HRMIS is giving me problems tonight and so I've decided to blog instead. Felt a little sad today when a teacher whom I only got to know in one event where I was the invited speaker, contacted me and asked for a telephone interview. She is doing her Masters Degree and would like to find out more about a module I co-wrote for ElTC some time back. Mind you this isn't the first time I had been contacted by some teacher or researcher and it gets a little too much sometimes. I refused politely but she had the audacity to ask me for another name! Don't get me wrong - I love to help anyone but I have been taken for granted too many a times! I have lost count of how many such incidents.
On one occasion, a lady (whom I'm not acquainted with) emailed me and requested for a module which I immediately sent but goodness gracious me...not even a word of 'thank you'. It is so hard to say thank you for a favour done. On another occasion, a young teacher (whom I have not heard from for a very very long time) suddenly emailed and asked for materials to be emailed back to her. I would think twice about asking for materials from others, even from close friends. Even close friends may not want to share things with you sometimes and it's entirely their right. O.k. fair enough, I've asked from some people I know but sometimes we exchanged something in return and sometimes they never sent me anything despite their promise. Please! Can we get rid of this bad habit of wanting freebies? People spend a lot of time and effort to write/produce/create/compile/source for materials and you can't just walk in and say you want this and that! Let's be contributors and not users. Don't mean to offend anyone but if you were in my shoes, you would understand exactly how I feel.
Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH