put out by those working in this school. The idea is to not only identify skill sets but the synergies that may be put into play that could add value to the learning spaces and to the overall university experiences.

To achieve ambitions, it requires a lot of coordination work. And many people work together to make a presentation or a publication or a research success. Knowing that, it takes years to achieve quality research that is worth sharing. And so, it’s helpful to know who does what and where the relationships connect enable collaborations.

Constantly Building Professional Relationships

Instructional designers should be at the table when decisions for research get made. And they should be there to do the work. And they should be there to publish.

There are so many rich possibilities on projects in terms of subject matter, insights, and digital materials that are available for use in publications.

And then there are the opportunities that emerge through collaborations. There is so much promise when you bring smart people together to work on a shared project. This assumes that trust relationships are in place. This assumes that there’s professional respect. This assumes that there is no spotlight-hogging. This assumes the presence of authentic talents--and not just claims. This assumes that there is good will and collaboration opportunities that are fair. This assumes that if there are resources that these are shared fairly.

I guess where the hope is is that such alliances are not just hit-and-miss but are cultivated and built for good ends. That’s all. There is so much potential, and so much wisdom does not somehow make it to the public domain.