And that's a wrap!

Well, mostly. I finished everything this week and now have only to study for the finals which are Tuesday (Admin Law) and Thursday (Employment Law). I am not very worried about them but do plan to study starting on Sunday. The nice thing about fast tracking is that the material is still fairly fresh in my mind, as opposed to last term when I was going back over things I'd done nearly six months earlier.

I received the materials for the challenge in The Canadian Legal System today as well. Took a quick leaf through and there's nothing terribly surprising there. I think it was a good idea to take all these legal courses in a row because they all seem to go over the same 'initial introduction to the law' which I knew pretty well before and now have down pretty much by heart. Hopefully this will also be the case next year when I take 5 Governance courses at the same time/in a row . Bleargh.

Another Update

I finished Administrative Law last week! I also handed in Assignment 3 for Employment Law and received it back - 100%! Props to the tutor in that course for being super fast in marking (and for giving me 100% all the time, that is cool too, hah).

So with two weeks to go, I have to:

- Complete Units 6, 7, 8 in Employment Law as well as 2 assignments. One assignment is 4 essay questions and the other is a True/False and Multiple Choice thing.

- Study for both final exams, which are next Tuesday and Thursday.

And that's it! I also need to enrol in my next 2 courses which will be Administrative Principles (basic management) and Canada's Legal System (another challenge for credit). These will officially start on August 1 but I can start working on them as soon as I receive the materials, which should right as I finish my current coursework and exams. No rest for the wicked, right?

Trucking along

Since I last wrote, I've completed 2 more units of Admin Law and 2 more of Employment Law. Next up is Assigment 3 (of 5) for EL, and hopefully 2 more units of AL before the end of the day tomorrow.

It seems like every week, something comes up that derails me for at least a day... but I'm still on schedule and I actually appreciate the diversion - it's hard to do 9-5 M-F studying, know what I mean? After awhile you are reading the same page or paragraph over and over, but you still couldn't tell anyone what it says. There is definitely a saturation point.

At the end of this particular study period, I'll have completed 2 courses in 6 weeks. Since full time studies is equivalent to 5 courses in one semester (=4 months = 16 weeks), or 3-ish weeks/course, I'm right where I need to be.

End of week report

Wednesday was a day 'off' as I had a work commitment to take care of. Yesterday, I completed 2 units of Administrative Law: Fairness: The Right to be Heard and Fairness: Bias. Basically, the two 'pillars' of procedural fairness are the right to be heard, including the right to be informed of proceedings and to be given adequate notice so that you can prepare and make submissions, and the right to an impartial decision maker (ie: bias free).

Bias can be individual or institutional. An adjudicator who has a conflict of interest or a closed mind is 'individually biased', whereas institutional bias would mean that the entire organization is biased by virtue of its structure or ties to the government. This is because tribunals are supposed to have a degree of independence - not completely independent like the courts - but the more 'court like' the operations, the more independence is expected. Also, the significance of the decision will impact on how independent the tribunal must be. So the Parole Board, for instance, determines liberty of the person (inmate). It must not take instruction from the Minister of Public Safety or the Warden. It is fine for the government to set broad policies and regulations for the Parole Board, but it must then be permitted to operate independently within that framework. If, for example, the performance bonus of the Chair of the Parole Board is controlled by the Minister, or if the Chair holds office 'at the pleasure of the Minister', these are signs of a lack of independence, that could suggest institutional bias.

Alors. That's enough of a lesson for this blog entry. I'm off to the library to start the second section of the Admin Law course - advocacy before tribunals (basically, procedures for presenting cases and general rules that apply). I'm getting very close to halfway done both of my courses, which is EXCITING! Maybe I am not as far behind as I thought.

Results!

Today I completed Assignment 2 for Employment Law, which was a true/false and multiple choice assignment, so it was marked by the computer and returned right away. I got 85%.

Then, I received the essay back (which was unexpectedly quick) and I got 100% on that.

So, things are going pretty well. However, I think I underestimated the amount of time required to prepare for the challenge exams. I think I am going to scale back my goal for the summer to 2 challenges and 2 courses. The only difference is not having to complete the assignments, which really do not take a whole lot of extra time. Actually, I feel like I need to be extra careful in studying the challenge material because the entire mark is based on the exam. While I am familiar with the material, I still need to go over it and refresh my memory on the concepts, terminology, and so forth.

Hopefully the boss-man will not be too upset about this change in scheduling. I am sure I could zip through in less time but my marks will suffer and I become stressed when my marks are low. As much as I am aware that D's get degrees, D's also cause anxiety attacks. Ha.

Today, I will write that essay. Ha. Updated - done!

And so it begins. And by it, I mean the procrastination.

To be fair, last week was a complete write off due to the travel and quite frankly, that interview was very draining. It started at 11:15 and did not end until 4:00 at which point my head was throbbing (probably due to not eating since 9. Which was completely my fault, I know. I assumed there would be a break but there wasn't.)

The meeting I attended on Thursday was actually very interesting and 'school related' so to speak - an intergovernmental meeting of senior officials from the Province of BC and the federal government, with discussions on the economy and areas of shared jurisdiction.

And Friday, well I was exhausted and the house was an absolute nightmare and, yeah, just did not get much done.

But today marks a new week! I will write that essay, dammit. And complete a few other units of work as well.

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Update: Essay = done. Well, I'm going to go have lunch and then review it once more before I hand it in. But, yay! It looks like this is the only essay of the whole course which is also yay.

A Wee Update

Unfortunately, I didn't get the first draft of my essay out on Friday. I did complete all my research and outline, but I needed to find my printer cables and purchase ink and that ate up some of the afternoon. I've been busy with some other things this weekend, so I will probably end up pushing the essay to next week.

