Student opinions needed for key policy update The Student Academic Appeals Committee is revising the Academic Misconduct Policy. Before we move this very important policy through the policy approval process, we would appreciate your feedback and input. Open Forum sessions have been scheduled to provide an opportunity for the AU community to contribute to the… Read more »
The Internet has been compared to the Wild West: an unfettered free-for-all whose rapid developments and opportunity for profit have hordes of people scrambling for a piece of the action. It’s a fairly apt description, and one that a group of content creators wants the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to change. The coalition of… Read more »
As the old saying goes, life imitates art. But the line between the two can be hazier than a Monet, as a debate over a Maori artifact proves. The item in question is a human head; specifically, the mummified, tattooed head of a Maori warrior that has been part of a French museum’s collection since… Read more »
In Canada, we have an interesting (and often confusing) blend of funding and service in our health care system. Is it public? Is it private? Who pays for it? Who delivers the services? Those questions, and the prickly debates they can lead to, are characterized by a couple of recent rows over health services. Specifically,… Read more »
On October 10, the Governor of California signed a bill that bans adults from smoking in a vehicle carrying passengers under 18 years old. The law is scheduled to take effect January 1. The Ontario Medical Association applauds the decision, and says that the province’s doctors will push for a similar ruling. For the sake… Read more »
When Sir Francis Bacon wrote that ?Knowledge is power,? odds are good he wasn’t thinking of George W. Bush. The president who would be king, however, seems to have taken Sir Francis’s words to heart. In the latest move to monitor (and potentially control) the movements of anyone even tangentially connected to the United States,… Read more »
On September 28, the Alberta government announced it is investing $30 million in Athabasca University’s new Academic and Research Centre. This is wonderful news. Construction on the new centre is scheduled to start next summer, and this funding will help AU provide capacity for as many as 15,000 more course registrations in distance learning each… Read more »
AU to receive $30 million for building/research centre In an afternoon press conference this Friday, Alberta Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, Doug Horner, announced a $30 million grant for AU to address part of its request for technology and infrastructure funding. This grant, the biggest one-time allotment to AU, was called the ?second biggest… Read more »
In the race to dash headlong into the spectacular future of the digital age, there are those who say that technology is destroying traditional relationships and the stability of society. In some ways, they’re right. People will spend countless hours on social networking sites or chat rooms, posting messages to hundreds of ?friends? they’ll never… Read more »
In some ways, surfing the Internet is the equivalent of overhearing a conversation between strangers in a public place. When it comes to blogs, readers? responses to articles, and personal websites, It’s the same context: the information You’re hearing (or reading) is someone’s opinion?no more, no less. Even if one of those strangers claimed to… Read more »