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
Free Movies! Paid for By You. If you’re a film buff, you might be pleased to hear that the National Film Board of Canada has announced (http://www.nfb.ca/pr/scripts/display_pr.pl?id=12624&lang=us&view=gps_pr_pub_v) the opening of its new Cineroute program. This program will allow Canadians to sign on to the National Film Board site and view any of 250 movies, including… Read more »
A Day for Learning The latest Alberta provincial government “boost” to education came recently in the form of an announcement (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200402/15973.html) of $20 million dollars to be spread across the Learning Ministry. Minister of Education, Dr. Lyle Oberg, proclaims that “As a government, we have increased funding for basic education and post-secondary learning in order… Read more »
Warning Bells Starting to Ring In Nova Scotia, the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission has put out a press release (http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20040218001) with some of the first warnings of many that we will soon be hearing about a severe shortage of faculty. In a time where some sort of post-secondary education is almost becoming a necessity… Read more »
The Boondoggle is Back I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the current scandal running around at the federal level. It seems our Auditor General has looked at the books of Canada and determined (http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/20031100ce.html) that the liberal government has wasted a lot of money. Not that this is a large news-flash… Read more »
Talking from the Throne The Throne Speech (http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/sft-ddt.asp) was read last week, and Prime-Minister Paul Martin also gave the traditional Prime Minister’s Response to the Speech (http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/sft-ddt.asp?id=2). I’ll be clear here, I’m not a big Paul Martin supporter. I have not seen a lot from the man that really differentiates him from the very standard… Read more »
Institut Français? Excusez-moi? The University of Regina is receiving over 20 million dollars in order to establish its new Institute francais (http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/newsroom/news_e.cfm?Action=Display&code=3N0440E), or basically, a French language section of the university. Of that funding 6.9 million comes from the federal government, and the remaining 13.8 million will be supplied by the Province of Saskatchewan. While… Read more »
Finally Getting the Message? It seems that the Provincial Government of Alberta has finally decided it might be a good idea to put some money where its mouth is. Alberta Learning has promised (http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200401/15800.html) Athabasca University 1.5 million dollars to “redevelop high-enrolment courses for online delivery.” In this round of pay-outs from the Alberta Access… Read more »
Canada Sick of getting the Byrd from the United States The government of Canada, along with seven other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have filed a request (http://webapps.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/minpub/Publication.asp?FileSpec=/Min_Pub_Docs/106764.htm&Language=E) to be granted the authority to retaliate to the United States’ continued use of the Byrd Amendment. For those that are unaware, the Byrd Amendment… Read more »
Defence Research Flowering One of the reasons why I am a proud Canadian is that we do things just a little bit differently from a good portion of the world. As a case in point, the Defence Department has released a spot-light (http://www.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/newsevents/spotlight/spotlight_e.asp) on one of its Research and Development projects. The research, being done… Read more »
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 »