Next week is sort of lost time for school purposes. I have to go to Vancouver on Monday so I can attend a job interview on Tuesday. It's a 'learning experience' job interview because a) I have no chance of getting the job, which is a temporary vacancy in Vancouver and b) I haven't done an interview at this level before. It's a simulation exercise for senior managers, where I'm placed in a fictional organization and have to deal with an inbox full of work and problems. They sent me some background information so I've also been reviewing that here and there. Best case scenario, I pass, and am placed in a 'pool of qualified candidates' which could be used to staff other positions in my department.

Then on Wednesday I will travel to Victoria to attend a meeting on behalf of my boss, which is on Thursday. I come home Thursday night. So I will be amending my goal to complete the essay by the end of next week. This pushes my schedule back a bit but I'll be bringing my Admin Law text with me so I can at least do some studying on the plane and at night.

Ending week one

Yesterday I had to go into work so I didn't work on any schoolwork. Today I completed Unit 3 of Admin Law - Procedural Fairness. Basically talking about the rules of natural justice and procedural fairness (the right to be notified of a decision and to be heard, and the right to an impartial decision maker) in the context of tribunals and other government decision makers.

As an added bonus, part of the assigned reading was the Supreme Court of Canada case of Baker v. Canada, which is an appeal of an immigration judicial review decision of the Federal Court. It's a landmark case that was oft quoted in my days of working at the Court so I just needed a quick skim to refresh my memory. Although in 'real life', it is important jurisprudence for establishing that the UN Convention on the Rights of Children does not extend to Canadian law to the extent of preventing the separation of Canadian born children from immigrant parents by nullifying deportation orders, in this course it was presented because it explains the right to procedural fairness in making a decision.

I then began Unit 2 of Employment Law only to discover that at the end of the unit, I have to write a 2000 word essay that sums up the first two chapters. I hope to finish the unit and get the first cut of the essay out tomorrow. I'm a fan of writing a 'quick and dirty' first draft and then setting it aside for awhile before doing a thorough edit.

In other news, I received my final grades for PHIL333 (Professional Ethics) and managed an A- in it. Pretty good for the low effort I put into it, especially at the end. I'm still waiting on my grade in ADMN233 (Business Communications) but I expect it will be decent as I did not find the material terribly challenging.

Delving In

Yesterday I completed the first unit in each of my courses. Intro units, both of them. Each were sort of a history and an overview of the course and objectives. Seems pretty straightforward.

Today I did a second unit in Administrative Law which talked about boards, commissions and tribunals and their various characteristics. With each unit, I read the chapter while taking notes, and then read a few pages of summary from my Student Manual. Then I do assigned questions and compare my responses to the solutions provided. I'm pretty familiar with the material thus far so it's been pretty easy, really.

Admin Law has 14 units and Employment law has 8, so 22 total. I'm going to aim for 5-6 a week which will put my exams in early July. I'll be enrolling in Administrative Principles with a July 1 start date and can work on that for the remainder of my time as well as possibly start studying for the challenge exam in The Canadian Legal System which I will write in late August. I also have to fit in another course in Aboriginal Government and Law.

I am tired just thinking about it. I don't have anything planned for the fall and I do have 6 months to finish each course so I can book my exams into September.

The Inaugural Post

Okay, first things first. Let's start with the 5 W's.

Who:

I'm a part time student at Athabasca University, in the Governance, Law and Management program. This is the second leg of my quest to finish a Bachelor's degree. I completed about half of it at Ryerson University in Toronto and then had to transfer due to a move across the country. The transfer credit process is such a pain in the arse, I decided I never wanted to do it again so I applied to AU which is a distance learning university. This way I can complete my program from anywhere, no matter where life takes me.

What:

This blog will follow me as I complete the rest of my degree. I've posted a bit about it on my other blog but not a lot, as that blog is supposed to be about fun, lighthearted stuff and I'm frankly a bit afraid of frightening away the few readers I have by droning on endlessly about school.

Why:

Why a blog? To keep me accountable. Hopefully, to help me study and manage my time better. And hey, maybe some other students will find this and find it useful.

Why 'Studiocracy and Edubabble'? Well, the first part is a combination of student and bureacracy. And I am half student, half bureaucrat (a delightful combination, non?).

Also, completing this degree has been an exercise in bureaucracy in itself - getting through the application process and navigating the academic regulations should have gotten me credit in something - policy analysis perhaps? Considering, I am studying government. (Aside: my program homepage includes a list of possible future career opportunities. #1? Government manager. Yep, pinnacle achieved. Booyah!)

As for Edubabble, well, I'll be babbling about education. Not terribly inventive.

When:

While I technically began the degree in 2004 at Ryerson, and 6 months ago at AU, I've only completed 2 courses so far. Tomorrow, I start my first attempt at full time coursework. The first courses are Administrative Law and Employment Law. Fortunately for me (?), I've listened to about eleventy million hours of legal argument on the subject of administrative law, so it should be pretty straightforward. And, I just so happen to be likethis with one of the country's most eminent employment lawyers. (Srsly, he's on the top 100 list and everything.) After a plug like that, maybe he would consider being my tutor, pro bono.


Where:

I'll work on my courses primarily from home. I'm lucky to have 7 weeks away from work, starting tomorrow, and I'm aiming to complete 5 courses in all, by the end of this summer. 2 are challenges for credit where I review the material and write exams worth 100%, and 3 will be regular courses with readings, assignments, and exams.

I think I am going to structure my days the same-ish, still get up at 6:45 as usual, do a few big chunks of studying with a longish lunch break/visit to the gym and another 'break' for doing house work.

So, there's my introduction. I expect that some (most) of my posts will be super boring and don't really expect to have too many followers but feel free to read along, learn vicariously through me and most importantly, leave me numerous insightful and lengthy comments for me to read when I have student's block.