What part has collaboration played in the development of distance education?

Collaboration among distance teaching institutions has taken several forms in the past 15 to 20 years, including joint development of materials, joint delivery of courses or programs, joint programs to offer a credential, and the delivery of programs through a collaborating institution.

Several factors have encouraged the development of such collaboration:

• Supportive government policies
• Institutional impetus to make better use of scarce resources
• Technological advances that have made collaboration easier and cheaper.

Collaborative schemes nevertheless involve problems and pitfalls, some internal—relating to the development of new policies and attitudes—and some external.

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