Spring Semester: January 15th, 2008 - May 6th, 2008
Letter from the Executive Director
Welcome back to another exciting academic adventure. We are all very fortunate to be members of one of the best adult learning programs in the State of Oregon.
Here you will find an outstanding selection of lectures on a wide variety of topics. We will also continue our video lecture series on Broadway musicals, literary masterpieces, revolutionary technological advances and the classical symphony. The very popular “Potluck and Plays” will return in February. This semester’s field trip in May will be to the Northwest Viticulture Center in West Salem, where we will learn more about Oregon’s wine industry. Be sure to check the last page of this guide for details.
Also, please note that the entire curriculum guide is available in both print and online versions. This online guide is enhanced with links to additional information about our program and speakers. We also post updates and schedule changes here as well as on the classroom bulletin board.
It is, of course, our members who make the ICL program possible. Thanks to all who make presentations, lead discussions, serve on the Board or other committees, and to those who show their support by coming to class. We also extend a very special “thank you” to Don Gallagher and his wonderful Curriculum Committee for their outstanding work.
Happy learning!
Jean Rover
WU-ICL Executive Director
Letter from the Editor
The University of the Third Age
In my “Letter from the Editor” for the Fall 2007 Curriculum Guide I listed many different ways (other than the standard oral discourse) in which educational material is presented, including television, audiotape, videotape, compact disc, DVD, PowerPoint presentation, and online Internet instruction. The growing importance of the last of these was recently drawn to my attention by a relative in Australia.
The University of the Third Age is an international organization, which was started in Toulouse, France in 1972 and is now widespread. The name refers to the third age of life–retirement–following on the ages of childhood and work. The University of the Third Age, or U3A as it is usually called, is similar to our ICL in that it “encourages retired people to study in a relaxed environment at low cost” with “no prior qualifications, no exams and no degrees awarded.” You thought that ICL was special, even unique? Well, think again. Australia, with only one fifteenth the population of the USA, has over 200 groups equivalent to ICL!
Until 1998, these were all brick-and-mortar installations. In 1998, for the first time, U3A went online, when Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia started a “Virtual U3A,” the first U3A operating exclusively online. Its courses “are open to all older people anywhere in the world.” It is funded by the Australian Government, Griffith University and some other donors. Sixty-nine conventional U3As in Australia & New Zealand (out of a total of 260) have joined U3A Online and use its services to supplement their own.
U3A Online offers an extensive list of courses (http://www3.griffith.edu.au/03/u3a/). Rather than hopping from subject to subject as ICL usually does, U3A Online courses are more in-depth, more like the Teaching Company’s video series. For example, the U3A Online course on the Romans covers 9 sessions over a two-month period (see details at: http://www3.griffith.edu.au/03/u3a/examples/romans/topics.htm).
Of course, being exclusively online, U3A Online cannot offer the camaraderie, the field trips, or the “Potluck and Plays” that make ICL membership such a stimulating experience. However, for those who would like to explore a particular subject in greater depth than ICL may offer, it is worth a look.
Once again, I would like to acknowledge the magnificent job Don Gallagher and his Curriculum Committee have done in assembling the topics and speakers for this curriculum. Of all the tasks involved in operating a successful learning program, theirs is the hardest. As I look over this semester’s presentations, I am awe-struck.
Peter Ronai
Director of Information Services
Editor, Curriculum Guide
1Click on the appropriate month (January, February, March, April or May links above or below on this page) to go to that month's schedule. 2For changes & updates before and during the semester, please refer periodically to this web site.
