These past two weeks have been hectic at work. We had a series of meetings and tasks to:
-prepare course sites and build on these for this semester's opening
-formulate course proposals for program revision in our MAEd Social Studies Education
-committee work to open a new BDegree program
In the midst of work, I'm trying to insert time to do my online course to learn Moodle admin=M4TA while waiting for some ACP Office at Singapore to finally finish all site-content migration to UPOU MyPortal/Moodle 1.9 so I will know the state of plug-ins to finally see WizIQ integration in our online classes. My source of joy is to see this wonderful tool being equally enjoyed by fellow faculty members and their students with an org account to make this happen. And so I still had brain energy to come up with a proposal. Sometimes I wonder, why do I even have to be the one doing the proposal? Or who am I even having no techie backround?Isn't that up to our Techsupport folks?...but ME a satisfied customer and ME happy teacher and ME impatient ME. Might as well do this.
As always, I take it upon myself not to simply take things sitting down. I am one impatient person whose patience is being tested in a bigger institution which I committed myself to. I managed to swing neat ideas here and there borne out my capacity to dream dreams and pick up from online and offline exchanges with students. My prior and initial involvements with the UPOU Community Site enabled me to develop a sense of community with students and a few young faculty members who share a common connection with the UP identity. Negotiating for approval of activities wasn't so hard to do, and so all these happened with the help of the UPOU community members: UPOU Lantern Parade, Fellowship and Orientation, Sem Enders, Elections for the Student Regent, Biomodd Art Installation at PIGGFEX, which I consider peripherals and extra-curricular. I mean, it didn't require major UPOU funding to start with, hence it wasn't hard to get the nod of the Deans and Vice Chancellor.
But everytime I am placed in such a situation to bring matters up to my bosses, I see it as a self test: How long can Aleta keep herself focused and be tolerant of people to get the things she needs/wants for her program? I'm used to working with small organizations wherein in 1 or 2 meetings, we get to decide on things and give it a GO. We experience the fruits of our labor=immediate gratification. In UPOU, the experience has been quite different. Initial meetings, more meetings, other agenda overlaps with prior agenda before WHAM, it happens. By that time, the WHAM doesn't come as YEHEY or WOOOHOOO, and instead it goes=haaaay salamat OR Good riddance... hhwhaat a relief and thank God that was over.
And so this Proposal for WizIQ I consider very much a test and task which started months ago. To be able to get people to listen, I had to go through these, most of which weren't originally planned but opportunities I picked up on to get here:
1) April-May >Experiment with labrats: I found an ally among a few students and few co-facs (Sol and husbandry) who think that it would be good to have this tool as an add on to their experiences over Moodle
2) June>Join a class in IT4All to see myself in an online learner-mode in order improve my teaching skills alongside use of Moodle + WizIQ
3) June&July. Share a bit during Faculty Moodle Workshop 1 and I found an ally: Bobby, a user of WizIQ, BigBlueButton and Academiacs
4) June-Aug> Faculty Research Grant: where I found theory-concept of Teaching Presence as an area for research mostly in asynchrononous platforms, hence a neat idea to see how this happens in synchronous platforms; I had a panel of 5-6 reviewers and convinced them that this case study among WizIQ exemplary teachers is worth doing vs a case study of UPOU teachers at WizIQ as there has yet to be concrete data for me to work on. We dont even have a WizIQ plugin yet for our course sites.
5) August>Presentation during the Fac Congress: to have others see and enjoy Moodle+Google+WizIQ with me
6) October> 2 Conference presentations: to let the higher ups see the branding of my paper as grants for presentation have our Deans and VC's as signatories
7) Sept-Oct> Email bugger me + attendance in meetings: to stay connected with Bobby and Al, professors who have done research in other tools=my allies=signatories to my proposal; also to offer demo sessions with fellow facs interested in learning about WizIQ=Kat, Mam Jossie and Mam Caring, Registrar Bagarinao, Dean Jhun Buot, and drummer boy Luna of FMDS.
