This past April, the Diata Diata International Folkloric Theatre
presented an interactive lecture demonstration at the Lunch & Learn
program at the Adult Learning Institute at Columbia-Greene
Community College in Hudson, New York. Traditional music, song and dance
from Ancestral Africa and folk tales from the Congo and other regions
was performed. The Theatre was founded in 1985 in Paris as an educational
institution involved in the enrichment of programs designed to engage
appreciation of the world community through the arts.
The Center for Continuing Adult Learning at Hartwick
College and the State University College in Oneonta, New York recently
studied Moderation & Objectivity: Purple in a Blue and Red Nation?
This course took an objective look at a polarized political environment,
examined selective economic, political and social issues, and encouraged
open discussion of controversial subjects.
Members of the Encore Center for Lifelong Enrichment
at North Carolina State University in Raleigh have been studying The
Lure and Lore of Scotland Throughout History. North Carolina with
more people of Scottish descent than any other state or country is rich
with Scottish history. Participants looked at traditions, music and
dance, whiskey making, golf and other fun facets of Scottish life through
the ages.
When Perfectly Good Presidents Make Truly Awful Decisions: Decision-Making
Gone Bad was the title of a course given this spring at the ILR
at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. This course explored presidential
decision-making, principally through use of the concept of groupthink.
Using the concepts of groupthink and other decision-making flaws, members
attempted to explain some of the fiascos president have caused.
The Montreat College Center for Adult Lifelong Learning
in North Carolina recently asked their members to consider Influential
Writings in Your Life. This interactive course encouraged participation
in meaningful discussions and sharing of stories of different writings
that affected members’ lives or helped to mold them into the people
they are today.
Members of MSU for Seniors at Minnesota State University,
Mankato, recently studied Alternative Energy & Kyoto Protocol.
They learned more about the implications of the U.S. refusal to participate
in the Kyoto Protocol and how alternative energy sources could reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
Peace and Nonviolence: Is It Suitable Now? was the title of
a course given this spring at the Old Dominion ILR
in Virginia. Students discussed what they can change and relearn about
the world and how they can apply Gandhi’s philosophy of peace
and nonviolence to today’s world.
The Swedish Card was the title of a course given at the Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University this spring.
The content of the course addressed the considerable role that Sweden
played in the Cold War. Participants examined how Swedish policy at
times drove both the United States and the Soviet Union to the point
of distraction. The historical role Sweden played in the formation of
the Russian nation and the subsequent hundred years of war with Russia
and its effect on relations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War
were also analyzed.
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