The first day of class of Tellico Village University began Jan. 19 and already Villagers are expressing interest in joining more courses in hopes of expanding and continuing “lifelong learning” in their senior adult life.
Director Cindy Soloman said the inaugural semester got off to a good start as a class of 20 Villagers delved into an introduction to Web design. The introduction to Web design course lasts four weeks and will be followed by instruction in cascading style sheets for those who wish to learn more advanced methods and tools used in Web design.
The university is a program sponsored by StayinTV, a nonprofit organization that helps identify the changing needs of the population and spearheads action that enables residents to age in place with dignity in Tellico Village.
Soloman said she hopes the new program will entice existing Villagers to stay and potential new residents to locate to the active retirement community.
“We have essentially two main goals,” Soloman said. “The purpose of Tellico Village is to create this learning community for those of us who live here so we can enjoy it. The second one is to create this center for lifelong learning as one more marketable program that features Tellico Village as a very desirable place to live. We see this as a highly marketable program and makes us more attractive to those who are looking for a place like Tellico Village where they will come to retire.”
Villager Tom Kowalweski, who is teaching the Web course, agreed with Soloman’s sentiments, adding that he will teach future classes with the local university.
“People don’t have to go very far to take a class. They can take a ride with neighbors or walk if they were close enough,” Kowalweski said. “It makes it very convenient.”
As part of the class on introduction to Web design, students will learn about coding and creating webpages. By the end of the course, students will build a basic webpage with text, backgrounds, photos and links.
“Participants who complete this course are ready to develop their own website or learn more with CSS and JavaScript after completing the introduction course,” according to the university website. “Students will be able to understand hypertext markup language, create basic webpages using HTML, find additional help on the Internet, add text, graphics, images and links to pages and learn tags and HTML elements for page design.”
Another TVU course will begin Friday on beginning French. Soloman said seven to 10 courses will be offered each semester. Semesters will be offered in the spring, from January to June, and in the fall, from August to November.
Other courses that will be offered this spring semester will include another French course that will act as a continuation of the beginning foreign language course, art animation, which will include Disney characterization, and horticulture, writing, photography and health courses.
“Continuing learning is an important part of being a vital active adult,” Soloman said. “We need to exercise the brain in the same way that we need to be physically active and socially involved, and we take care of our physical activity pretty well here. And we have lots of opportunities for social activities. Tellico Village University is just a way of placing more focus on our need to learn things. It’s fun. There are no tests, exams, papers, presentations, grades, nothing like that. It’s just come and learn something just because you want to.”
Courses are mostly taught by Villagers themselves and are available only to Tellico Village residents. Costs and course lengths vary per class.
“The cost varies, but generally a course could either be no cost or the most common cost is $5 for each two hour class,” Soloman said.
To register for a course, visit the university’s contact us tab on the website, at www.tvuniversity.org.
Noting that the university took a year to plan, Soloman said the idea of offering “lifelong learning” in Tellico Village has been circulating among Villagers since 2008. Some Villagers have traveled to the University of Tennessee or the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning, but offering those courses right in Tellico Village was key, Soloman said.
“As you know, we have a lot of organizations, a lot of recreational activities here in Tellico Village, but another part of a senior lifestyle is continuing learning,” Soloman said. “We have a lot of organizations here where you can attend and hear a program or attend a workshop or take maybe a seminar. We have always had in our very many organizations places to go learn things. What we did not have is a central function, the kind (that) collected all of our opportunities for learning into one program that we call Tellico Village University.”
Tellico Village University has a bright future ahead. Future potential courses that will be offered in Tellico Village include astronomy, economics, investment management, photo editing and potentially more computer application courses.
“I would really like to offer a course in either Italian, Spanish or German because the French course was full,” Soloman said. “It was full right away. ... We want a program that is diverse, convenient and affordable.”
