Friday, December 30, 2016

AMRITSAR Project to engage senior citizens in community activities to be launched

T
​his story talks of learning to earn at old age
=================================
Project to engage senior citizens in community activities to be launched


Inderpreet Singh has been promoting the SPEEE project among citizens, especially students, in Amritsar on 

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 15

Implementing his concept of engaging the elderly in activities that bring about a social change and ensuring that their twilight years are productive, city-based youngster Inderpreet Singh has collaborated with Sarab Asara, a home for the old to engage them in community-based activities. He will also officially launch the programme called SPEEE (Society for Productive Engagement and Entertainment for Elderly) in collaboration with IVY Children. Inderpreet has roped in Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who will launch the project on Saturday.
The project is designed to make senior citizens a part of the community skill development movement and make them self reliant. "Initially, we will be working with 12 senior citizens and impart them skills for programmes like mushroom farming, organic farming and other activities that help them keep busy and become productive. A small kitchen garden will be provided by Sarab Asara and the infrastructure will be provided by Dilbir Foundation," informed Inderpreet.
Sarab Asara, an initiative of the Youth For Global Transformation and Peace, will also provide land to expand upon the programme further. "We reached out to several volunteers from Khalsa College's agriculture department, who will guide the inmates about methods of farming. Also, a weekly medical checkup would also be done for free of cost, to take care of their health issues," he informed. The senior citizens will pair up with the underprivileged kids from IVY Children, for the skill development programme. It will include theatre training as well.
Calling his programme unique for the city, Inderpreet Singh said that the lack of avenues and regard for the life of senior citizens from the administration is disappointing. "Old age homes have attained a negative association, only considered as the abandonment ground for people who live with lost cause. I want to change that, working through the same elderly, making these homes a potential start-up hub."

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Re: [sss-global] Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management

Superb....sir.....very happy to read it.seniors serving the others who are suffering is really motivating.our SSS is the right title and it does right things to help elders.

On 2 December 2016 at 18:40, Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy vyasamoorthy@gmail.com [sss-global] <sss-global@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 


Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people
India Blooms News Service

The company, which started its journey two years back, provides expert-verified customised geriatric care solutions by leveraging technology and their team of trained, ex-army professionals.

Speaking about the organisation, co-founder Apratim Chattopadhyay said: "I was looking for an organisation that can provide comprehensive speciality care to elders and parents."

The organisation already has over 100 members.

The organisation carries out joint operation with Woodlands Hospital, Kolkata to provide the medical facilities to its members and also has tie-ups with other hospitals like Belle Vue Clinic and AMRI.

The Silver Circle, which is a joint initiative of Support Elders and Calcutta Metropolitan Institute, brings the concept of U3A (University of the Third Age) where retired and semi-retired people can come together to share their skills and experiences.

Chattopadhay,CEO of the organisation, said: "U3A provides life-long learning. Our members learn different instruments and then they can carry it out as their hobby."

Support Elders provides a smart watch to all its members with geo-location tracker, voice communication device and alert button to rescue them in an emergency situation.
​​

The organisation aims to open its services outside the city in the near future.

"We are mainly targeting the tier 1 and tier 2 cities to expand our organisation and that will be decided in the next fiscal year," the CEO said.

The cost of the integrated services provided by Support Elders is currently Rs 2,000 rupees (excluding tax) per month per head

__._,_.___

Posted by: Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy <vyasamoorthy@gmail.com>
Reply via web post Reply to sender Reply to group Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1)

Have you tried the highest rated email app?
With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email again with 1000GB of free cloud storage.


.

__,_._,___



--
Thanks &  regards,
Dr. G.Sobha Perin Devi.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Re: [indian-society-for-u3a] Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management

Thank you Mr. Vyasamoorthy and Mr. Malhotra.

Warm Regards
Apratim Chattopadhyay


On 02-Dec-2016 8:49 pm, "ashok kumar malhotra" <akmalhotra123@rediffmail.com> wrote:
It is heartening to know details of Support Elders.
It is Novel. U3A is about learning anything by seniors,not necessarily education by books.
Regards

A K MALHOTRA

From: Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy <vyasamoorthy@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri, 02 Dec 2016 18:40:53
To: SSS <sss-global@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: indian-society-for-u3a <indian-society-for-u3a@googlegroups.com>, vyasamoorthy1.u3anews@blogger.com, Apratim Chattopadhyay <apratim.ch@gmail.com>
Subject: [indian-society-for-u3a] Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management
 
 
Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people
India Blooms News Service

 
The company, which started its journey two years back, provides expert-verified customised geriatric care solutions by leveraging technology and their team of trained, ex-army professionals.

Speaking about the organisation, co-founder Apratim Chattopadhyay said: "I was looking for an organisation that can provide comprehensive speciality care to elders and parents."

The organisation already has over 100 members.

