Posts By: Karl Low

Karl Low

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

Editorial – Risky Business

Have you heard of Sayre’s Law? It’s basically stated as “In any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake. That’s why academic politics are so bitter.” Part of the reason for a student newspaper (or magazine, in this case) is to report on those politics. Ideally… Read more »

Editorial – A Selection of Goodness

Have you ever had one of those weeks where time completely gets away from you? Where no matter how you try you don’t seem to be able to get anything done and deadlines don’t so much loom as charge? That was this week for me. The fault goes, in part, to the Alberta Election. For… Read more »

Editorial – Era’s End

If the latest polls are to be believed, we may be in the last days of the 43 year reign of the Progressive Conservative party in Alberta. On August 30, 1971, the Progressive Conservatives were elected to a majority government in Alberta. I hadn’t even been born. The very first president of Athabasca University, Timothy… Read more »

Editorial – What Now?

Well. That was an interesting week. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, last week was possibly the last issue of The Voice Magazine, as there was an AGM scheduled on Tuesday that could have removed the protection and the funding that students had previously asked AUSU guarantee The Voice Magazine. As You’re… Read more »

Editorial – The Last Word?

It may be that this is the last issue of The Voice Magazine that will be published. If AUSU Council gets its way, there will be nothing to grant the Voice Magazine any funding or any autonomy. Instead there will be a single “Writer In Residence” which will replace all the different perspectives brought by… Read more »

It’s All About the Benjamins

Students and AUSU Members may not be aware, because it was only announced on April 8th, that in addition to the Annual General Meeting, there is also a regular AUSU Council Meeting being held next Tuesday. Usually, AUSU Council announces public meetings to the members, at least on their website, so that students have the… Read more »

Editorial – The Importance of Independence

There’s a lot of good stuff in this issue, such as Philip Kirkbride’s Travelling Student, which this week includes a link to a video of his moped trip in Hawaii, and our latest interview with student and former AUSU Councillor, Evan Schmidt. But I’m finding it hard to concentrate on them because they may be… Read more »

Editorial – The World Beyond Our Media

There was a terrorist attack in Tunisia on March 18th. Did you know about it? I didn’t. However, Wanda Waterman of The Voice Magazine did, and went to attend the anti-terrorism rally that happened eleven days later on March 29th. She brought back to us an article about how a non-western nation is dealing with,… Read more »

Editorial – A Lose-Lose Budget

Yesterday, the PC Government of Alberta released its much warned about “dire” budget. Most came away saying, no doubt as intended, “Well, that wasn’t so bad.” I’m not one of them. A lot of people who have anything against the budget are most upset about the lack of any corporate tax increase. Personally, I think… Read more »

Editorial – Expert Advice

Our feature this week is the second part of the interview with Dr. Terry Anderson. The other half of the formative team behind the AU Landing, Dr. Anderson is a strong proponent of social media being used in teaching, and has a piece of advice for all online learners that might help them succeed in… Read more »