8) November> Brief WizIQ demo stint during Fac Moodle Workshop 2; await plug ins to be done once UPOU has migrated to Moodle 1.9
And so, this 2nd week of November is like the coming together of forces to finally finish and submit the WizIQ org account proposal and get the nod from the higher ups. Looking back, this was a combination of groundworking and lobbying, the Aleta kind, again to get what I want which is even something I want NOT for myself (as I do have my precious premium solo account I'm still bent on keeping) but for fellow teachers whom I know will make good use of this tool. I was equally putting UPOU to a test: how will government run institution in a 3rd World country like org-systems view or respond to bottom-up recommendations. That has yet to be seen once the proposal is submitted.
BUT a roadblock I didn't expect was WizIQ itself. This ultimately breaks my honeymoon stage with WizIQ folks. Here I was almost done with a 2 page proposal and waiting for attachments to come from WizIQ. There has to be something more official coming from WizIQ in terms of concrete advantages (over other vc tools), pricing and plans packaged for easy viewing and comparison so that the target and ideal pricing+plan will come out practical, reasonable and justifiable in terms of costs. So I emailed key folks in academic and sales team.
For the first time, emails weren't returning with concrete answers and actions. I emailed academics@wiziq.com to inquire about WizIQ vs Open Meeting and BigBlue Button. I got a brief answer via chat which was workable/acceptable. Thanks to Mr Sarkar that even Jai emailed me this superneat Powerpoint which I easily attached as handout to my proposal. Effort from their end was obvious and consistent to their image of WizIQ Support=Happy to Help.
The Sales however were consistent to who they were since Day 1. Day 1=sometime summer or June I received 1 email, then later on 1 call out of nowhere from some sales person without good prior intros, offering a discount of some sort. Then from colleagues Bobby and Al, I've been hearing comments about how sales can be such a bugger. After an email to VP Chris of WizIQ, I finally got 1person to follow me through=Shravi. She is one professional WizIQ gal. But then this last week, when I needed her (and she was on leave), enter Mr Pankaj Kumar. He seemed eager and at some point I find overfriendly.That was fine as long as he gets me what I need and puts into writing the meat of our conversation--a simple attachment in a format which I deem to be strategic in getting the GO signal. I took notice of his profile pic and even told him to look professional or professor like in case he would need to answer questions from a panel of Deans and VC's should they ask for it and do this over Skype. Then enter 2 more emails, from sales folks who seem to be not in the loop of my exchanges with Shravi nor Pankaj. I sensed that they are not aware of what I needed at that crucial time. I got invites via Skype and was starting to doubt these guys. Besides a wiziq.com attached to their nicknames, there was nothing else identifiable with WizIQ. I googled them and tried to find a decent profile over at WizIQ. Clearly they are who they are: merely sales folks and they hardly come across as users of the product they are selling. Hence all they can pull were discounts and in a manner to convince me to commit without even knowing that I'm not the one to be convinced to pay. It wasn't clear to them that they are dealing with a govt run organization with decision makers who will put the stamp of approval based on clear justifications for amount of money to be spent.
In anything, I set deadlines of 'letting go". So finally I did let go...I submitted my proposal to 2 Deans, got 2 additional signatories for extra backing, an attachment from Jai and I simply printed out what was in their website of plans and pricing. Perhaps from the side of WizIQ sales, they already did what they could. Perhaps this is my battle alone and not theirs to wage. But in my letting go, I just had to speak up. I was hesitant because the last thing I wanted was to come out like some demanding customer. But I had to say my piece to one consistent and reliable person to get a message across. I sent an email which was forwarded to key individuals at sales. I got three apologies in one day. I have renewed trust in folks who know to acknowledge their shortcomings for that is the way to go forward. They could have merely viewed me as some nobody from Southeast Asia or ignored me completely. But thanks to Faisal, and Sai, I still see sincerity in their emails. You Indians still amaze me.