The organisation carries out joint operation with Woodlands Hospital, Kolkata to provide the medical facilities to its members and also has tie-ups with other hospitals like Belle Vue Clinic and AMRI.

The Silver Circle, which is a joint initiative of Support Elders and Calcutta Metropolitan Institute, brings the concept of U3A (University of the Third Age) where retired and semi-retired people can come together to share their skills and experiences.

Chattopadhay,CEO of the organisation, said: "U3A provides life-long learning. Our members learn different instruments and then they can carry it out as their hobby."

Support Elders provides a smart watch to all its members with geo-location tracker, voice communication device and alert button to rescue them in an emergency situation.
​​

The organisation aims to open its services outside the city in the near future.

"We are mainly targeting the tier 1 and tier 2 cities to expand our organisation and that will be decided in the next fiscal year," the CEO said.

The cost of the integrated services provided by Support Elders is currently Rs 2,000 rupees (excluding tax) per month per head
 

 

--
http://www.u3aindia.org/ This is our old Website URL of ISU3A.
It will re-direct you to CURRENT website:
http://u3aindia.weebly.com/
Request your friends of U3A to subscribe & visit these sites
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Indian Society for U3A" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to indian-society-for-u3a+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to indian-society-for-u3a@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indian-society-for-u3a.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
http://www.u3aindia.org/ This is our old Website URL of ISU3A.
It will re-direct you to CURRENT website:
http://u3aindia.weebly.com/
Request your friends of U3A to subscribe & visit these sites
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Indian Society for U3A" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to indian-society-for-u3a+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to indian-society-for-u3a@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indian-society-for-u3a.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Re: [indian-society-for-u3a] Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management

It is heartening to know details of Support Elders.
It is Novel. U3A is about learning anything by seniors,not necessarily education by books.
Regards

A K MALHOTRA

From: Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy <vyasamoorthy@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri, 02 Dec 2016 18:40:53
To: SSS <sss-global@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: indian-society-for-u3a <indian-society-for-u3a@googlegroups.com>, vyasamoorthy1.u3anews@blogger.com, Apratim Chattopadhyay <apratim.ch@gmail.com>
Subject: [indian-society-for-u3a] Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management
 
 
Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people
India Blooms News Service

 
The company, which started its journey two years back, provides expert-verified customised geriatric care solutions by leveraging technology and their team of trained, ex-army professionals.

Speaking about the organisation, co-founder Apratim Chattopadhyay said: “I was looking for an organisation that can provide comprehensive speciality care to elders and parents.”

The organisation already has over 100 members.

The organisation carries out joint operation with Woodlands Hospital, Kolkata to provide the medical facilities to its members and also has tie-ups with other hospitals like Belle Vue Clinic and AMRI.

The Silver Circle, which is a joint initiative of Support Elders and Calcutta Metropolitan Institute, brings the concept of U3A (University of the Third Age) where retired and semi-retired people can come together to share their skills and experiences.

Chattopadhay,CEO of the organisation, said: “U3A provides life-long learning. Our members learn different instruments and then they can carry it out as their hobby.”

Support Elders provides a smart watch to all its members with geo-location tracker, voice communication device and alert button to rescue them in an emergency situation.
​​

The organisation aims to open its services outside the city in the near future.

“We are mainly targeting the tier 1 and tier 2 cities to expand our organisation and that will be decided in the next fiscal year,” the CEO said.

The cost of the integrated services provided by Support Elders is currently Rs 2,000 rupees (excluding tax) per month per head
 

 

--
http://www.u3aindia.org/ This is our old Website URL of ISU3A.
It will re-direct you to CURRENT website:
http://u3aindia.weebly.com/
Request your friends of U3A to subscribe & visit these sites
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Indian Society for U3A" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to indian-society-for-u3a+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to indian-society-for-u3a@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indian-society-for-u3a.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management


Support Elders: A new destination for elderly people
India Blooms News Service

The company, which started its journey two years back, provides expert-verified customised geriatric care solutions by leveraging technology and their team of trained, ex-army professionals.

Speaking about the organisation, co-founder Apratim Chattopadhyay said: "I was looking for an organisation that can provide comprehensive speciality care to elders and parents."

The organisation already has over 100 members.

The organisation carries out joint operation with Woodlands Hospital, Kolkata to provide the medical facilities to its members and also has tie-ups with other hospitals like Belle Vue Clinic and AMRI.

The Silver Circle, which is a joint initiative of Support Elders and Calcutta Metropolitan Institute, brings the concept of U3A (University of the Third Age) where retired and semi-retired people can come together to share their skills and experiences.

Chattopadhay,CEO of the organisation, said: "U3A provides life-long learning. Our members learn different instruments and then they can carry it out as their hobby."

Support Elders provides a smart watch to all its members with geo-location tracker, voice communication device and alert button to rescue them in an emergency situation.
​​

The organisation aims to open its services outside the city in the near future.

