The End Is the Beginning

From the window of my study I see a father and son in tribal costumes settle a goat and two kids into the back of a pickup truck. The sonic eruption of the morning call to prayer has long died down, but since it is Thursday, and hence the beginning of the weekend, the road running through the Al-Khalew oasis that gives my neighbourhood its name is still quiet.

My past four years in Oman have been the most challenging time of my adult life, and yet I am painfully aware what a unique world I have experienced here. Unique, not only because of the nation’s strong traditions, but also because rapid economic development is changing the physical and social landscape. Whatever the difficulties of living and working at the friction point between ancient ways and modern means, I have been blessed to share this snapshot of a society in evolution. This is one of the things that makes teaching English abroad a persistently adventurous mission.

The last day at work was simultaneously deeply emotional and profoundly anticlimactic. So much so that after an hour of trying to write about it, I eventually gave up. With so many colleagues and students to whom I am so deeply indebted, no goodbye does justice to a long-standing professional relationship. Thanks to the multitude of online networking facilities, it is possible to keep in touch with these people who have been my surrogate family for so long. But of course, it will never be never quite the same.

The emotional load of leaving my job and home of four years aside, there remain several mountains to be moved in the coming month. Most urgently, an assignment for the final taught module of my MA remains. The course is Language Learning through Information Communications Technologies (ICT), the most inspired and inspiring I have taken yet. An explosive project is brewing at the back of my mind, but with the load of previous modules, and of course wrapping up and handing over my job, I haven’t quite made it concrete yet. With the deadline on 30 June, and my flight out of Oman at 5 AM the next day, things will have to happen very quickly.

In addition, there are the small matters of securing a decent new job with Critical Study-friendly hours and reasonable pay in a reasonably free society, tying up all logistics here in Oman, packing my home into two suitcases and preparing for my month in Europe. Though technically unemployed, I am certainly not under-occupied.

It will be a demanding month, but I am extremely positive about the open possibilities it offers. It feels extremely good to be a free agent again, if only for the ninety days until my next job begins. Just ninety days, but a great deal hangs in the balance.

After all, one of the perks of being a gypsy is licence to reinvent yourself and your life around the next corner. The end of one incarnation is the beginning of another.

Though the goat scene this morning was to far to capture clearly on film, another goat scene is attached. These goats were roaming outside the local supermarket here in Rustaq.

OMANTEL BLOCKS ACADEMIC RESEARCH WEBSITE GOOGLE SCHOLAR

The importance of education in Oman's development is a matter of which the nation is aware at all levels. As an educator and researcher who has been based here for several years, I am acutely aware of the value access to quality information has for Omani students. Due to the dearth of academic books and libraries in the country, the tertiary education sector is largely dependent on the Internet in this respect. While search engines such as Google offer general information, academic research is enabled far more effectively by the research-specific Google Scholar website (http://scholar.google.com/schp).

To my great shock I have discovered that this website - perhaps one of the most vital to research development in this emerging nation - has been blocked by Omantel for the past week (http://www.omantel.net.om/new5.html?category=Pornography). Although I have emailed the company for a reversal of the decision, there has been no response as yet, and five calls to the company's internet helpline have delivered no satisfactory explanation.

The implications of disabling one of the most powerful research tools available - and one of the few available in Oman - send shivers down the spine of any academic community this nation may aspire to. While the World Wide Web teems with morally dubious potential, this is not usually the concern of dessicated academics such as ourselves.

Information, of course, is a dangerous thing. However, we have to weigh that up against the greater danger of the lack of information. Yet the greatest peril of all is the lack of wisdom to select and use information wisely. That is the peril that actions such as these - justifiably - inspire.

Finally contacted all the big hitters at the helm of our MA program, both at Leeds and the local host college. My arguments have been purged of all emotion and distilled to pure and- I hope- compelling- reason. Since it is now 2:17 AM I just hope my judgement can be trusted. Here it is.

