{"id":41024,"date":"2022-03-21T17:33:54","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T17:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=41024"},"modified":"2025-02-03T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:30:16","slug":"learning-as-a-lifestyle","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/learning-as-a-lifestyle\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning as a Lifestyle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Learning as a Lifestyle\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n

After two decades, 杏吧原创\u2019s Lifelong Learning Program continues to enrich curious minds in the Ottawa community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Alyssa Tremblay<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With over a dozen lecture series under her belt and a stack of notebooks, Louise Rachlis is one of 杏吧原创 University\u2019s keenest learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachlis is a regular participant in the Lifelong Learning Program (LLeaP)<\/a>, a community education program based out of 杏吧原创\u2019s Centre for Initiatives in Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly a decade, Rachlis has attended LLeaP lecture series on topics like Canadian musical theatre, pre-Raphaelite painting in 19th century Britain, and the history of rock and roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Louise Rachlis, LLeaP participant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you can see, I\u2019m a right brain person in my choices,\u201d she says. \u201cMy husband, on the other hand, has taken many different courses, often on scientific and political topics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 20 years, LLeaP (which evolved out of the Learning in Retirement Program) has offered adults of all ages the opportunity to enrol in workshops and lecture series taught by 杏吧原创 experts \u2013 including current and retired faculty members, contract instructors, alumni, and PhD candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-pandemic, the program offered up to 150 in-person series and single lectures per year, with annual registration numbers clocking in at over 5,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These lectures are held at a variety of locations, from stunning university-run spaces like the 杏吧原创 University Art Gallery<\/a>, and the 杏吧原创 Dominion-Chalmers Centre<\/a>, to fieldtrips to the National Gallery of Canada. LLeaP is also planning to expand to the new CU@Kanata<\/a> innovation space, to engage and inspire Kanata residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first lecture series Rachlis ever took was \u201cThe Neuropsychology of Being Human\u201d taught by Dr. Peter Fried<\/a>, a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like the opportunity to sit for a few undistracted hours and learn, to meet others,\u201d she says. \u201cI also like the fact that there are no exams or marks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also no prerequisites, assignments, or required readings. Rather than formal assessment, the goal for LLeaP participants is to listen, learn and discuss topics of common interest with a community of fellow knowledge-curious folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the program\u2019s participants are older adults, while others rearrange their work hours to attend. Attending with friends and relatives (including grown children) is also popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The LLeaP Team, from left to right: Daphne Uras, Nora Jorjani, and Jessica Sukstorf<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n


In the last two years, LLeaP moved its sessions online and expanded the scope of its community beyond Ottawa. Two popular \u2013 and particularly timely \u2013 lecture series offered via Zoom were the \u201cPlagues and Pandemics\u201d series taught by Dr. Alan Mortimer, a 杏吧原创 alum and former Director of the Centre for Biologics Research at Health Canada, as well as the ongoing series \u201cBehind the Headlines,\u201d in which retired Political Science professor Dr. Elliot Tepper provides commentary and context for current news and world events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amitabh Mukerji has been participating in LLeaP\u2019s online offerings since Fall 2020. The \u201cLife After Death\u201d lecture series, led by retired Religion professor Dr. Angela Sumegi<\/a>, was a personal favourite of his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe professor was objective while discussing various faith-based belief systems without being judgemental. She also has spent several years living and studying overseas some of the religions,\u201d Mukerji notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amitabh Mukerji, LLeaP participant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt my knowledge and understanding of the subject matter improved significantly. This included Hinduism, a religion I was born and raised into, but never looked at it as an outside observer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the move to online learning in Fall 2020 presented new technical challenges to LLeaP\u2019s administrative team, it also reinforced to them the importance of their program within the Ottawa community \u2013 especially in a global pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA participant reached out to us saying they couldn’t understand Zoom, but really wanted to use it and join our series,\u201d recalls Jessica Sukstorf, LLeaP\u2019s Program Administrator. \u201cI offered to assist them one-on-one and set up a Zoom call. When we finally got connected, with her camera and mic working, she looked at me and said, \u2018Oh! It’s working! You’re the first person I’ve seen in a while.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, almost two years later, Sukstorf sees participants who once struggled to register for a series or join a Zoom call, using reactions, selecting fun backgrounds, and setting up video calls with friends they made through LLeaP, even after the lecture ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the more topical lecture series, LLeaP continues to offer a rotating roster of long-time favourites, including a quintet of physics series taught by 杏吧原创 professors Dr. Peter Watson<\/a> and Dr. Andrew Robinson<\/a>, and a popular local history lecture series called \u201cOttawology\u201d run by Dr. Tonya Davidson<\/a> (Department of Sociology), which includes walking tours of downtown Ottawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward, the program will continue to offer both in-person and online events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about LLeaP and register for the next session of lecture series, visit https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lifelong<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After two decades, 杏吧原创\u2019s Lifelong Learning Program continues to enrich curious minds in the Ottawa community By Alyssa Tremblay With over a dozen lecture series under her belt and a stack of notebooks, Louise Rachlis is one of 杏吧原创 University\u2019s keenest learners. Rachlis is a regular participant in the Lifelong Learning Program (LLeaP), a community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[816],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-41024","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-general"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/41024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/41024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44868,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/41024\/revisions\/44868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=41024"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=41024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}