These days when we are very much connected through the internet and the tools of technology, that everything and everyone seems to be accessible, that we have become not only consumers of info/content delivered online but also seekers of what is true and good out there. We seek credibility, constantly establish honesty and trust, test it, and in doing so evolve our online identities as that is the only face we have to show of ourselves in place of real time F2F interactions. It is easy to judge, to pretend, simulate and yet there are innate and tested ways to judge character and credibility through online profiles+ pics, signature lines, skype ID, online language use, which are all attached to online identities=real people who represent products, communities and nationalities. So to the sales team and the good folks I've met online, wear your WizIQ pic badge of honor. I suggest go for consistency-- that you are a good team to have which other VC tools have yet to make for themselves. Match these offline actions with concrete steps to tweak your online image to come across as a solid, united front, for your name and country deserve it.
Now, I ask myself, why does this even matter at all. To a member such as I, WizIQ ain't a vacuum cleaner nor a pair of shoes. It is an educational product, whose users are real people in the serious business of education. In a poor country like mine, where folks are already in doubt of winning battles in corrupt government agencies, this small step to have WizIQ approved, and if so, is a small step/battle won in the area of innovations in online teaching=real classes happening online. I see India, through DigitalLearning Online Newsletter, to be getting there and arriving with all the government support for IT and education. I am not sure even if that's just an online image but check out profiles of educational backgrounds and loaded IT courses of Indian folks, plus all the conference listings in India when you google search+that TIME feature article of Indian CEO's--they are a country geared to succeed in their own way.
Then, I see my country not even being able to win cases against corrupt leaders who refuse to see their faults, committing similar acts and I ask, how can we even start to reform the education sector. Recently, I see rays of hope in the recent talks for a move to adapt a K-12 system, and the mushrooming of Open HS in Philippines. But I still ask, do they have all the right tools, training and the right framework+perspective to make it succeed? What is the role o f my Open University in all these? And as a group of online teachers in UPOU, a national university, we need to start creating models of good and effective online teaching. It all starts with experiments in our online classrooms. This is where WizIQ comes in as a platform , that when used with Moodle and other tools, become the vehicles to deliver good online classes.
That is how much it matters.
-prepare course sites and build on these for this semester's opening
-formulate course proposals for program revision in our MAEd Social Studies Education
-committee work to open a new BDegree program
In the midst of work, I'm trying to insert time to do my online course to learn Moodle admin=M4TA while waiting for some ACP Office at Singapore to finally finish all site-content migration to UPOU MyPortal/Moodle 1.9 so I will know the state of plug-ins to finally see WizIQ integration in our online classes. My source of joy is to see this wonderful tool being equally enjoyed by fellow faculty members and their students with an org account to make this happen. And so I still had brain energy to come up with a proposal. Sometimes I wonder, why do I even have to be the one doing the proposal? Or who am I even having no techie backround?Isn't that up to our Techsupport folks?...but ME a satisfied customer and ME happy teacher and ME impatient ME. Might as well do this.
As always, I take it upon myself not to simply take things sitting down. I am one impatient person whose patience is being tested in a bigger institution which I committed myself to. I managed to swing neat ideas here and there borne out my capacity to dream dreams and pick up from online and offline exchanges with students. My prior and initial involvements with the UPOU Community Site enabled me to develop a sense of community with students and a few young faculty members who share a common connection with the UP identity. Negotiating for approval of activities wasn't so hard to do, and so all these happened with the help of the UPOU community members: UPOU Lantern Parade, Fellowship and Orientation, Sem Enders, Elections for the Student Regent, Biomodd Art Installation at PIGGFEX, which I consider peripherals and extra-curricular. I mean, it didn't require major UPOU funding to start with, hence it wasn't hard to get the nod of the Deans and Vice Chancellor.
But everytime I am placed in such a situation to bring matters up to my bosses, I see it as a self test: How long can Aleta keep herself focused and be tolerant of people to get the things she needs/wants for her program? I'm used to working with small organizations wherein in 1 or 2 meetings, we get to decide on things and give it a GO. We experience the fruits of our labor=immediate gratification. In UPOU, the experience has been quite different. Initial meetings, more meetings, other agenda overlaps with prior agenda before WHAM, it happens. By that time, the WHAM doesn't come as YEHEY or WOOOHOOO, and instead it goes=haaaay salamat OR Good riddance... hhwhaat a relief and thank God that was over.
