Learning Online Canada's Athabasca University offers college courses at the click of a mouse
The university held its convocation in a tent in the parking lot because it has no gym or stadium-not even a campus, if you get right down to it. Without a university band, Athabasca's academic procession features a bagpiper. Athabasca holds a convocation because, as its president Dominique Abrioux said, "Traditions are important"-even for online learners. "It's the only time we meet our students. We want to leave them with a lasting impression."
Athabasca University, which is 30 years old, is located in the small town of the same name (Cree for "land of whispering reeds and hills") 84 miles north of Edmonton. The university is the town's largest employer with about 300 people on staff. From the outside, the offices resemble a small liberal arts college. But inside, there are no classrooms. The modern building is set in a wooded area, and deer are often seen on the grounds. Once in awhile, a bear may amble along to peer into the registrar's window...(continue)
SAT Summer Camp Parents and students hope for a score-raising experience
That's right: her number-two pencils. That's because Tiffany had chosen to attend Whitman Enrichment Programs, a ten-day residential camp devoted to intensive SAT preparation. Forget cabins, canoes and campfire songs. This camp was all about keeping score-and then raising it.
Tiffany's mother, Debra Pace, said she'd never had to push her daughter. But Tiffany's grandmother had picked up the tab for the camp, and "expects a big return for her money," Pace said, as she dropped off Tiffany at Curry College, outside Boston. It was one of two college campuses (the other was California State University, Long Beach) where Whitman held four sessions of SAT camp this past summer. Before she left, Pace had these words for Tiffany: "Get the best score you can."
That also was the message delivered at an introductory orientation session by camp director Bill Dorfman, an affable New Yorker and former private school headmaster." We want to make sure that everyone here-I hate to put it so crassly-gets what they paid for," Dorfman told the campers, who came from nine states and half a dozen foreign countries. Most of the 22 campers-eight boys, 14 girls-attend private schools, many of which are boarding schools. "We have all of these different backgrounds," Dorfman noted, "but we're all here for the same reason: to get the best SAT score we can." (continue)
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