"We are mainly targeting the tier 1 and tier 2 cities to expand our organisation and that will be decided in the next fiscal year," the CEO said.

The cost of the integrated services provided by Support Elders is currently Rs 2,000 rupees (excluding tax) per month per head

Saturday, September 10, 2016

School for old women in Thane

Women Between the Ages of 60 and 90 Are Learning Their ABCs at This School for Grannies


A school that is open for only two hours a day, where the uniform is pink sarees and where all students are between the ages of 60 and 90. Welcome to Aajibaichi Shala (Grandmothers’ School).
Set up by Yogendra Bangar and the Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust, the school – located inPhangane, Thane – is perhaps India’s first school for uneducated grandmothers.
“We started this school to inculcate love and respect for the elderly,” Dilip Dalal, the founder of the Trust toldFirstpost.
Yogendra Bangar – whose brain child the school is – says “Everybody in the village encouraged us, no one said a thing against the school. They said: ‘Nobody has done something like this before. Whatever you are doing is good for the society. We are with you.'”
He continues:

“Knowledge has great importance in life. It is very important to educate these elderly people who never got an opportunity to go to school. We started this school to bring happiness to their lives and make the village 100 percent literate.”

Started on International Women’s Day this year, the school – at present – has 28 students.
Says 87-year-old student Ramabai Ganpat Chandelle, “”I am like a ripe fruit that might fall off the branch anytime. I couldn’t go to school as a child and remained illiterate all my life. But I don’t want to die illiterate. Now, I am happy that I would be able to carry a few words with me to the other world.”
“When I come back home, the grandchildren tell me, ‘Granny, this is how you write this,’ or ‘Granny, this is how you read this.’ They teach me everything. They sit and study along with me. It’s great fun. We read each other’s lessons. We read out poems to each other. We write our lessons… We are certainly happy that we became literate at this age,” says another student, Kantabai.
While literacy is the primary goal, the school also has other activities in the pipeline for the women: “We have planned some creative initiatives wherein they will be trained to make hand-woven quilts and paper bags,” said Bangar.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Meet the 50-year-old Chennai professor who holds 145 academic degrees. No kidding : FYI, News - India Today

​When I talk about Lifelong Learning​ I always refer to Senior citizens and retirees taking interest in learning activity. This is the maximum by number of degrees to be held by a single individual. 
===============

Meet the 50-year-old Chennai professor who holds 145 academic degrees. No kidding
The visiting card of Professor VN Parthiban can barely hold all of the 145 academic degrees he obtained over the course of 30 years.


IndiaToday.in  | Posted by KC Archana
New Delhi, September 7, 2016 | UPDATED 16:15 IST


BRIEFCASE
1Professor VN Parthiban holds more than 145 academic degrees.
2He teaches more than 100 subjects in colleges across Chennai.
3He spends all his Sundays appearing for exams and studying.
Just when you thought having four academic degree is a lifetime achievement, along comes a man who holds not 4, not 40, but a whopping 145 academic degrees.
Yes you read that right!

Meet, Professor VN Parthiban, whose visiting card is like a book in itself, overflowing with hundreds of his academic qualifications.

The list of achievements will send you into a tizzy; he holds 8 Master of Law degrees(ML), 10 Master of Arts degrees(MA), 8 Master of Commerce degrees(M.Com), 3 Master of Science Degrees (MSc), 12 research degrees(M.Phil), and 9 Master of Business Administration degrees(MBA). He also teaches more than a hundred subjects in various colleges spread across Chennai.  

So, how did 55-year-old Parthiban, muster the strength to achieve this incredible feat?
"I really enjoy studying. It's not difficult at all," he said. "I have been continuously in the process of preparing for exams and applying for new degrees or diploma courses," he told the Sunday Indian.

For thirty long years, Partiban has been in the continuous process of applying for different courses. While we can hardly imagine a life without a lazy Sunday, this man has sacrificed all of it in writing exams, so much that invigilators know him by face.

Professor VN Parthiban comes from a humble family in Chennai, and during his days, it was not very easy to go to a college. He says that failure has been an integral part of his journey so far. "I struggled hard to finish my first college degree and got a job in the judiciary department", he said. He started applying to so many courses, that there were times when he studied for the wrong subject and failed the paper.

He even admits having a Mathematics phobia, saying, "I registered for Actuarial Sciences which I could not finish as it involved lot of mathematics which required a lot of effort."

But all of the 145 degrees has taken a toll on his memory, he finds it difficult to recollect people's faces and he even forgets directions to a place he visits every day.

However, Parthiban wishes to continue his journey of learning and collecting more and more degrees along the way.

See his list of degrees from a twitter page here:




Thursday, August 4, 2016

Fwd: MOOC on IMAD from IITM -- FREE FIVE WEEKS Online Course

Free online MOOC from NAPTEL on Application Development

IIT Madras offers Massive Open Online Course (=MOOC) of five weeks duration starting in Sep 2016 on Introduction to Modern Application Development (=IMAD), all for FREE.
No qualifications needed except a basic knowledge of javascript. After five weeks of completion of the course you will have written your own Mobile APP!!!

