Program Classes Convert from Live to Zoom
Pat Ingalls
When COVID-19 put the kibosh on PebbleCreek gatherings and classes last year, LifeLong Learning (LLL) adjusted by transforming its classes from in-person learning to Zoom format.
“We have been in learning mode this season,” said Carole Korzilius, LLL’s director of classes. “Our thanks go to John Fox for his training on Zoom and to several technicians, including Neal Wring, for their help in making our offerings possible. PebbleCreekers cope!”
Specifically, Korzillius said that Paul Polk, Dawn Spiak, and Bob Oswald took turns managing the LLL computer connection to the webcam, her husband, Phil, controlled the webcam, and she hosted the meetings from home on Zoom.
“It was all rather routine, once we diagnosed the issue with two microphones,” Carole Korzilius said.
In support, Barb Younker and Jim Plasker managed Zoom invitations and coordinated registration.
Thanks to funding from the LLL board, newly acquired LLL assets put to use were a Sony camcorder, video-interface device, laptop, and tripod.
In addition to classes, two other long-standing LLL programs that successfully adjusted to online participation were Great Decisions and PC Reads.
Great Decisions facilitators Alan Hatfield, Bill Nee, Les Minsuk, and Mike Kramer kept the popular program active for another season, covering timely topics, such as the World Health Organization’s role in managing COVID, China’s worldwide influence, and the melting Arctic. Due to virus related travel limitations, some of the usual Great Deciders were unable to participate locally this season. Using Zoom technology, however, we were able to include PebbleCreekers logging in from Canada and northern states, as well.
PC Reads’ Dianne Harmon coordinated monthly book choices and presenters for LLL’s online group discussions, which continue year-round.
After the flexibility and can-do attitude exhibited during this challenging season, LLL looks forward to building on new, learned skills, while planning what we all hope settles into a calmer, more-normal next season.
TED Talk: Revealing Nature’s Hidden Beauty
Bill Nee
This month’s TED Talk was shared with me by a neighbor, Reg Westgarth. A Canadian who loves nature, Westgarth spends a lot of time outdoors, enjoying the beauty of the world around him. He thought this video would be of interest to fellow PebbleCreekers.
The TED Talk “Hidden miracles of the natural world” by filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg uses high-speed cameras, time lapses, and microscopes to reveal beautiful video images in nature that are imperceptible to the human eye.
From a young age, I have enjoyed photography. When I bought my first macro lens, I could not believe the close-up world of nature that I previously had overlooked. My eyes were opened, transforming my perspectives.
This stunning video of our living universe will open your eyes and expand your horizons.
To view this seven-minute talk, go to TED.com, click “watch” in the header, then “TED Talks,” then in “Search talks” input “Hidden miracles of the natural world,” scroll a little lower, and click on the talk you selected.
Lecture Program Conquers COVID Challenges
Lorna Bray
Life is all about facing new challenges, and the 2020-21 lecture season certainly provided its share. Despite the fact that we were not able to hold our usual in-person lectures, the lecture team and our speakers learned new skills in the virtual world to provide the community with 14 complimentary Monday Morning Lectures via the Zoom platform.
All the speakers, who had been confirmed in spring 2020 to present this past season (which ran October 2020 through March 2021), agreed to present virtually. We have had a good season with positive feedback from those who completed online evaluation forms. On average, more than 90 percent of those completing the evaluations indicated that the lectures met or exceeded expectations. Our success was due to the PebbleCreek community that supported the virtual lecture program and to the dedicated LifeLong Learning volunteers who worked to get the virtual format up and running.
Along with Jill Burnham, who serves as lectures co-director, LifeLong Learning volunteers performed a myriad of duties, such as marketing the lectures, providing Zoom training, handling registration, and co-hosting on Zoom.
We were pleased that, through Zoom, we were able to offer closed captioning for our virtual presentations. That was appreciated by residents who have hearing issues and by residents who may find a speaker hard to understand.
The lecture team is in the process of vetting potential speakers for the 2021-22 season, however, we are always open to speaker recommendations. Please visit lifelonglearningatpc.org for an online speaker suggestion form, or email Burnham at [email protected]. Next season, in addition to Monday Morning Lectures, we plan to resume offering evening Premier Lectures, once the theater reopens for in-person gatherings.
Thank you again to the PebbleCreek community for supporting the LifeLong Learning lecture program.
Resident Volunteer Instructors Support Classes
Carole Korzilius
The LifeLong Learning (LLL) board waived its usual class fees during the recently completed 2020-21 season, due to COVID. That decision was made possible, in large part, by PebbleCreek residents who stepped up to share their own areas of expertise, as volunteer instructors, without charge to LLL. Expert residents voluntarily taught all but two of the 11 classes that LLL organized this season, which culminated last month.
Here’s a rundown of the 2020-21 resident, volunteer class instructors:
* Cathy Lindstrom: A retired clinical psychologist, former hospital administrator, and current board member of Beatitudes Senior Living Complex in Phoenix. She offered advice on choosing an end-of-life journey that maximizes comfort and personal choice and minimizes distress and disruption, for both patients and their families.
* Mark Pelletier: Formerly employed in information systems, a lifelong history buff, and now an active member of Three Rivers Historical Society. He shared highlights of his years of research on the city of Goodyear’s 1946 origins and its colorful characters and stories, up to present day.
* Priscilla Wardlow: A former Honeywell manufacturing vice president, lifelong fan and student of Mattel’s Barbie® dolls, and attendee at national Barbie conferences. She shared her knowledge of Barbie products, their history, and value. She also related Barbie to the women’s liberation movement, as a cultural phenomenon that has influenced girls’ lives for several decades.
* Gene Fioretti: A retired cardiologist and now chef par excellence. He explained the importance of proper ingredients, equipment, and techniques required for the preparation of truly exceptional food, from pasta to baguettes to pizza. Using LLL’s webcam, we were able to film Fioretti in his own kitchen, dressed in his chef’s jacket, demonstrating his Italian-made pizza oven on his own patio. Only a smell tracker could have improved the experience!
* Mary Thomas: A long-term social worker, a legislative advocate on poverty, and a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She chronicled the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to urban areas north and west from about 1917 to 1970 and its impact on social and political change in the cities that received them.
* Linda Kesselman: A teacher for 20 years and a volunteer advocate for an organization called Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE.) She referred LLL to a FORCE webinar presentation on inherited forms of cancer. Kare Bears and LLL together co-sponsored the January webinar and drew a large and appreciative response.
We are grateful for our instructors’ in-kind contributions of their time and effort to offer residents opportunities to broaden their knowledge through LifeLong Learning’s classes.
LLL Contact Information
Pat Ingalls
* Website: www.lifelonglearningatpc.org
* Email: [email protected]
* LLL Center hours: Closed until further notice