Parkland College has a question for area seniors. What classes are relevant to you? What do you want to learn? What areas of interest would you like to explore for a new program?
Program coordinator Connie Brown is looking at what they can plan for the next year, and the best way to get a program offered is for people to show interest in the idea.
The college already has programs that would be of interest to seniors. The Computing Basics program was developed with the assistance of the Yorkton New Horizons, with the intent of being a good way to get comfortable with computers, explained Brown. The next step of the program, an introduction to Microsoft Word, requires a bit of familiarity with computers, but is still pitched at that same market. That program is the next one up at the college, starting on March 22.
“Computer training is something that we’ve done quite a bit of with seniors.”
They find that it’s not the skills that are a barrier, but the terminology. For a lot of people, it’s wading into a foreign language, so they spend a lot of time in a relaxed environment to get comfortable with the machines and what they can do.
“They might be scared or have never used a mouse before at the start, but at the end they are so proud.”
After that point, the college also offers a wide range of online programs that cover a wide variety of topics that seniors could enjoy through Ed2Go. Brown said that after they get a handle on the basics of computers, everyone wants to go in a different direction, and they want the basics to go in a different direction later.
“When someone is confident enough to do that on their own, it opens up a whole range of opportunities.”
But what about people who are not interested in computers? The college will also have a conversational Ukrainian course, starting on March 7. Brown views it as a way to connect with grandchildren, as it’s something someone could take to bridge the language gap between generations.
But what else do seniors in the city want? The Parkland College wants to get a lot of use out of the Trades and Technology Centre, and that means offering a wide variety of courses to Yorkton residents, but what courses to offer? Brown said that while they can partner with many different institutions to bring in a course and they are interested in meeting the needs of the community, they need to know what those needs are.
If you have an idea for a course that would generate interest in the community, contact Brown at 306.786.7335 or c.brown@parklandcollege.sk.ca. She notes that courses will need to have at least six to eight student to go ahead, but they’re interested in community feedback and want to meet the needs of local seniors as they seek to continue a lifetime of learning.
