Graduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting - Regulations

To maintain their program status, students must complete 3 credits of course or project work during one academic year (September 1 - August 31). Students who are inactive in their studies for a 13-month period may be contacted by the GDLD Administration Office for an update on their progress. Students who have been inactive for 13 months, and who have not updated their status with the GDLD program nor consulted with the GDLD Student Services Coordinator, will be withdrawn from the program automatically.

Students may interrupt their studies, without academic prejudice, contingent upon the submission of a written request for a leave of absence from their studies and subsequent approval from the GDLD Program Coordinator.

Any student who is receiving Student Financial Aid should review the Student Finance Funding Criteria.

Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program. Review the course grading system for further information.

In order to participate in the program, each student must own or have access to:

• the Internet
• the required computer hardware and software requirements
• use PC's (assistance is limited for other hardware, software or operating platforms)
• other communication services (e.g. telephone / mobile phone)

In order to participate, each student must own or have ready access to the following suggested computer hardware and software requirements:

1. a computer that conforms to the required standards. Athabasca University's standard computing platform is the IBM-compatible computer. Some courses support other hardware and software platforms and / or have more specific requirements and these are noted in the Web syllabus. Students are advised that only limited assistance for other hardware and software platforms is offered from Athabasca University's Help Desk.
2. an Internet service provider (ISP connection).

For more information on required standards see Student Computer Requirements at the IT Help Desk.

If you have questions about the grading scale, consult the course regulations and procedures.

Maintaining program status is not sufficient to meet the requirements established by the Student Finance Board for full-time funding purposes. For example, to comply with the Alberta Student Finance Board requirements, full-time graduate students must be enrolled in a minimum of one course over a four-month period. Course extensions are not considered in the calculation of full-time or part-time status.

It is the student's responsibility to ensure that he or she follows the financial assistance guidelines as outlined by the Student Finance Board in the province in which the student resides. The course contract of six months for a 3-credit course will be reduced to a four-month contract for AU students receiving financial aid in order to meet the full-time enrolment requirement for graduate students.

For more information on the funding criteria, please visit the AU Graduate Calendar.

Student finance

• Provincial Financial Aid Locations (listing by province)

Full list of fees.

Definition of a program deferral: An interval of time when a student is ‘inactive’ and not expected to make progress in their program of study. The time of the deferral is not counted toward the maximum number of years allowed in the program.

Details pertaining to a program deferral:

While enrolled in the GDLD program there may be situations in which students are temporarily unable to meet the program requirements. One alternative for the student is to request a deferral in order to suspend the program requirements for a period of time. The maximum length of one deferral is one (1) year. In special circumstances, students may reapply for a second year of deferral during their time in their program.

A deferral is typically reserved for situations when extenuating circumstances are present, such as serious health conditions, pregnancy, significant care giving responsibilities, adoption, unexpected military service or deployment, and participation in a political election, executive position on AUGSA or required jury duty. Having multiple competing responsibilities is not sufficient to be considered extenuating circumstances.

The length of time of the deferral is not included in the time period for completion of the GDLD program and deadlines will be adjusted accordingly.

During the deferral, the student will have limited access to the program, University, and supervisory resources.

No program fees or tuition fees will be charged for deferrals.

Factors to consider before requesting a program deferral:

All deferral arrangements must be discussed as early as possible with the GDLD Office so that appropriate adjustments can be made prior to the start date of the leave.

If the student holds any awards/scholarships at the time of the request of the deferral, they must check the criteria of the award/scholarship to determine whether the award can be deferred or interrupted and discover the necessary process to seek deferral or interruption of the award/scholarship.

Students should make themselves aware that the deferral may cause some of their courses to be ‘stale-dated. GDLD program students are strongly encouraged to either withdraw from or complete any “in progress” courses prior to applying for a deferral.

Students whose research involves ethics approval and agency access approvals need to be aware that the AU REB and the pertinent agencies approval to conduct their research ceases when they are no longer a currently registered student. They cannot conduct their research during this time and they will have to resubmit their ethics/access applications upon their return to study.

The maximum length of a deferral is one (1) year. In special circumstances, students may reapply to the GDLD Office for a second deferral during their time in their program.

The student needs to make themselves aware of any costs related to the program deferral. No program or tuition fees will be paid by the student during the deferral.

Procedure:

The student shall submit the Request for Program Deferral form to the GDLD Office. The request should include the following:

1. Reasons for the request;
2. Length of deferral requested;
3. Pertinent documentation related to the deferral request (e.g. if a medical leave, provide a letter from a qualified health practitioner).

The graduate program director will notify the GDLD Office, who will place a special notation on the student’s record and notify the student of the Director's decision.

The graduate program director will submit the letter with their recommendation and the accompanying documentation to the Dean, FGS for information.

If a student requests a third year of a deferral, approval must be obtained from FGS.

Students are to notify the GDLD Office when they are ready to resume their GDLD studies.

All GDLD courses are delivered by individualized-study mode. Courses begin the first day of every month, on a year-round basis. Registration requests must be received by the GDLD Administration Office at least one month prior to the requested start date. The course contract period for individualized-study courses is six months. Note that some courses have limited enrolments.

Individualized-study courses are delivered in a self-directed learning environment. Students will communicate with their course instructor via email or internal Moodle (Athabasca University's learning management system) mail and send their assignments using the Moodle assignment drop box. Computer conferencing may be used within this learning environment. Learners will require access to a computer with configurations and software as outlined in the computer requirements. As instructional support is provided through an online environment, it is important that students have regular and reliable Internet access.

