Articles

Comparisons

We have a tendency to compare ourselves to others. Our failures to their successes. There is the adage that what we see is only the tip of the iceberg. We see overnight success, but never the years of unrecognized work that went in before that “overnight”. I think we tend to do this a lot… Read more »

Combat Tuition Increases with Discounts and Freebies

Post-secondary education is expensive. If you’ve enrolled in an AU course recently, you may have noticed tuition has become even more expensive for most students. Brace yourself: you may be paying even more soon, as AUSU is revising their bylaws and the new structure will probably require an increase to the membership fees it levies… Read more »

All the Music Be Happenin’ Now – Why Raï?

By the time I heard Rachid Taha and his band perform at the Olympia Theatre in Montreal, I’d come to see musical syncretism—the mixing of various genres—as an operating principle in music, something that music really couldn’t do without. Syncretism: The way of all music From the dawn of history musical traditions have been developing… Read more »

The Fall Routine of Change

September has struck. Which means cooler temperatures, getting back into routines, and some new seasonal outdoor activities. While the “back to school” feeling that September brings doesn’t necessarily relate to Athabasca University students it still can bring a sense of calm. Everyone else around is getting back into schedules with their kids off to school… Read more »

Editorial – Before the Fall

A late announcement this week about CASA. At the start of September, the group, (which we’ve been profiling over the past several weeks) accepted Capilano University from BC as one of its new members. This brings the organization up to 22 student association members, representing approximately 255,000 students to the federal government, including you through… Read more »

Editorial – Relief

The disaster relief specials for Hurricane Harvey haven’t even aired yet and Hurricane Irma is lining up on Florida. And while we should remember that any individual extreme event is, of course, not evidence of climate change (just as a particularly frigid winter in Winnipeg isn’t evidence against it), the number of times that I’ve… Read more »

The Newest AUSU Executive Director – Introducing Jodi Campbell

Jodi Campbell is the Executive Director of the Athabasca University Students’ Union. From BC’s Lloydminster area, he moved to Edmonton in 2002. He graduated in 2006 after learning about business. He started working for MacEwan University as a Consultant/Advisor for the School of Business. He became the General Manager of the MacEwan University Students’ Union… Read more »

Playing the Ratings Game

How seriously can students take anonymous online ratings of their AU tutors? One AU student recently commented on the unofficial AthaU Facebook page that she’d checked her tutor’s ratings on http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/. After reading multiple negative reviews, she was considering dropping that AU course. Some responders to that post questioned what weight should be given to… Read more »