If there are tech savvy seniors, desirous of dusting their deadly brains, here is an opportunity.
Now read the following message from IIT-M

==
We want to draw your attention to the IIT Madras (NPTEL) online course
entitled "Introduction to Modern Application Development" (IMAD).

For details, visit http://www.imad.tech/ and for a short video about
the course, see the IMAD video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC__12iAJGc.

The course instructors are Gaurav Raina (Faculty IITM) and Tanmai
Gopal (IITM Alumnus, CSE, 2012).

Registration for the course is free and all the course videos will be
available online (NPTEL/YouTube). Upon completion of the course, one
can also get certification from IIT Madras.

The students completing this course will have the tangible benefit of
having a shot at getting internships/jobs at some of the top tech
startups/companies in India. Companies such as

ChargeBee <https://www.chargebee.com/> ,
CloudCherry <https://www.getcloudcherry.com/> ,
PickYourTrail <http://pickyourtrail.com/> ,
DIGIGRID Energy Solutions <http://digigrid.in> ,
Playfiks <http://www.playfiks.com/> ,
USP Studios <http://www.uspstudios.co/> ,
SolverMinds <https://www.solverminds.com/> , and
Volante Technologies <http://www.volantetech.com/>

have tied up with us to provide interview opportunities to these
students after the course. We are adding more companies to this list
as we speak. This is a testament to the usefulness of the skills that
the course will be teaching.

This course can be useful for a very wide audience, ranging from
schools, universities, technical institutes, to people working  in
industry. One of the objectives is to get people excited about
technology, and to that end it would be great if you could pass on
information about the course to a wide audience through the various
contacts of the office of international and alumni affairs.

Thank you!

Kind regards,
Dr. Gaurav Raina
Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras
=====

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Innovative Learning Meetup: Practice of Using Mobile for Lifelong Learning - EdTechReview™ (ETR)

Dear Members of ISU3A
I am very happy to learn​ about Prof MM Pant and his activities in Education and specially in LLL arena.  I have requested him to join us in ISU3A. Pl read the full story with photos at the url given. I am adding this info to  the IUS3A group mail, to relevant blogs, website etc.

​=============
Innovative Learning Meetup: Practice of Using Mobile for Lifelong Learning

EVENTS Editorial Team 30 June 2016 Hits: 201 0 Comments Share

Prof.MM Pant and Dr. Ramesh Sharma with their passion for mobile lifelong learning have planned Meetups for Sundays from 10 am to 1 pm to deliberate over educational matters of relevance to the future, in particular in the context of readiness for the 4th Industrial revolution.

They are primarily designed to provide an opportunity to participants of members  pursuing life-long learning.

SMILE (Sunday Meetups 4 Innovative Learning Expeditions) is about creating and fostering a community of self-Directed life-long learners, who are active seekers of learning experiences beyond the formal School or
College environs.

In this age of rapid knowledge obsolescence, social learning in groups of common shared interests is often sought and found. There is no age restriction, but the nature of themes chosen for a specific date, would indicate who would benefit more from them, but all themes could also have a generic interest.

The main benefit would be 'learning' though in a diverse group there would also be 'social' learning as well as bonding and making new friends. 

Their next Meetup is scheduled for Sunday 10th July at the WOODs from 10am to 1pm. In advance to that Meetup, the team is doing a one week Whatsapp course on the same theme beginning Monday 4th July till Saturday 9th July in which even those who can't attend in person on the 10th can participate. We will create a separate Whatsapp group for that which will start getting formed from Monday June 27th. Those who are interested in joining the Whatsapp group for that course module may please make a request accordingly. This group continues as a general group interested in the broad issues.

"To succeed in the already arrived 4th Industrial Age there will be 3 new major ways of acquiring knowledge, and most learners (young or not so young) today are ill equipped to benefit from them. These are :

1: Learning with MOOCs
2: Getting Mentored
3: Social and Peer learning

It is our endeavour to build these skills, competencies and abilities amongst all those who would like to pursue them," says Prof. Pant.

For ease of access, the primary model of learning is to use mobile phones for learning, with WhatsApp as the main communication tool.

The WhatsApp based course on ' Learning with MOOCs' will be launched from Monday 4th July 2016. Prospective learners can request to join here. The key resource person for this course is Dr Ramesh C Sharma and Prof MM Pant is an enabler/facilitator.

For in person interaction, there will be a SMILE Meetup on Sunday 10th July 2016. 

