Studying what you Loath

This one goes out to everyone hating on their studies, especially those in distance courses with no imposed structure other than a big nasty deadline at the end.

I'm the kind of guy who needs structure to my studies or I veer off-course pretty darn quickly. It doesn't help that I don't impose structure on my choice of studies – I pretty much just choose things I'm either:

A. Interested in (broadcasting)

or

B. Not any good at (geology)

This tactic has landed me certificates and diplomas in tangentially-related fields, but without a career-focus I have yet to complete a degree despite having racked up 6 years of full-time post-secondary and 3 more part-time while I work.

Cost of studying would be a concern, but now that I work in the educational sector my employer foots the bill as long as I don't abuse the system too much.

In any case, I love me some learning, so I tend to sign up for at least one part-time course per term.

This term I thought I'd go for a B choice, something I should know but don't - financial management. And heck, why not start with the intro course and take the second level all at once.

Big mistake, I hate it.

More than that, I loath it. I'd rather eat broken glass than work with T-accounts and journal entries. I'd rather volunteer at a be-punched-in-the-face centre than adjust a trial balance. Don't even get me started on closing entries and the accounting cycle or I'll puke all over this keyboard. I hate it with wasp-stings to the eyeballs kind of hate, that jerk that just cut me off while I rush to the checkout kind of hate, that parent yelling at their cute-as-hell baby kind of hate.

You get the picture.

The result of all this hate is that I've put off the assignments to the point where I'm freaking out a little about how the hell I'm going to complete them in time to schedule my exam before the deadline.

The moral of the story? As far as I can figure is that if you're about to invest a significant amount of time and energy into something it should damn well be something you don't hate.

And, trust the nice lady in Student Information and Enrolment Services when she says you're overdoing it.

And and, lyryx sucks unless managed well. Transposing a textbook into an awkward online format isn't “enabling e-learning” it's a waste of time.

High(er) Education

Emily Carr joins in the 'university status' parade... students plan collaborative multi-medium installation based on themes of 'arbitrary semantics' and 'the ability of language to define reality, man'?

Morning Brew: April 30

• Vocational School
• College
• University
• Technical Institution

 It’s all higher education, but each of the above titles/brands has a distinct meaning. Doctors aren’t generally trained at the same institution as electricians. It follows then that perhaps the institution designed to train doctors may be a different kind of organization than the one that trains electricians.

What has happened over the past week in post-secondary education has been very interesting. Kwantlen is now a polytechnic-university. Douglas is now a university, so is Capilano, and Emily Carr, and Malaspina became a university instead of a university-college.

So what does it mean? Well, I personally think it cheapens the university brand. I have a lot of respect for Capilano university, I studied there and learned a tonne, but can any of us honestly say it’s a university in the same way as UBC/SFU/UofA ?

No, not really.

That's not to say I don't believe in higher education outside of the university pool - I'm mostly college and technical-institution educated, and very happy for it. What I do believe in is a little specialization, which I think is being lost here.

I hope for a big boost in our ability to support the transfer of credentials and credits between institutions.

What I fear is an even more unclear landscape for students.

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