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
This week’s issue was a bit challenging for me, as a couple of the articles this week are about not accepting prevailing wisdom and always being willing to challenge orthodoxy, whether it be in cultural or scientific norms. And while I agree to some extent, my own experience has me rather acutely aware of the… Read more »
If you’re in Calgary, you should check out the city’s YouTube channel, as we’re currently under “Stage Four Water Restrictions”, and there are apparantly a lot of Calgarians who don’t know about it. Calgary has shut down one of its two water purification plants as more inspections of our main water feed pipe, underground, have… Read more »
There is a role-playing game called Shadowrun. It’s set in a fairly dystopian future, based on cyberpunk literature with fantasy themes mixed in. Discarding the magic, it suggests a world where big companies continue to grow and dominate, weaking the government and public sphere through means both legal and not until they become essentially nation… Read more »
The sport of “breaking”, a more formalized version of break dancing, took it’s place in the summer Olympics. Some can debate whether it should qualify as an Olympic sport or not, but what’s caught my interest is a story about an Australian competitor, Rachel Gunn, who apparantly has a very unique style, so far afield… Read more »
Ottawa recently passed Bill C-59. It’s an omnibus act that is being used to make various changes in numerous laws to allow the federal government’s economic statement and budget to be realized. One of the interesting things in the act, as it pertains to post-secondary institutions, is that they are now specifically excluded from the… Read more »
We have a significant number of new Canadians and international students attending Athabasca University. The difference between AU and the standard brick and mortar university is that our international students are more likely to really be international. The other difference is that our international students are less likely to have been the victims of fraud… Read more »
I didn’t even know the Olympics had started. This is unusual for me, as it wasn’t that long ago that we’d stay up late to catch the odd events (like fencing, or wrestling) that never seemed to be able to break into the constant swimming coverage that took up most of the day’s reporting. Over… Read more »
The last few days have provided us a bit of a demonstration as to how our lives rely on security aparatus that may not always function. And while each failure has been addressed, the damage remains. In the case of the Secret Service, that damage includes a funeral and a U.S. presidential candidate. With Crowdstrike,… Read more »
Alberta’s Bill 18, or the Provincial Priorities Act has now hit wider notice, with a new report on it being presented in University Affairs. Coming into effect in early 2025, the Act requires that researchers with public institutions, like universities, must get the province’s approval before they can accept federal funding for anything. And why… Read more »
Speaking with a couple of people from outside the city reminded me of the fleetingness of the press, with both asking me about the water situation here in Calgary. For those other people wondering, things are going about according to plan, which is no doubt why news coverage in other areas dropped off completely. We… Read more »