The flow of the WhatsApp course on ' Learning with MOOCs' is as follows:

Learning with MOOCs: DIY degrees & qualifications

Monday July 4th : Day 1: The Nuts and Bolts of MOOCs:
Topic 1.1: The story of MOOCs
Topic 1.2: MOOCs in the USA , UK, Europe, Singapore and Australia…..
Topic 1.3: SWAYAM : the Indian MOOC initiative

Tuesday July 5th : Day 2: Learning with MOOCs
Topic 2.1: A survey of learning opportunities with MOOCs
Topic 2.2: How to choose an appropriate MOOC?
Topic 2.3: MOOCs for success in the 4th Industrial Age

Wednesday July 6th: Day 3:Requisite learner skills set for learning with a MOOC
Topic 3.1: Being active self-directed learners
Topic 3.2: Share ideas & participate in discussions
Topic 3.3: Effective time management & avoiding procrastination

Thursday July 7th :Day 4: Learning how to learn?
Topic 4.1: The learning curve
Topic 4.2: Meta-Learning
Topic 4.3: Durable learning : make it stick

Friday July 8th : Day 5: DIY degrees & qualifications
Topic 5.1:Recognition of learning with MOOCs
Topic 5.2:Trends in acceptability of MOOC credentials
Topic 5.3:Beyond MOOCs : what next?

Saturday July 9th: Day 6; Wrapping Up and tying loose ends

Throughout the week : The next steps
Topic 6.1: Books, weblinks and Apps
Topic 6.2: MOOCs and OERs
Topic 6.3: Getting Mentored

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Program on Art of Graceful Ageing held in Haridwar June11-15,2016



Dear Friends,

We have the pleasure to inform that  Senior Citizen Forum, Haridwar organized a program  on Art of Graceful Ageing, as part of the Life Long Learning  for senior citizens as is  being propagated by ISU3A. The program was conducted by the eminent faculties like Swami Yogasthanand Jee, Sri Someshwar Lal Agrawal and Mrs. Manju Agrawal, from Central Chinmay Vanaprastha Sansthan, Allahabad.Mr Sajjan Singh from Rewa was also expected but could not attend . The workshop included the detailed insight of Social, Emotional, , Financial , Spiritual and  Physical Health. In addition discourses on Bhakti Sudha were organized in the evenings.

On valedictory function we had the honour of listening to Dr Capt M Singaraja from Chennai .

 A total of forty participants benefited from workshop. As per the feedback from the participants the workshop was a great success and was very much appreciated. Participants wished that more of such workshops should be organized in future.

Best regards,
MK Raina & Sarvesh Gupta







Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Lifelong Learning is the secret to happiness in old age

Lifelong learning is the secret to happiness in old age

Not only can learning during the later stages of life bring happiness, wellbeing and a connection to the wider community for those studying, it can also reduce dependency on welfare

 John Salinas says weekly ICT classes have given him a new lease of life, allowing him to benefit from community opportunities.

Jerome Monahan and Joe Clancy

Tuesday 17 May 2011 01.00 BST

Professor Stephen McNair has spent half a lifetime's research proving it's better to be happy than rich – a state some say is best achieved through lifelong learning. Now, at last, the government has latched on to the idea and David Cameron is planning a happiness index as a measure of success.

McNair, a semi-retired National Institute of Adult Continuing Education research fellow, says that in all the guidance about wellbeing, education is central. "[It is] particularly important for those in the latter stages of life when one is less mobile and having to cope with the death of partners and friends: getting out of bed and feeling one has a purpose can be particularly challenging."

This is clearly not an issue for 84-year-old Jim Kelly, winner of an Adult Learners' Week award in 2010, who has in recent years dedicated himself to a wide range of study – everything from gardening to the 1688 "glorious revolution". After school days blighted by poverty and bullying teachers, the impetus to study came from his granddaughter Becky who, as a two-year-old, grew frustrated with his inability to answer her questions. "Don't you know anything grandad?" she would ask. Now, 14 years later, he tells the teenager he's pleased she asked that question.

Evidence of the benefits of learning during the latter stages of life is overwhelming, from research by the Alzheimer's Society showing delayed onset of the disease, to reduced dependency on welfare support.

Melissa March is executive director of Learning for the Fourth Age, a charity dedicated to bringing trained volunteers into care settings where they work with residents. "Our volunteers help people with everything from recovering piano-playing after strokes to wanting to tackle Welsh for the first time," she explains. "There is lots of interest too in IT and the connections that email can bring. Our work helps break down older people's fears about young people and opens our volunteers' eyes to the lives of older people with very different experiences from their own."

Such improvements bring genuine happiness, as 78-year-old Londoner Maria Tolly found. In 1989, health problems spelled an end to her career as a professional guitarist, until specialist music technology courses at Morley College and the City Lit restored her commitment to making music. "I was concerned that I might be sidelined," she recalls, "but actually studying at both institutions has proved that age is immaterial – I feel so connected to life thanks to a combination of forgetting myself and realising how much I still have to learn." Soon she had music commissions ranging from after-school dance groups to composing a song for the 100th anniversary of her local park. "I am now becoming interested in music videos and I am looking for collaborators."

