The Issues of Sustainability

How does a group continue to be able to function after the outside funding and support leaves? In one of the articles I read for this section, Benkler talks of the "common wisdom" that comes from the collaborative effort of sharing resources. As I read the article, I reflected on a collective production experience I had when I was teaching ESL at the English Language Center. The first class that I taught at the center was the advanced (Level 5) reading course. I was able to teach it probably two or three times and as I did, I created a number of materials that I used to help my students as they read the novels I had chosen for the class. I loved the books and I loved creating the materials for the books and was pleased when I used them in my classes. I went on and taught various other courses in other levels and so I passed along the materials I created (many in their digital formats) to a friend of mine who began teaching Level 5 reading. I watched her throughout the semesters she taught and enjoyed seeing her use my materials and was pleased that she found them valuable as I had. What pleased me even more though, was about three years later, I was teaching as a full time instructor for the last semester and I had the opportunity to teach Level 5 Reading one more time. I immediately went back to my friend and asked to borrow back the materials I had given her to use. As I went back through the materials and found the ways she had modified them, I was even more pleased with being able to use them because they were even better than what I had given her. Through our collaborative efforts, we created some powerful materials that assisted a number of students who went through our courses, but it was because of the collaborative efforts.

Sustainability, then, needs to occur within a community of practice when we are working together for the common good and we are creating materials that will assist those that we work with while at the same time being able to create these "happy accidents" when we help others beyond our circle. By participating in this community of practice, we are able to continue the collaboration for the common good because we all see the benefits that come from the collaboration. This not only supports us as faculty, but also benefits the community as a whole. It really does us good all the way around when we're able to help someone else. Creating this vision of collaboration among peers and among colleagues and then among students is what will help motivate the producers to continue producing. It is a way that can help the projects continue long after the money and extras are gone.