From medieval law to false memories, and a Dharamsala photo journey to cryptocurrencies, Third Age Learning at Kwantlen (TALK) will cover a wide range of topics this winter and spring.
Starting Jan. 27 with Fire Season – KPU Fine Arts instructor Liz Toohey-Wiese’s look at the visual history of wildfire prevention art and contemporary artists’ processing of environmental change – TALK is hosting more than 30 online and in-person events through to early May for people over the age of 50.
“With the TALK program you know you are receiving current information presented by professionals in their field,” says Terri-Lou Trainor, marketing chair of TALK. “It helps to broaden your level of knowledge in a fun and interactive way and remain relevant at the same time.
“I look forward to the added structure in my month attending either online or in-person classes on a broad range of topics of interest to my age bracket. As with physical fitness, it is also important that we continue to enhance our mental fitness and TALK is a perfect program to help achieve this goal.”
TALK courses are participatory learning experiences with no quizzes, grades or prerequisites. The learning process features lively discussion, humour, controversy, insight and wisdom.
Membership – a $10 annual fee – is required to sign up for courses, most of which cost $15 and run for 90 or 110 minutes. Many courses will be online, but some are scheduled to be held at KPU’s campuses in Surrey, Richmond and Langley subject to pandemic conditions at the time. TALK expects members to be double-vaccinated and requires they wear a face mask to in-person events.
TALK has two free events, Compelling Conversations and Philosophers’ Corner, that are open to the public, including non-members and the under 50s.
Compelling Conversations, an annual lecture, will this year feature KPU Chancellor Kim Baird discussing reconciliation in Canada. She will share the historical underpinnings of Indigenous exclusion and its legacy today, the potential paths to resolving outstanding injustices and the potential roles individuals and post-secondary institutions can take. Compelling Conversations is scheduled to take place in the Conference Centre at KPU Surrey, on Mar. 1, at 7 p.m.
Philosophers’ Corner, a topical debate forum held on the first Thursday of each month, remains online through to May.