John Salinas, at 91, is also embracing IT. Each week he drives to his computing class and has progressed rapidly from not even knowing how to plug in his laptop, to using digital photography.

"John is an inspiration in the learning group of over-60s participants by being an example of someone committed to learn, and not letting age or knowledge be a barrier to 'getting digital'," says Iona Gibbons, a community learning development worker with Bath and North East Somerset county council.

Sharing with friends

For John, the benefits of lifelong learning are clear – the weekly classes have given him a new zest for life. "I want to remain active in myself for my own health but also access all the information that is on computers, to benefit from community opportunities and to meet other people who are in the same boat as me," he says. "I see my computer learning as now firmly part of my life and can share what I learn with my family and show them what I can do."

For 84-year-old Len Street, a committed contributor to the University of the Third Age (U3A) since its creation 19 years ago, it is the companionship while learning that leads to a healthier life. He currently runs opera and art-history study groups. "When people leave work it is often the company of others they miss most – education in older age can be a lifesaver."

The value of learning is no exaggeration, says Fiona Aldridge, Niace programme director and author of a recent report into lifelong learning in care settings. "The benefits of ensuring that ongoing learning is a part of a care package is hard to deny when one learns of some of the best practice in this area. It has significant benefits in terms of improving people's mental health and reducing their reliance on medication."

 ===============

 

http://www.theguardian.com/adult-learning/lifelong-learning-key-to-happiness

 

Dr P Vyasamoorthy
30 Gruhalakshmi Colony, Secunderabad 500015 Telangana
LL 040-27846631 / Mobile: 9490804278

Successfully installed my first automation recipe using IFTTT - Automatically Tweet upon posting a blog post. Also every tweet results in a FB status update as well.



Monday, June 20, 2016

19 Quotes To Encourage Lifelong Learning | Ohio State News

19 Quotes To Encourage Lifelong Learning
​​

By Danni White on March 18, 2016  


Learning is a lifelong process. No matter how long you live or how many degrees you earn in life, there will always be something you don't know. In this vast world of ever increasing technology, it is important to keep an open mind and an eye out for learning opportunities. Lifelong learning is the self-motivated pursuit of knowledge. There are countless possibilities to learn something new in this world and many people who are willing to teach you what they know. All you have to do is be open, be teachable, ask questions, and explore.
To help motivate you just a bit, here are 19 quotes to help encourage lifelong learning:

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."
Socrates

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young."
Henry Ford

"There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent."
Michel de Montaigne

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
W.B. Yeats

"Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death."
Albert Einstein

"There are few things more pathetic than those who have lost their curiosity and sense of adventure, and who no longer care to learn."
Gordon B. Hinckley

"I read my eyes out and can't read half enough … the more one reads the more one sees we have to read."
John Adams

"The education of a man is never completed until he dies."
Robert E. Lee

"Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future."
Brian Tracy

"Never discourage anyone … who continually makes progress, no matter how slow."
Plato

"We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn."
Peter Drucker

"All the world is my school and all humanity is my teacher."
George Whitman

"Self-education is lifelong curiosity."
Lailah Gifty Akita

"One of the reasons people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure."
John W. Gardner

"If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing."
Saint Augustine

"Almost anything can become a learning experience if there is enough caring involved."
Mary MacCracken

"Learning is an active process. We learn by doing … Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind."
Dale Carnegie

"You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives."
Clay P. Bedford

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Ageing Well: Falls - Newcastle University - Free online Course


ABOUT THE COURSE

Every day in the UK, almost 10,000 people aged over 65 will fall down. The personal costs are staggering, with falls resulting in injury, broken bones, fear of falling and social isolation.

People fall because of a complex mix of factors. To reduce falling, it is important to identify these factors, and recognise those that could signify serious, but treatable, underlying medical problems.

This interactive course will enable you to:

Learn more about why falls are just so important
Discover ways of assessing and reducing the risk of falling
Recognise when to seek help
Explore how to prevent falls and injury
During the course, we will meet people who have been affected by falls through a series of video case studies, and discuss together the important issues they raise, which we hope will be informative, practical and enlightening.

We will draw on the knowledge and experience of world leading experts at Newcastle University through our Meet the Experts series. This includes work with the award winning Falls and Syncope Service (FASS) at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary - the largest unit of its kind in Europe, recognised internationally for its innovative work in the field of falls and blackouts.

You can find out more about this course in Professor Julia Newton's blog post: "Falls are not a normal part of ageing."


 FREE online course
 Duration: 4 weeks
 2 hours pw
 Certificates available
SHARE
Share on Facebook  Share on Twitter  Share on Google+  Share on LinkedIn  Share by email
EDUCATORS

Julia Newton and James Frith
REQUIREMENTS
Whether you have been affected by falls yourself or care for someone who has, this course will help you understand what you can do to prevent falls and also what you can do if you have experienced a fall. All that's required is access to the internet and a computer.

