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
The Priorities of Privatization Albertans will see a nice rebate on their gas bills over the next month or so as the provincial government’s rebate program (http://www.gov.ab.ca/home/Index.cfm?Page=559) has kicked into gear. What this means is that the price of gas rose to over $5.50/GJ. In fact, it soared to over $7.50/GJ, and so rebates of… Read more »
On March 12, 2003 [v11 i11], Athabasca University was about to decide on a new course extension policy that would require all extensions to be purchased 30 days prior to the course end date. Due to protests by AUSU, AU chose not to implement the new policy at that time, but the option has been… Read more »
It’s the season to be giving, so I thought as a gift to Premier Klein, Minister Oberg, and a whole new Federal Cabinet, I’d give them the gift of a week’s silence, and myself the gift of not having to read their self-congratulatory releases this week. Merry Christmas folks!
Manitoba More Open for Business The Manitoba Universities have signed an agreement (http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2003/12/2003-12-05-02.html) with Advanced Education and Training Minister, Diane McGifford, that would allow international students taking their post-secondary education in Manitoba to work outside the university campus. In the post 9-11 world, where the American government found that some of the terrorists who destroyed… Read more »
Post-Secondary Spin The Government of Alberta is pleased to announce that the “Education Indicators in Canada 2003” report put out by Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education Canada had some kind words (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200311/15535.html) about Alberta’s rankings. Of course, the report (http://www.cesc.ca/pceip/PCEIP2003-D.pdf) was not all positive, but the Learning Ministry would hate for… Read more »
A Freeze Hits Alberta The Alberta government seems to have an interesting set of priorities. For instance, it recently announced (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200311/15526.html) Bill 53 would place a freeze on auto-insurance premiums. It also recently announced (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200311/15508.html) that Bill 43, even with the amendments, would remove any type of tuition cap from the public post-secondary system. Now… Read more »
The Alberta Advantaged Athabasca University’s importance to the Alberta Provincial Government was once again outlined in a recent press release (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200311/15476.html). The Alberta Government proudly proclaims in the headline that “The official launch of eCampus Alberta means Alberta’s post-secondary students will have access to courses offered by institutions throughout Alberta, without having to leave their… Read more »
Wonders Never Cease What a change an election makes. Once again I find myself in the unusual position of having to praise a provincial government’s actions on post-secondary education. The new provincial government of Ontario has provided a pleasant surprise for post-secondary students in that province. Specifically, they have announced (http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2003/11/07/c9889.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html) an intention to freeze… Read more »
Classifieds are free for AU students! Contact voice@ausu.org for more information. AUSU Legislative Committee needs volunteers with a good sense of right and wrong who are able to understand policy documents, extrapolate to predict outcome of policy decisions, and are willing to have their ideas heard and debated, but most importantly, are willing to get… Read more »
Silver Linings Last week (http://www.ausu.org/voice/articles/columndisplay.php?ART=2215), I pointed out some potentially disturbing decisions by the newly elected Provincial Government of Ontario. This week, it looks like I may have jumped the gun. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunity later to find something wrong, but at the moment it looks like the new government might be… Read more »