Curriculum Showcase

PLATO depends on volunteer Course Coordinators to offer courses for our members.

If you are interested in coordinating a PLATO course, please submit a Course Proposal Form to Kathy Brown (kathytft@charter.net) or Curriculum Chair, Kathie Burman (kburman@burmancoffee.com) . Feel free to contact them if you would like help in developing your idea.

You may also get started with learning more about the process by exploring PLATO's Curriculum Coordinator Toolkit.

Any member can propose a course. Some coordinators are retired educators who are willing to continue sharing their knowledge, but most coordinators are members with a strong interests and enthusiasms that they wish to share with others.

Course format is flexible ranging from lectures with discussions, book discussions, presentations by course members, memoir and writing workshops, and hands-on activities like making artwork or crafting.

I have been an active member of PLATO for over 10 years and have lived in St Louis for nearly half that time. About 8 years ago, our daughter’s company transferred her to a better position in St Louis. Although my wife and I had at that time only lived in the Madison area for a few years, we were most reluctant to leave because of our large circle of friends and my deep involvement with PLATO. At the same time, we knew that we wanted to remain close to our grandchildren. Ironically, the pandemic laid the groundwork for my continued work with PLATO and living near our daughter and growing family.

Using Google Meet and Zoom I have been able to participate in all my PLATO meetings. In addition, I remain an active member of the Agora Board and as a judge I submitted literary and artistic materials along with other Board members. Likewise, as a long-standing member of the Curriculum Committee, I continue to evaluate new course proposals and mentor new course coordinators. On most Wednesdays, I enjoy lively discussions in the Continuing Philosophy class.

Good internet connections and other modern technologies make these internet meetings and classes run smoothly. For example, technologically oriented PLATO members like Paul Thompson and Bill Colwell can set up hybrid courses like Continuing Philosophy so that students can meet in Madison or participate via the internet. This hybrid course works remarkably well, and students can fully participate in lively discussions independent of their location. After the first few hybrid meetings, we adopted a few simple rules. First, students must use the electronic raised hand sign if they want to speak. Second, another student volunteers to watch for ‘raised hands’ and to ensure that all students are recognized.

So, no matter where you live, you can enjoy PLATO.

~ Written by Bill Eisinger

1. If you are a HODOPHILE, in which class will you find likeminded PLATO members?
2. In which course should you enroll if you want to read and discuss one of the greatest works of literature to date?
3. What class will offer a lecture and discussion on Habitable Exoplanets—Worlds beyond our own?

•  

  ANSWERS

  1.     PLATO Travel

• 2.     Reading the Classics:  Reading Anna Karenina
• 3.    A History of Matter in the Universe
•  

• PLATO FALL 2024 COURSE CATALOG QUIZ #3

  1. In what class will you read about the link between Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers?
  2. In what course might you explore time, sleep, critical thinking, and negativity?
  3. Want to know more about Viola and Sebastian, Shylock, Rosalind and Orlando, the Shrew, and Prospero?  Which course will answer your questions?

•  

  ANSWERS

• 1.     Social Justice Book Discussion Group
• 2.     Who’s Driving the Bus?
• 3.     Shakespear's Comedies: Method and Meaning 

• PLATO FALL 2024 COURSE CATALOG QUIZ #2

  1. What class should you enroll in if you want to read a book by the author of The Three Musketeers & The Count of Monte Christo?
  2. In what course are you encouraged to ‘Do your own thing and make a commitment to yourself’?
  3. In what course might you hear the terms migration, carbon-free, food choices, and biodiversity?

• 
  

  ANSWERS

  1.     Novels Old and New

• 2.     Exploring Creativity
• 3.     Pathways to a Sustainable Planet

 

• PLATO FALL 2024 COURSE CATALOG QUIZ #1
  
  

• 1.         In what class will you discuss Required Minimum Distributions?
• 2.     By what other name(s) is the Lunyu known?
• 3.         Are you a music afficionado?  Do you see the influences of your favorite music genre in modern American popular music?  In what class can you have a lively discussion on the topic?

• ANSWERS

• 1.          Money Skills for Retirees
• 2.     Confucius’ Analects or sometimes Confucian Analects
• 3.     The Roots of Modern American Popular Music

 

We Love a Mystery, which meets online (every other week in regular semesters and continues with a less formal schedule during winter and summer), concentrates on the presentation and analysis of mystery novels. Barb Evans, the highly-organized and welcoming coordinator, assures course members that every opinion is welcome. Each person feels free to love, hate, or be neutral about a book. Recently, a very special afternoon featured an in-person get together with first-time novelist, Amy Pease, who wrote a riveting mystery set in Wisconsin called "Northwoods". Amy, who, lucky for us, is the daughter-in-law of one of our long time members, discussed the novel as well as the steps it took to find a publisher. If interested in learning more about “Northwoods” you can find interviews featuring Amy on YouTube.com or Google the title and read 30 pages for free.

