My name is Nidal Khalifeh. Born in Amman – Jordan with dual citizenship (Jordanian / Canadian). I studied at Terra Sancta College Amman – Jordan, until I graduated from high school. I later traveled to Montreal to study Management Information Systems major at McGill University. After graduation in 2004 I went back to Jordan to help with the family business. My father owned a trading company (www.aktco.com) that supplies the local market with stationery & office products and a factory (www.kalboard.com) that manufactures educational products such as; white writing boards, flipcharts, bulletin boards…etc. I worked at the factory for 1 year then moved to manage AKTCO after my father has decided to close it down. I convinced my father that AKTCO deserves a second chance and I will take on the challenge of making it a success.

AKTCO shaped my managerial skills. I took several courses in management and marketing to gain confident in running the business. I then started a distance/hybrid masters program at Durham University for 2 years. The program was very useful. I benefited from this program from both; my peers, who are experience managers in Jordan and the Durham professors who came to Jordan each two months to instruct the program.

AKTCO now no longer supply stationery or office supply. AKTCO is an audio visual and IT solution provider for the educational sector. AKTCO keeps me up-to-date with all the new technologies that serve the educational sector.

In 2008 our factory sales started being effected by market demand moving towards interactive whiteboards rather than regular whiteboards. I realized that something needs to be done to save the factory. I spent two years working on a prototype of an interactive board that blends both the regular whiteboard feature “dry-erase surface” and the touch capability of the interactive boards in the market. Late 2009 I managed to released the first version. Today the factory reached 10,000 interactive boards of sales in the region.

In 2011 I realized that student engagement is not optimum with interactive whiteboards. The reason is that there is only one interactive board per 25+ students. Tablets and smartphones were becoming popular. I started to build a software to increase students’ engagement inside and outside the classroom. I spent 1 year building a software called “Kalboard360”. Kalboard360 is a software that runs on the cloud and on tablets.

Throughout the software development phase, I realized that I need to understand teachers’ expectations more and to understand the learning/teaching process more. I signed up to the UBC maters program to get closer to teachers and to see for myself who do they expect from technology. I was thrilled to become part of such a devoted & honest society. I continue to learn form my peers and my instructors’ day after day what educators expect from technology.

Constructivism methodology/theory/approach is very interesting. It is even more interesting how little we understand how our brain works and how learning occurs. Moreover, it is amazing how we learn only when we are interested and we can only be interested if we learn. Theories about how people do not want to do authentic learning (deep learning) this is why some people rather believe in myths even if the myth was scientifically dismissed in front of their eyes. Our brain is very interesting and very smart. It is very affected by the environment and excel or decline according to it.

Kalboard360 did not sell as expected simply because the LMS industry is taught and decision making per client may take up-to 12 months. The most frustrating part is that due to the structure of LMSs (school management controls the system), teachers do not use the system properly and end-up being over controlled by the school.

In 2015 I pivoted the software to a bottom-up approach giving the teacher a free software to use and later if the school is interested then comes the enterprise version. This is a Dropbox business model. This makes it easier to try and to scale. It also allows us to get genuine feedback for the people who matter the most in the educational process “the teachers”.

My goal of the MET program is to build a solid understanding of learning and its processes and also to become more aware of how technology can improve learning. I wish to understand what educators find most important in a learning management system. What do they expect from it? How can an LMS play a role inside a classroom (both virtual or physical space)?

In order to accomplish this role, I need to engage more with my peers in discussions. I also need to be an active listener during my group assignments. I also need to try different solutions recommended by my peers in order to build hands-on experience.