Lifelong Learning Coalition offers classes all week

It is Lifelong Learning Week in Bloomington, and the coalition that coordinates its events is offering a variety of free classes to the Bloomington community. Class topics vary from a career exploration workshop to American Fiddle Music in Serbia.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to speak to a range of people I wouldn’t see in class and bring a lot of different perspectives together,” said Marjorie Hershey, professor of political science who taught a class Tuesday called Media Impact on the 2008 Election.

Mayor Mark Kuzan started Lifelong Learning Week in 2005 to educate people and facilitate lifelong learning in Bloomington, according to the city of Bloomington’s Web site.

This is the third annual Lifelong Learning Week, but the first year for the Bloomington Lifelong Learning Coalition, which was initiated earlier this year by the Office of the Mayor. The coalition consists of a variety of organizations here in Bloomington, including local government agencies, institutes of higher education and not-for-profit agencies, who orchestrate the Lifelong Learning Week classes. 

Previously, the Lifelong Learning Week was a conglomerate of groups and people brought together acting under the umbrella of the Office of the Mayor. However, the coalition sought to bring more organization to Lifelong Learning Week and make more opportunities available to the public.

“We wanted to see all the organizations work together to accentuate all Bloomington has to offer in lifelong learning,” said Kyla Cox, director of communincations and outreach for Continuing Studies at IU-Bloomington. 

Because each coalition organization offers its own class, Lifelong Learning Week is able to include a range of topics. 

Cox said Lifelong Learning Week allows community residents to get a small taste of exactly what is available to them and to test out opportunities.

In previous years, the Lifelong Learning events have drawn a diverse crowd, Cox said.  
The classes are well-attended, Hershey said.

“The participants are well-informed, active in class and are the type of people a teacher really loves to teach,” Hershey said.

In addition to offering a variety of class topics, the coalition has worked this year to make the classes more accessible to a larger number of people by expanding the number of courses taught for free. This year, there will be 14 classes offered free of charge as opposed to last year when there was only one.

Cox hopes this change of course fee will help to draw in more people such as Todd and Hiromi Yampol, who attended Monday’s Early Talkers Workshop for parents with their daughter, Maya. 

This was the Yampol family’s first Lifelong Learning Week experience, and they were grateful for the opportunity presented by Lifelong Learning Week and the Monroe County Public Library.

“Everybody brings something unique,” Cox said. “We’re hoping to have a nice crowd this year with the variety of opportunity.”