Andy Millman facilitates the PLATO Writing Workshop, which inspires members to write fiction, non-fiction and poetry in a supportive community. On Wednesday afternoon, May 8, 2024, ten writers met at the Pinney Library to share some of what they are writing. These writers wrote for a variety of reasons: to remember significant family experiences, for historical purposes, to vent, to explore their personal stories, to create a novel and to share poetry. Three members of the group shared books they recently published. It was an uplifting afternoon of learning and sharing. As Kathi Vos noted, “Ordinary people truly live extraordinary lives.”  

Whether you want to write for yourself, your grandchildren or for the community in general, the PLATO Writing Workshop is a great place to find common interests, good humor, support and encouragement to write! As a visitor to this afternoon of readings, I came away amazed by the variety and fun this group has with writing!

~ By John Serunian 

Spotlight on Coordinator Videos

Did you know that course coordinators can record a short video about themselves and their courses? This is a great way for potential participants to see and hear the instructor discuss the course.

The videos should be from one to three minutes long, and the instructor should provide a brief background on why they are teaching the course and what the course will cover. The video will be posted on the course listing and also on the course webpage. Click into the link to see an introduction to the course instructor and a description of the course in the coordinator’s own words. Here is an example of a course coordinator video from Craig Wille's Spring 2024 meditation course.

Videos can easily be recorded using a mobile phone and uploaded either to Dropbox, Google Docs or Youtube. Jayne Fischer (jdfischer2@gmail.com) sends an email to instructors before each semester inviting them to create a recording for their courses. When they respond indicating an interest, she sends them instructions.

The PLATO Curriculum Committee began offering this option to course coordinators when Covid hit and we were not able to hold the course sign-up session at the Madison Senior Center. That session was a wonderful opportunity for prospective students to meet the instructors – but even then, not everyone could make the session. Covid prompted us to make changes – not only in the instructor meet-and-greets, but also to the courses themselves. As an example, in the current Spring 2024 semester, there are 29 courses, and over half are held either virtually (11 courses) or hybrid (both online and in person, 5 courses).

We are hoping that coordinators will see the value in recording a short video, and students reviewing the courses will have another way to help them decide which courses to take. There are so many good courses to choose from that sometimes it’s hard to decide! As we know, at PLATO “the love of learning never grows old!”

The Curriculum Committee (CC) had a Retirement party for Therese Stevens.  We were thanking her for all that she has done to make sure that our courses run smoothly. 

 

Therese joined the CC ten years ago.  She soon became the committee secretary.  Then she took on the role of co-chair of the committee.  Each CC member is given a list of coordinators to work with as a liaison.  Liaisons are asked to gather all of the information that is needed for the presentation of the classes.  This includes Coordinator information, location, dates, and description of the course. Ten years ago all of this information was gathered on paper and given to Therese for advertising the courses.  As the PLATO website matured, the job became more complicated and Therese became the website presence for the CC committee.  She gathered all of the needed data and made sure that it was correctly put on the courses page.   Therese was Co-Chair of the CC Committee for years while doing these other jobs.  That meant meeting with the Board of Directors to report on the work of the CC and report back to the CC what was needed.  Therese set up the agenda for the meeting and supervised the minutes.

 

More recently, Therese became the Course Planner.  She wrote the articles spotlighting many different coordinators. At first we were changing the articles every two weeks, then three weeks, then once a month. During the pandemic Therese was very involved with Paul Thompson (then Committee Chairman) in preparing coordinators and PLATO members on using Google Meet, including meeting in groups online with coordinators and meeting individually with coordinators to practice having a course online or hybrid.

 

As PLATO has about 50 courses a year, that often meant working many hours to get the work complete.  In addition, Therese worked to get the CC members to do their part of the plan.  Lots of calls and emails were completed. Some of us depended on Therese to have answers to all of our questions. Of course, she always knew what we were to do.

  

At the retirement party, as we were discussing all that Therese has done, I was thinking about a talk that I had just heard in one of my classes.  I am thinking of all the time and energy it takes to present an hour’s lecture with pictures and various items that go with it.  That was just one hour in one class.  Then, I began to think of all the lectures given in a week, in a month and in a year.   It is amazing.  PLATO is run by volunteers and they are willing to give of their time and energy just for the fun of it.

 

A big thank you to Therese and all who give so much to PLATO, where the love of learning never grows old!