Dialogue about Subways and Mac's

The below is a dicussion that happened around my "Subways and Mac's" post on another blog. I thought to copy it over here for the records. Oxana commented:

Anas, I like your analogy. It shows some of your goals you are striving to achieve. Did you think of the “counter”/delivery people? Who will serve your course, you alone or other tutors ? Are you aiming to franchise it and give other people to run it with consistent quality and outcome? Cheers

Then Doug posted:

Anas: Its a daydream because like Oxana pointed out the servers will be in control. As you must realize the objectives and outcome system is to satisty government requirements and once the funding is in place the who knows what the assessment process will provide. Teachers like MDs are controlled by a government bureaucracy. Just calculate how much is paid to institutional Presidents for X universities in Alberta…why not have X-y and put the money into back into teaching and instruction? have fun Doug
PS its all about the beef.

Then I replied:

@Oxana: (1) no servers. Learners pick and choose. There will be the cooks who are usually invisible that prepare the material, and support staff who keeps cleaning stuff and answering odd questions. (2) no franchise. It GNU based.

@Doug: (1) Servers will never be in control. Look at our course, are our Facilitators in Control? They just ensure we adhere to goals and give us support if we ask for it. Beyond that, they are almost invisible… right? (2) This is the beauty of dreaming: You don’t have to worry about what would go wrong. I understand where you come from about regulated studies. This is why I believe there must be other “restaurants” to cater for these cases. I, myself, will always avoid creating online courses for them, although in my heart, I am sure we can use the Subway method as well… but it is headache… and as Dawnn suggested in her video, I want to be happy!

Oxen, cars and Education

This excerpt was a rely to one of my colleagues who shed some doubt about the effectiveness of online courses in regulated courses:

Doug: This is so very true. We have a dilemma. Trying to use the wrong tools for the solution. It is the curse of living at the verge of change.

This reminds me of an Australian movie about something that happened in 1920's. The scene shows a farmer who owns a lot of horses and oxen that he use to plow and harvest his field. His young son, who just graduated, came back to the farm driving one of those newly invented cars. He told his father that this machine is the future and it will replace the animals in the field work. His father rode on a horse and told him "show me". Obviously, the horse was much faster running on the field terrain and the car got stuck in the mud after few yards. The father sat triumphantly on his rocking chair and cynically asked his son: "It will never replace my animals. How do you feed hay to this machine?"
Obviously the car was the wrong tool for the period. Few years down the load, the car evolved into a tractor and replaced the animals and changing the farming industry and proved Malthus wrong. The son was right, but the father did not see at the time.
We are in a similar situation. Online courses and technology are not the solution for everything yet. We still have to use the horses until online courses and education evolves to become suitable. Until then, we have to use the "cars" where they are applicable. Like driving from the city to the farm and not more.

Resurrected Blog

I haven't been here in a while. My other blogs took the attention. I am reviving this blog again to be used as part of the EDDL514 course I am taking which requires the creation and use of a blog to create a learning community. The focus of the new posts will be on online teaching and learning, which I hope will enrich my knowledge and experience in the field. A quick briefing on what happened to me between the last blog and today:

1. On Wikipedia front, I have more than 9000 articles on the English and Arabic Wikipedia. My contribution to it has diminished due to busy-ness of life although I am still involved with its community.


2. I made many travels since my last trip to Hawaii and California that are:
   
   
   
   • an RV trip between San Francisco and San Diego and everything in between.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • Another trip to LA (which I fell in love with) with my son and wife. Visited Universal Studios, Disney Land and had a glimpse of the Oscars.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • Went with my son and wife to Florida where we spent time in Kissimme and the Atlantic coast of Florida.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • My son took us to NY and showed it to use through his eyes... it was a magnificent trip.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • Spend a week with my sister in Ontario visiting Niagara Falls.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • Had my adventure trip for 4 weeks where I went to NY, Montreal, Cuba, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Minneapolis.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   • Spent New years ever with my wife in Mexico
   
   
   
   


3. At the work front, I am enjoying my new role working with a tremendous team on introducing new educational reals.


4. On personal front, my self discovery and living in the now has taken a steep turn... I still dizzy figuring out my orientation...


5. Miraculously, I was offered my dream job at AUB which, miraculously as well, disappeared... I am still trying to understand that dream that came and gone.

You must visit my other blogs to know the detail of the above.

My newest adventure is enrolling in the EDDL514 course which promise to be full of new discoveries and interesting encounters. You will be posted on its impact and progress on the blog.