Here’s a fun one for you. A few days ago, I received an email from Canada post telling me that there was a shipment on the way from Athabasca University. Right there was some surprise. Apparently, some of the graduate courses still receive actual textbooks. Of course, I didn’t know what it was until it landed.
So, imagine my surprise when the first real book I receive from AU in years happens to be for the course “Introduction to Trends in New Media”. Who says AU doesn’t have a sense of humour?
I have to say I have some trepidation getting back into courses. It’s been several years since I’ve taken a course for credit, and of course there’s the additional concern that this is supposedly a higher level of education. Are you like me, with that little voice in the back of your head that goes, “Oh, now you’ve gone too far. You’ll surely find out that you have no idea what you’re doing and have just been lucky so far.
But then again, I’m sure just about everybody has that at some level. After all, there’s only two states of existence, knowing what you’re doing and making it up as you go. And education is just the process of understanding the things other people made up as they went that happened to be useful in some fashion. So, if you’re never in the state of not quite knowing what you’re doing, then you’re probably not learning anything. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe you’re at a point in your life where you’re truly satisfied and you’re quite happy for now to always continue. But I expect, since you’re likely an AU student yourself, you’re looking for something more.
All of which is a long, roundabout way of saying that when you hear that little voice, it’s just a reminder that you’re growing. At least, that’s what I try to tell myself. Some days it’s easier than others.
Meanwhile, in this penultimate issue of the Voice Magazine for 2023 we’re getting ready to close out the year, but doing it in some style with a brand new Minds We Meet that happens to be another woman that I take as inspirational. Read the interview and her reason for coming to AU and see if you agree. Also this week, Marie Well has an article connecting various articles in the media surrounding the situation on campuses, university funding, and the disastrous presentation I referenced in last week’s editorial, and Alek Golijanin is bringing his own experience to bear as this week he looks at the issue of extortion being faced by new Canadians.
You’ll also definitely want to check out this week’s Fly on the Wall and [blue rare], both are really good reads. And speaking of good reads, I’m still looking for more people to let me know just what they thought was the Best of the Voice this year. I know it’s a hard choice, trust me, I’ve been looking at a bunch of older articles lately, so any advice you can give would be welcome.
Of course we also have a number of other fun items, including some advice on seafood and some for new years resolutions (it’s that time again, after all) scholarships, events and closures, what’s going on in AU social media, some humour, and more!
Enjoy the read!
