Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 42 seconds
True story, with a few facts modified slightly
Conversations with person who knows me well, but teaches at another institution in Egypt, let’s call them, person 1.
First week of closure of universities.
Person 1: Maha, you’re an expert in eLearning, you should be helping the country through this!
Me: I would love to, if they asked me. It’s not hard to find me. They know who and where I am. But do you realize how much time it’s taking me to just support my own institution as it is? I can do like webinars or workshops, but the context is different and the resources are different, so I may not be able to meet all their needs.
Person 1: you should do more to help people…
Me: …..
(thinking: I am always amazed by how ppl who know me but don’t work directly with me don’t realize that pretty much 90% of my time is spent in helping people in some way or another)
2 weeks later. Person 1 is being asked to create instructional videos. Is talking to me about it, showing me some really poor quality ones a colleague had done. I start to offer different tools and tips on producing good instructional videos, listing free tools.
Person 1: Stop! I will discover this on my own. I want to play around! I can manage
Me: But…
Person 1: I don’t want to know. Let me try and then if it doesn’t work, I’ll ask you.
Me (thinking): I am all for experiential learning, but didn’t that person just say the government should benefit from my eLearning expertise? But they just decided they can manage on their own. And then… in this micro situation, this person won’t even listen to different options. They can still try each one, but they won’t even listen. Same person who thinks people in bigger places who don’t know me should listen to me on a strategic level, won’t even listen to me on a tactical level.
Shaking my head at
A. How the micro mimics the macro
B. The hypocrisy of it all
♥️