I deeply appreciate the fact that you have listened, and continue to listen despite your many other commitments. Indeed, my respect for the department staff continues to grow as I discover more about instructors' thought in books, articles and excavations of the VLE. Your own feedback has been most helpful, and the article by Coleman which you provided on my request (email of 2/1/2008) illuminated "Society and the Language Classroom" (under Coleman's editorship) beautifully. The digital resources offered by the Leeds University website, library and staff are phenomenal and abundant beyond necessity. The resourcefulness and mutual support of co-students are also of inestimable value.

So why am I making such a fuss? I am privileged to have obtained plenty of resources (although several books on our reading list are unavailable) and access to a fast internet connection. My reading is done and my writing has begun. While I deeply appreciate all the kind offers made, I must emphasise that this is not about me. (If it were, I would be silently soldiering away at my assignment armed with what resources I could muster.) The stakes are far higher than that, as I will proceed to explain.

A more complete set of textbooks from the reading list should be supplied to this group at Majan College Library for four compelling reasons which affect all stakeholders.

The first reason why students need access to the recommended books is the structure of the course itself. While other books, journal articles and online resources are invaluable in deepening and updating students' understanding of the core module material, the foundation stones are found in the central collection of textbooks which underpin the compilation of the course. According to the MA TESOL (Oman) handbook (p.31), the course is "relatively lightly taught" and "assumes... a lot of... independent reading." Understanding the fundamentals of the course, then, depends on independent reading of the books that receive cursory mention in lectures. Furthermore, the vital place of the core texts is reflected in the taught postgraduate assessment criteria listed in the handbook (p.35). Both the "Coverage" and "Support" sections refer to "coverage of major sources". This implies the foundational role of "major sources", which may admittedly lie beyond the scope of the recommended readings, but are likely to include at least a viewing of these texts. In short, books on the recommended reading list appear to play a central part, both in the learning and the assessment process. These books are, therefore, vital if students are to understand and produce assignments that do this excellent programme and its tutors justice.

The second is the outcome of this programme. Oman's education system is in serious need of teaching professionals who not only personally identify with the nation but also have deepened, broadened expertise in their field. If this country is to benefit from the postgraduate education of the Omani and other educators in this course, it is imperative that every possible means for the enrichment of their learning be provided. Recommended textbooks are the keystone: a large chunk of it is missing.

The third argument involves the cost of tuition in this course. It struck me that a full-time foreign student at the University of Leeds pays GBP 9700 for a spectrum of modules and access to the multitude of facilities, academic and otherwise, offered by the university. Students in this course have paid the equivalent of GBP 9000 each. The costs of flying faculty, teaching materials and administration considered, the total earnings from 21 students (over GBP 180 000) surely do justify a more complete collection of books from each module's reading list.

Finally, and significantly to every one of us, is the matter of reputation. As has been pointed out, high standards are the pride of both Leeds University and Majan University College. I believe this also holds true for every student in this course, and for the country that is so graciously hosting us. As educators, the students in this course have a significant and lasting effect on our environment. Like pebbles flung into water, our work inevitably creates ever-expanding ripples in our classrooms, organisations, communities and society at large. The quality of these effects will reflect on our value as professionals, but also on the establishments that formed us professionally. The more opportunities we receive to learn, thoroughly, deeply and broadly, the better we are able to represent you.

To sum up, the structure of the course, the societal requirements of future graduates, the expectations set by tuition fees and the reputation of all the stakeholders demand the provision of a more complete set of textbooks to the MA TESOL (Oman) students. The long and the short of it is that with more complete provision of the recommended textbooks, we all win. That, I believe, is worth making a fuss for, and I thank all the staff at both establishments who have patiently heeded my call. I hope I have convinced you that it is a call worth heeding, not on behalf of one rabble rouser, but on behalf of every student, instructor and administrator involved in this promising endeavour.