Monday, March 28, 2016

U3A API & IUTA Int Conference Osaka Japan Oct 2016 Details


http://u3a-osakainternationalconference2016.org/

This website provides information on the combined U3A Asia Pacific Alliance and AIUTA International Conference to be held in the Asia Pacific Trade Center, Osaka, on 11th and 12th October 2016







Conference Theme:
 U3As Linking the World
Sub-themes: "Active & Healthy Ageing" and "Intergenerational Cooperation"

It will be hosted and organised by U3A Japan, and will be the 7th U3A Asia Pacific Alliance International Conference and the 99th AIUTA Governing Board Meeting and International Conference

There will be a special tour to Kyoto after the two days' conference. It will be accompanied by Mrs. Akiko Tsukatani and Age Concern Japan staff members. In addition there will be a special 12 day cultural tour of five cities, which includes the conference arrangements and payments. Click on the right for full details, in English or in french.

Programme, Registration, Hotels, Cultural Tour are all given





Dr P Vyasamoorthy
30 Gruhalakshmi Colony, Secunderabad 500015 Telangana
LL 040-27846631 / Mobile: 9490804278




Sunday, March 27, 2016

Fwd: Grannies going to school

Formal schooling for grandma to make them literates.

Age no bar: These grannies are going to school to shrug off illiterate tag

By Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre |Posted 27-Mar-2016

In a village 95 km from Mumbai, grandmothers are strapping on bags and skipping spiritual 'baithaks' for school time, all to pull off a signature before the final call comes


Shikshanala vayache bandhan naste (learning has no age limit) sounds platitudinous. The cliché, however, gets a real-life sparkle when put on a blackboard facing 28 non-literate grandmothers who have enrolled themselves at the Aajibainchi Shala in Phangane village of Thane district.

Embracing a routine that is conventionally reserved for tiny tots — nursery rhymes, alphabets, math tables and the occasional class in painting — senior women, aged 60 to 90 years, are coping with daily homework and an upcoming unit test. This will be their first exam in a formal teaching space since they started going to school in March.


All aged 60 to 90 years, students of Aajibainchi Shala in Phangane, one of the remotest of 206 villages in Murbad taluka of Thane district, walk 1 km to get to school where they spend two hours every day learning from kindles and charts. Pics/Satej Shinde

An otherwise nondescript non-motorable Phangane, 95 km from Mumbai on the Kalyan-Ahmednagar highway, now has a claim to fame. Until recently, it was a village of 400 people where the red-coloured ST (State Transport) bus and the government's BDO (Block Development Officer) did not venture. On March 8, International Women' Day, things changed.

The classes are sponsored by the Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust, which has provided a blackboard, slates (which the ajis call 'TV book'), a book shelf and colourful pencils. Twenty-eight women from the village are currently enrolled

Families here live on subsistence farming and sundry employment in the Ambernath industrial vicinity, doing small jobs in packaging. Most can barely make ends meet. Each house grows shevga (drumsticks) and has them for breakfast, lunch, dinner — guests are gifted shevga, as there is little else.

The students are all aged between 60 and 90. Many of them don't have birth records. When they fail to recall their exact age, they claim 65 as a suitable answer. PICS/SATEJ SHINDE
The students are all aged between 60 and 90. Many of them don't have birth records. When they fail to recall their exact age, they claim 65 as a suitable answer. Pics/Satej Shinde

The village now, however, has a unique classroom which could boast of the country's oldest pupils wearing a uniform of pink nauwari saris. The Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust and Yogendra Bangar, a teacher from Phangane Zilla Parishad's primary school, created history of sorts when they set up a blackboard, kindles, a book shelf and colourful pencils at a farmer's house. The house belongs to Dattatray Deshmukh.

The classes are conducted at local farmer Dattatray Deshmukh's home. He has  has loaned two living rooms for the cause. One acts as the classroom, the other is where study material — charts, stationery — and food supplies are kept
The classes are conducted at local farmer Dattatray Deshmukh's home. He has  has loaned two living rooms for the cause. One acts as the classroom, the other is where study material — charts, stationery — and food supplies are kept

His decision stems from both goodwill and the fact that the matriarch of his family is a part of the class. The house has two huge living rooms with a 1,000 sq feet area that now encompasses the school. One room is for the women to study, another where educational aids (charts, stationery, food supplies) are kept. Bangar and the trust asked men to join in the classes too. But, they found that women, especially senior women, needed this support more. Most of Phangane's male residents know how to sign their names. The trust thought it best to bring the women up to speed. Sixty became a minimum requirement as the classes needed a cut-off age.


