Born and (mostly) raised in Calgary, Karl has been taking courses on and off at AU since 1999. At one point, he changed his major from Computing Science to Computing Science because the new program requirements fit what he’d already taken better. Since then, he switched to English and graduated (w/Great Distinction he likes to add) proving along the way that it is entirely possible to complete an entire AU course within a three week period. If only he had done this at the beginning of the course instead of in the last extension.
This is not something he advises unless you are desperate, masochistic, or, ideally, both.
He is currently the managing editor of The Voice Magazine, where he tries to put his education to use helping other students as they provide content for The Voice
Athabasca University behind the Times Once again, it seems Athabasca University (AU), supposedly the premiere home of distance education, is caught having to play catch-up in the very field it supposedly specializes in. Early in December, the provincial government of Alberta announced that NAIT was training welder and electrician apprentices through videoconferencing — something that… Read more »
Elections! So, as expected, the opposition party’s motion of non-confidence came up in Parliament. The opposition parties all voted in favour. The next general election has been scheduled for January 23, 2006, not quite a year and a half after the last election. Predictions abound, with the idea of another Liberal minority being the most… Read more »
Alberta Investing in the Future – Forgetting the Now? The Alberta government recently announced another 750 million dollars will be going into the “Access to the Future Fund” (Alberta Dept. of Advanced Education, 2005). This fund will be fully funded when it reaches a total of three billion dollars, and produce 135 million dollars annually… Read more »
The Whole Gomery Thing In a nutshell, in case you haven’t been following the news, here’s the whole thing on the Liberal scandal and Judge Gomery’s report. Back in 1995, Quebec was going to hold a referendum on whether they should separate or not. Naturally, the federal Liberal’s didn’t take too kindly to the idea,… Read more »
Obesity in Sight Statistics Canada released a report recently detailing some of the changes in the average Canadian diet (Statistics Canada, 2005). The results are not encouraging. Among the trends that have been noted is that we’re using fewer fresh vegetables and more fats. It might not be all bad however, because even though vegetables… Read more »
Going Too Far? I’m not a smoking advocate. The costs of it, both to individuals and the public, are simply too great to ignore. It’s a bad habit and I have absolutely no sympathy if the tobacco producing companies are driven out of business. That said, with British Columbia recently having ruled that it’s legal… Read more »
Alberta Sends Hunters after CWD Infected Deer Two more cases of wild deer have been found to be infected with Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, near the Saskatchewan border (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200510/18840C10A54A7-951A-46E4-82DEF28FAAF1FC5E.html). CWD is a type of disease in the same line as BSE or Mad Cow Disease, although the Alberta government is very strongly trying to… Read more »
Recognizing International Education’s Importance The Alberta minister for Advanced Education, David Hancock, was recently in Mexico promotion post-secondary learning opportunities for the people of that country. Along with 12 representatives from Alberta’s post-secondary institutions, Mr. Hancock also opened a new international education office. (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200509/188126BFB4884-7428-498D-BAA58FE09AEE85D2.html) I’m hoping this suggests a shift in the typical Alberta government… Read more »
CATCHING ON IN ONTARIO The provincial government in Ontario seems to be catching on that education for the neediest is a good thing, and actually recognizing that a post-secondary education today is very different from the days when the politicians attended (Ontario, 2005). Changes to the Ontario Student Finance program will see the eligibility requirements… Read more »
COLLEGES GETTING BOOSTS FOR BUILDINGS Last week in Alberta, the Advanced Education Minister, David Hancock, announced (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200509/18718296B07A9-8204-47BD-B93AA830D972E6A2.html) that the provincial government would be investing 29 million dollars into Red Deer College to expand its facilities for trades training. At about the same time, another 8 million dollars were announced (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200509/1872230A2F113-9938-4A1A-84716D6D89D86B7F.html) to go to Lakeland College… Read more »