Our feature interview this week is with the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science at AU, Dr. Kinshuk. Dr. Kinshuk works out of the Computing Sciences department, juggling his duties as Dean with publishing research papers and teaching Comp 695. Read how for him, the why of the teaching is as important as the content itself, and, more importantly, see how he’d like to develop AU’s education so that you can get feed-back in real time as to how you’re doing on your courses.

Now, if you’re like me, such an idea probably scares the dickens out of you. After all, I’ve found that you can complete most AU courses in the span of three weeks. But the way that I’ve found that out is by procrastinating until the last three weeks before getting anything done. While it might seem that having instant feedback would help that situation, in reality, part of what makes me procrastinate is the guilt I feel for having procrastinated. So rather than confront the difficult feelings and task ahead, I put it off even further. Knowing that the system would be giving me immediate feedback on how far behind I’d fallen would probably just compound the whole situation.

Of course, eventually I’m so far behind that there’s no choice left but to just grit my teeth and plow through the entire course. It’s not a method of studies I’d recommend to anyone, as I’m always aware of how many opportunities I’ve missed not just to finish the course, but to actually learn. On the bright side, I am getting better.

But when it comes to the idea of not doing things in a timely fashion, writer Philip Kirkbride this week takes a look at the costs that this AUSU Council has and will incur by having not been following their policies, or by, like me, putting off unpleasant actions until they no longer have the choice. Since I already said my piece of what I think about the upcoming AUSU voting extravaganza, I’ll not repeat that all here, but take a look at “The Cost of Incompetence?” and see if you agree with Philip’s assessment. If you do, then you should probably let AUSU know before they make their final decision on what’s happening.

Also this week, Barb Lehtiniemi takes another look at how students who are budding writers can get away from it all to concentrate on their craft, this time concentrating on the opportunities for those of us who haven’t already been published. Deanna Roney deals with some of the difficulties of small town living, and Primal Numbers looks at an app that does nothing but record everything you’re doing, and why on earth you’d want to have such a thing running.

We also have our selection of music and film reviews, artist interviews, advice for writing or life in general, plus Hazel Anaka gives us a way that the downtime we spend on the road can be converted to useful learning time. Or it would be if she could convert her cassettes.

So, until you head out on the road, enjoy the read!