Student
Advisor's
General Information
Glossary Terms
Administrative Studies - Administrative
Studies are comprised of
courses in Accounting, Administration, Applied Studies, Communications,
Entrepreuneursip, Finance, Governance, Health Administration, Human Resource
Management, Iindustrial Relations, Legal Studies, Management Science, Organizational
Behaviour, Public Administration, and Taxation.
Applied Studies — Courses that apply knowledge
and skills to a particular professional area such as Communication Studies,
Criminal
Justice, Educational Psychology, Nursing, and Women's Studies are
called Applied Studies.
Area — Area refers to the University's division
of its courses into
groups of related subjects. Arts is divided into Humanities and
Social Sciences. Science includes all Science courses. Applied Studies
includes
an area of Administrative Studies, and comprises a wide range of professionally
oriented courses. The area designation for each course is shown in each
course description following the credit value of the course.
Arts — Studies in two fundamental areas of
human knowledge — Humanities
and Social
Sciences — are called Arts.
Bachelor's degree — A first university
degree in a field such as Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Administration.
Also called an undergraduate degree.
Concentration — A concentration is
a designated program of study within a discipline or within a multidisciplinary
field of knowledge.
Credential — A degree, diploma, or certificate
awarded on successful completion of a program. Not all admission categories
lead to a credential.
Credential regulations — The regulations
that specify the requirements students must meet in order to be awarded
a degree or university certificate; for example, the total credits required,
the minimum credits that must be completed at the senior level, and the
minimum credits that must be completed at Athabasca University.
Discipline — Refers to courses within
a specific subject area; for example, English in Humanities, biology in
the Sciences, or accounting in Administrative Studies.
Electives — One or more courses from
a specified list that students
must choose from to fulfil their program requirements.
Evaluation — Assessment of previous
post-secondary education for possible transfer credit towards an Athabasca
University program.
Full-time student — For taxation or Alberta
Students Finance
purposes, a full-time student is one who is actively registered in
a minimum
of two credits per month. Students must complete nine credits
over four months to be considered full time.
Grouped study — Formerly referred to as
paced study. Grouped
study courses normally begin in September and January (although at
some locations there may be spring and summer sessions) and generally last
13 weeks (three-credit course) or 26 weeks (six-credit course). Grouped
study courses involve a number of students studying using the same schedule
with
a common instructor. The courses are dependent on a minimum number
of registrations.
Home study — See Individualized study.
Humanities — Humanities is an area of
university studies that normally includes English, French, History, and
Philosophy. All degree programs require a minimum number of Humanities
courses.
Individualized study — Formerly
referred to as home study, this is the
primary distance learning method at Athabasca University. Individualized
study centres around a learning system package that may include textbooks,
workbooks, audio and videotapes, computing resources, project kits, study
guides, and manuals. Students set their own schedule within the time allowed
to complete a course. Instructional support may be provided through
toll-free telephone access to tutors from anywhere in Canada and the US.
See the individual
course descriptions for details.
Junior course — Junior courses (designated
by a course number in the 200s) are usually introductory or survey courses
and are equivalent to first-year courses at most universities.
Level — In addition to having a credit weighting
of three, four or six credits, each course is assigned a level: preparatory
(100), junior (200), or senior (300 or 400). See also preparatory,
junior,
or
senior in this glossary.
Major — A designated program of study within
a discipline or a field of knowledge. Athabasca University has twelve
majors in the Bachelor of Arts degree program: Anthropology, Canadian
Studies, English, French, History, Humanities, Information Systems, Labour
Studies, Political Economy, Psychology, Sociology, and Women's Studies.
No area of study — A course designated as
''No area of study''
cannot be used to fulfil an area of study requirement in a program.
The
course can, however, fulfil part of the overall degree requirements
if it is appropriate to the program.
Options — Courses that, provided they fulfil
the program requirements, students must take to complete their program
of study.
Paced study — See Grouped
study.
Part-time student — A student with less
than a 60 percent course
load with Athabasca University or one who completes less than
two
credits per month.
Preparatory courses — Courses designated by
a number in the
100s prepare students for university-level study in disciplines that
require
a high-school background. The Challenge for Credit Policy does not
apply
to preparatory courses.
Prerequisites — Many senior-level courses
require knowledge of material covered in junior or other senior courses.
Prerequisites are used
to ensure that a student has the required background to successfully
complete the course. All prerequisites are expressed in terms
of specific Athabasca University courses. Students who
have fulfilled the prerequisite by
completing an equivalent course at another post-secondary institution should
complete a Prerequisite Waiver Declaration so that their course registration
may be processed without encountering a delay (see 6.10.
Prerequisites).
Program — Any combination of courses with
a set of coherent organizing principles and goals; for example, the Bachelor
of Arts degree, or a concentration or major in a degree, or a university
certificate.
Program requirements — Programs of study
require students to take specific courses or to take courses from specified
areas of study or disciplines or to take courses at a specific level of
study. These are program requirements and form part of the regulations
for each program.
Science — Studies that normally encompass
courses based on a knowledge of facts, phenomena, laws, and proximate cause
are designated Science (e.g., Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geography,
Geology, Mathematics, Nutrition, and Physics).
Senior course — Senior courses (designated
by a course number in
the 300s or 400s) assume a background of university learning and usually
specify a junior course as a prerequisite.
Social Science — An area of university
studies that normally includes Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Labour
Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Women's Studies.
Transfer credit — Credit granted for course
work successfully completed at another accredited institution.
University certificate — A credit program
offered to students on completion of an approved program of study. University
certificates are intended to recognize the completion of specified courses
at the undergraduate level.
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Content: Anita Spence/B.
Nahornick Web Creation: Bonnie Nahornick, Calgary, 18August 2003
