Another customer service rant

I’m midway through a course with (name of international online university based in Seattle deleted to avoid lawsuits) just now and I’ve been unable to gain access to my university-provided e-mail for about a week. Three contacts later, no joy. The guy on the help desk had to send it in for “troubleshooting.” Isn’t troubleshooting within the realm of tasks the help desk person should be able to accomplish? I’m just sayin’.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of education. The Khan Academy, MIT-x, and even the Brand X organization with which I’m currently, unfortunately enmeshed have made me think a lot about how we provide stellar education and training, where and when needed.

There are a lot of serious minds working on this but seemingly, none of them work for the “University” to which I tendered a couple grand in return for which they’re utterly failing to provide me with anything approaching a satisfactory learning experience.

I’m not bitter.

Okay, so yes I am. The big rub is that I really love both teaching and learning and I won’t have that many college-level courses in my future so I’d like to make each one count. I love going to school and it’s frustrating to have the experience ruined by technical difficulties that should be among their core strengths, being online providers and all.

Let me just say – and I mean this in the most profound sense – wa-a-a-a-a-ah!