All materials are available in Moodle. Students are expected to use computer-mediated communications for:

• instructor-student and student-to-student interaction in computer conferences
• electronic mail, both within and outside of the course structure
• file transfer or file attachment of assignments
• feedback between instructor and students or between students on joint projects
• accessing electronic databases (e.g., AU Library search) and web resources
• accessing course material that is provided in an online format

You will need to be mindful of course availability (i.e., limited enrolment) and professor study leaves when selecting your courses. Faculty members who teach graduate studies must stay current in their area(s) of expertise. As such, they may take Research and Study Leave or other leaves periodically throughout the year. There may be a few weeks during which a student may work on his or her own, without supervision. Should questions arise while an assigned professor is absent, the student may contact the GDLD Student Services Coordinator in the GDLD Administration Office for further assistance.

The maximum number of courses a program student may take is two at a time. Taking more than two courses at a time would require special approval. Be sure to review the course extension and course withdrawal policies.

Students must formally request to withdraw from a course. Simply not completing the course requirements or not participating in the class does not constitute withdrawal. Students who wish to withdraw from a course must submit a GDLD withdrawal request form.

Students can receive a refund if they withdraw within the allowable timeframe. See course regulations and procedures in the calendar.

In individualized-study courses, students have the flexibility to determine their own timelines for completion within their six-month course contract period. Students who find themselves running short of time may extend the course contract by submitting a completed Extension Request Form, along with the appropriate fees, to the GDLD Administration Office. Each individualized-study course extension is for a two-month period. Students may request up to three two-month extensions. Contact the GDLD Student Services Coordinator for more information on course extensions.

LGST 600: Major Legislative Drafting Project

The final course to be taken in the GDLD program is LGST 600. This course is designed to allow students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they have gained in the program through preparing an original piece of legislative drafting under the direction of a supervising instructor and, in some cases, an advisor from the student's jurisdiction. Through the Final Drafting Project students may engage a social problem identified by a law reform project or in proposals from an NGO or lobby group. Sources of law reform proposals are listed here. The project will result in the production of an effective outline of legislation and a new piece of legislation in the form of a Bill.

Before commencing your final project, you must complete the four core courses:

• LGST 551 - Introduction to Legislative Drafting
• LGST 553 - Legislative Structure, Style, and Limits
• LGST 555 - Drafting Preliminary, Amending, and Final Provisions
• LGST 557 - Implementation Provisions and Drafting Processes

As you begin the last of the four core courses, you should begin planning for the final project (LGST 559). Planning will include: (1) identifying independent third party instructions from one of the sources mentioned above, and (2) communicating a tentative idea for the project to the Program Directors and engaging in a discussion with them about a potential supervisor.

• Examples of Successful Projects

Project approval

For this project course, students must prepare a detailed project proposal to the satisfaction of their supervising instructor. The proposal must include identification of the instructions which will be the basis of the drafting project, the scope of the drafting project, and identification of a project supervisor, or the need to appoint one. Details of the approval process are in the Study Guide.

Submission of Final Project to the GDLD office

Once the Final Project has been graded and returned to the student by the course supervisor, students are then required to submit a clean copy to the Library's Digital Thesis and Project Room (DTPR) in a PDF file, before their final grade will be processed. Students failing to submit a copy of their final project to the site will not be eligible to graduate.

Upon receipt of comments and feedback from the course supervisor and the local advisor (if any), students must prepare an abstract of the project, and may take the opportunity to make minor revisions to their projects prior to submitting it to the DTPR (i.e. correct spelling errors, grammatical errors, minor organizational issues, etc.) for other students and researchers to access. Where the Final Project involves an original piece of legislation on sensitive or privileged material, the student may receive permission from the GDLD Program Coordinator to make only the abstract available for public access.

When submitting the project to the DTPR, we ask that students use the GDLD template for the title page.

Students are to complete Athabasca University's Digital Thesis and Project Room (DTPR) Release Form, which will allow the GDLD Student Services Coordinator to place a copy of the student's Final Project in the Athabasca University Library, in digital format, for circulation. When granting permission for Library circulation, be sure to provide an abstract (not to exceed 300 words) summarizing the content of your integrated project.

We will also require a list of 4 or 5 relevant keywords for cataloguing purposes. Do not include the keywords in your paper. Instead, post the keywords on the "Keywords" field on the DTPR Release Form.

To access the electronic DTPR Release Form, you will require a username and a password, which you may obtain from the GDLD office.

Grades for the Final Project will be released once the final, revised copy of the project has been received on the DTPR. A copy will also be placed in the student's record.

For information on the overall DTPR e-submission process, refer to the following website.

Consult the AU Convocation website for details on how to apply for graduation and the associated deadlines.

Athabasca University provides a "Letter of Verification," which serves as a receipt or "proof of payment." You may request this letter from the AU Finance Department by contacting the Accounts Receivable Assistant.

Send an email message identifying what transactions you wish to be included on the letter (i.e., tuition for GDLD 5XX) along with your AU student ID number. The Letter of Verification will be sent to you by email.

Students are required to keep their contact information current. To change your contact information with AU, log into myAU and update your student information. The GDLD Administration Office will receive an email message with your updated information.