And so this Proposal for WizIQ I consider very much a test and task which started months ago. To be able to get people to listen, I had to go through these, most of which weren't originally planned but opportunities I picked up on to get here:
1) April-May >Experiment with labrats: I found an ally among a few students and few co-facs (Sol and husbandry) who think that it would be good to have this tool as an add on to their experiences over Moodle
2) June>Join a class in IT4All to see myself in an online learner-mode in order improve my teaching skills alongside use of Moodle + WizIQ
3) June&July. Share a bit during Faculty Moodle Workshop 1 and I found an ally: Bobby, a user of WizIQ, BigBlueButton and Academiacs
4) June-Aug> Faculty Research Grant: where I found theory-concept of Teaching Presence as an area for research mostly in asynchrononous platforms, hence a neat idea to see how this happens in synchronous platforms; I had a panel of 5-6 reviewers and convinced them that this case study among WizIQ exemplary teachers is worth doing vs a case study of UPOU teachers at WizIQ as there has yet to be concrete data for me to work on. We dont even have a WizIQ plugin yet for our course sites.
5) August>Presentation during the Fac Congress: to have others see and enjoy Moodle+Google+WizIQ with me
6) October> 2 Conference presentations: to let the higher ups see the branding of my paper as grants for presentation have our Deans and VC's as signatories
7) Sept-Oct> Email bugger me + attendance in meetings: to stay connected with Bobby and Al, professors who have done research in other tools=my allies=signatories to my proposal; also to offer demo sessions with fellow facs interested in learning about WizIQ=Kat, Mam Jossie and Mam Caring, Registrar Bagarinao, Dean Jhun Buot, and drummer boy Luna of FMDS.
8) November> Brief WizIQ demo stint during Fac Moodle Workshop 2; await plug ins to be done once UPOU has migrated to Moodle 1.9
And so, this 2nd week of November is like the coming together of forces to finally finish and submit the WizIQ org account proposal and get the nod from the higher ups. Looking back, this was a combination of groundworking and lobbying, the Aleta kind, again to get what I want which is even something I want NOT for myself (as I do have my precious premium solo account I'm still bent on keeping) but for fellow teachers whom I know will make good use of this tool. I was equally putting UPOU to a test: how will government run institution in a 3rd World country like org-systems view or respond to bottom-up recommendations. That has yet to be seen once the proposal is submitted.
BUT a roadblock I didn't expect was WizIQ itself. This ultimately breaks my honeymoon stage with WizIQ folks. Here I was almost done with a 2 page proposal and waiting for attachments to come from WizIQ. There has to be something more official coming from WizIQ in terms of concrete advantages (over other vc tools), pricing and plans packaged for easy viewing and comparison so that the target and ideal pricing+plan will come out practical, reasonable and justifiable in terms of costs. So I emailed key folks in academic and sales team.
For the first time, emails weren't returning with concrete answers and actions. I emailed academics@wiziq.com to inquire about WizIQ vs Open Meeting and BigBlue Button. I got a brief answer via chat which was workable/acceptable. Thanks to Mr Sarkar that even Jai emailed me this superneat Powerpoint which I easily attached as handout to my proposal. Effort from their end was obvious and consistent to their image of WizIQ Support=Happy to Help.