Teacher Sheetal More's mother-in-law is also a student. Initially, the 25-year-old was uncomfortable teaching a class more than twice her age

Children set the tone by drawing the 'Welcome Aaji' rangoli in the open ground outside the school. Select households joined hands to contribute vegetable soup and groundnut ladoos as a booster snack for the brave women who had chosen to be schooled at an unconventional age. In order to liven up the aajis (Marathi for grandmother), the village also organised an excursion to Ralegan Siddhi to meet social activist Anna Hazare, a week before the start of the school. This was perhaps the first time that the aajis travelled beyond Tokawade, an adjoining village barely 10 km away from Phangane. Haunsabai Chindhu Kedar said, "When we met Anna Hazare and the another leader, Popatrao Pawar, the idea of going to school took firmer shape. The big world of great people, which we had only heard of, came closer to us."

Yogesh Bangar
Yogesh Bangar

The day at Aajibainchi Shala begins at 2 pm — the two hours between 2 and 4 pm are all that the aajis can devote to class as they have chores at home. Class begins with the Sharada Vandana (prayer to the Goddess of knowledge) delivered by 87-year-old-Ramabai Ganpat Khandagle. Khandagle can't hear properly, but she has a strong voice and so, it's she who is the trusted prayer monitor. After the 10-minute assembly, class begins.

Alphabet practice on the blackboard and then onto the slates (via what the aajis call TV books) forms the core of the session. For the next three months, the only school teacher, 25-year-old matriculate Sheetal More (whose mother-in-law is also a student), will follow a timetable that matches the target — getting them writing and signing their names.
More was initially embarrassed to teach the aajis, all of whom are over twice her age. "The first day was tough. But I realised that they were childlike in the class. I could shout at them and they would not mind," she smiles.

"When we face the Almighty and tell him about our main achievement, our prime gain will be our signature... we don't want to die angthachaap (unschooled)," says Anusuya Savlaram Deshmukh, 86. She comes to class along with her sister-in-law. She says her grandchildren laughed at the idea of her going to school, but she has stuck to her resolve of becoming literate.
The race against age is obvious, but motivating the ladies requires single-minded devotion. Parvatibai Maruti Kedar (65) did not miss school even on the day of her son's pre-nuptial haldi.

For Kamal Keshav Tupange (68) it's about regaining a lost sense of identity. Married at 12, Tupange, came to Phangane at an impressionable age. With this school, it is her chance to reclaim her space. Her grandchildren are married and she wants her own time now, she says. Which is why she has substituted baithak (a sit-down session with a spiritual guru) with school time.

The exclusive student profile of Aajibainchi Shala calls for precedence of verbal communication as against rigorous writing exercises. Most of the 28 aajis are frail, some have weak eyesight and others are hard of hearing. Many have to be escorted on the 50 metres to 1 km distance from their homes to school as they cannot carry their bags.

Although the class is designed for aajis between 60 and 90, the ones in their late 80s far outweigh the others. Many don't have birth records, but family documents and photo albums indicate their advancing years. When they fail to recall their exact age during formal introductions, they claim 65 as a suitable answer.

Aajibainchi Shala traipses over age-related physical handicaps by factoring in the wisdom and vocabulary that come with age. As most aajis have boisterous voices and a good command over the poetry of Maharashtra's saints, it is decided to map these entry points into formal learning. Focusing on the ovis (poetic metre) of Varkari saints which women traditionally sing while doing household chores, aajis are urged to narrate Tukaramgatha or Chokhamela poems. The school is trying to see oral knowledge through a classroom prism, credit for which is due to Bangar, who hails from Murbad. His 'Adult and Continuing Education' ideas spring from his self-declared literacy mission.

"Their recap of saint poetry makes them overqualified for a pre-primary set-up. We have to merely prep them for reading and writing, for which we only need to enthuse them," he says.

Aajibainchi Shala has made news because of its implausible geographical location. Phangane is among the remotest of the 206 villages falling in Murbad taluka. Dichotomous growth characterises the region, making it a picture of plenty and scarcity at once. A luscious green countryside (Malshej Ghat) and hill resorts for the urban sightseer is no solace to Murbad's subsistence farmer growing rice and urad.

Ill-equipped primary health centres cannot be masked by the tree-lined bungalow schemes, advertised as second homes. Enlightening is the joke that villagers share about Murbad's furnished villas with enticing names like Rose Meadows, Palm Village.

Real estate dealers get their clients for demo visits during the monsoons — the best time to shroud water woes.
Women in Murbad, also some from Aajibainchi Shala, cart water on their heads from the rivers. Tap water is a luxury and load shedding a reality; grocery and newspapers don't come in every morning. Amid this lack of connectivity, Aajibainchi Shala offers a beacon of hope.

It is an industrious use of the twilight years — easily replicable because there is no dearth of unschooled aajis across Murbad's 127 gram panchayats.

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub-text


- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/age-no-bar-these-grannies-are-going-to-school-to-shrug-off-illiterate-tag/17075187#sthash.LUx130TB.dpuf




​​