The Sales however were consistent to who they were since Day 1. Day 1=sometime summer or June I received 1 email, then later on 1 call out of nowhere from some sales person without good prior intros, offering a discount of some sort. Then from colleagues Bobby and Al, I've been hearing comments about how sales can be such a bugger. After an email to VP Chris of WizIQ, I finally got 1person to follow me through=Shravi. She is one professional WizIQ gal. But then this last week, when I needed her (and she was on leave), enter Mr Pankaj Kumar. He seemed eager and at some point I find overfriendly.That was fine as long as he gets me what I need and puts into writing the meat of our conversation--a simple attachment in a format which I deem to be strategic in getting the GO signal. I took notice of his profile pic and even told him to look professional or professor like in case he would need to answer questions from a panel of Deans and VC's should they ask for it and do this over Skype. Then enter 2 more emails, from sales folks who seem to be not in the loop of my exchanges with Shravi nor Pankaj. I sensed that they are not aware of what I needed at that crucial time. I got invites via Skype and was starting to doubt these guys. Besides a wiziq.com attached to their nicknames, there was nothing else identifiable with WizIQ. I googled them and tried to find a decent profile over at WizIQ. Clearly they are who they are: merely sales folks and they hardly come across as users of the product they are selling. Hence all they can pull were discounts and in a manner to convince me to commit without even knowing that I'm not the one to be convinced to pay. It wasn't clear to them that they are dealing with a govt run organization with decision makers who will put the stamp of approval based on clear justifications for amount of money to be spent.
In anything, I set deadlines of 'letting go". So finally I did let go...I submitted my proposal to 2 Deans, got 2 additional signatories for extra backing, an attachment from Jai and I simply printed out what was in their website of plans and pricing. Perhaps from the side of WizIQ sales, they already did what they could. Perhaps this is my battle alone and not theirs to wage. But in my letting go, I just had to speak up. I was hesitant because the last thing I wanted was to come out like some demanding customer. But I had to say my piece to one consistent and reliable person to get a message across. I sent an email which was forwarded to key individuals at sales. I got three apologies in one day. I have renewed trust in folks who know to acknowledge their shortcomings for that is the way to go forward. They could have merely viewed me as some nobody from Southeast Asia or ignored me completely. But thanks to Faisal, and Sai, I still see sincerity in their emails. You Indians still amaze me.
These days when we are very much connected through the internet and the tools of technology, that everything and everyone seems to be accessible, that we have become not only consumers of info/content delivered online but also seekers of what is true and good out there. We seek credibility, constantly establish honesty and trust, test it, and in doing so evolve our online identities as that is the only face we have to show of ourselves in place of real time F2F interactions. It is easy to judge, to pretend, simulate and yet there are innate and tested ways to judge character and credibility through online profiles+ pics, signature lines, skype ID, online language use, which are all attached to online identities=real people who represent products, communities and nationalities. So to the sales team and the good folks I've met online, wear your WizIQ pic badge of honor. I suggest go for consistency-- that you are a good team to have which other VC tools have yet to make for themselves. Match these offline actions with concrete steps to tweak your online image to come across as a solid, united front, for your name and country deserve it.
Now, I ask myself, why does this even matter at all. To a member such as I, WizIQ ain't a vacuum cleaner nor a pair of shoes. It is an educational product, whose users are real people in the serious business of education. In a poor country like mine, where folks are already in doubt of winning battles in corrupt government agencies, this small step to have WizIQ approved, and if so, is a small step/battle won in the area of innovations in online teaching=real classes happening online. I see India, through DigitalLearning Online Newsletter, to be getting there and arriving with all the government support for IT and education. I am not sure even if that's just an online image but check out profiles of educational backgrounds and loaded IT courses of Indian folks, plus all the conference listings in India when you google search+that TIME feature article of Indian CEO's--they are a country geared to succeed in their own way.
Then, I see my country not even being able to win cases against corrupt leaders who refuse to see their faults, committing similar acts and I ask, how can we even start to reform the education sector. Recently, I see rays of hope in the recent talks for a move to adapt a K-12 system, and the mushrooming of Open HS in Philippines. But I still ask, do they have all the right tools, training and the right framework+perspective to make it succeed? What is the role o f my Open University in all these? And as a group of online teachers in UPOU, a national university, we need to start creating models of good and effective online teaching. It all starts with experiments in our online classrooms. This is where WizIQ comes in as a platform , that when used with Moodle and other tools, become the vehicles to deliver good online classes.
That is how much it matters.
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