House History
House History
You can learn all about researching your family history with Kathryn Senior on the NCS course Family History Begins at Home. Now, here’s another facet of your family’s history, researching the history of your house.
Using a combination of census records, old maps and other documents, you can find out all about the previous residents and owners of your house, adding more context and colour to your family history. More from the Liverpool Echo…
Adult Learners’ Week
Adult Learners’ Week runs from 9th to 15th May this year and NCS is doing its bit to support it. You can try some course snippets and a complete free course over at the NCS ALW page. Try a course on Archaeology, Health Care or Herbology. It’s all free for Adult Learners’ Week.
Adult Education Tasmania is 60
60 Years Young
The older students of remote Australian island Tasmania have been served by Adult Education Tasmania since 1949. The organisation is rightly proud of this long-service in an age when the mature learner is often forgotten.
This autumn they are providing courses in an enviable range of subjects from Arts and Crafts to Outdoors and Adventure, by way of Music, Dance and Drama and Parenting. So it looks like they are vigorous enough to do another sixty years.
Congratulations Adult Education Tasmania from the NCS.
Happy Easter
Happy Easter
A happy Easter to all our readers!
It also looks like the weather is improving; just the right time to be taking a course with an outdoors element. May we suggest getting out in the garden for some Herbal Remedies, or maybe the Ecology of Your Garden is of interest? Maybe travel beckons and an Introduction to Archaeology would be nice? There is still time to squeeze in one of our Astronomy courses before the lighter nights draw in.
We are aware that the southern hemisphere is moving into autumn and the longer nights are approaching, and for you we have plenty of other courses to while away the winter evenings.
Give Your Brain A Workout
Dr John Medina has applied recent developments in neuroscience to come up with a twelve-point plan for maximising brainpower. You can give your brain a workout over at his web site, Brain Rules.
Some of the ideas may be surprising but are founded in science. Rule 1 suggests that our brains will work better when we are walking. The reason is evolutionary. Humans walk and have walked over vast areas of the globe and our brains developed on the move. So going for a walk to mull over a problem is probably a good idea. Sleep is the subject of rule 7. NASA pilots found they could concentrate better after a 26-minute nap and other research backs up the brain organising benefits of good sleep and the occasional nap.
Next time you are having problems gathering your thoughts or making a decision, have a look through the 12 brain rules and see if there is a way forward for you there.
Studying Through The Credit Crunch
Durham University
Durham University is offering £2000 to its graduates to stay on and conduct research rather than trying for a first job in the current gloomy economic climate. As graduate recruiters cut their targets by nearly 50%, the university is offering more opportunites for graduates in the academic sector. 102 scholarships are being offered this year to encourage students to take up a course in Durham’s “taught Masters” programme. At £2000 per head, the cost will be met out of the university’s own surpluses.
While the traditional jobs for high-flyers in the city continue to evaporate, the steadier world of academia seems to continue on a firmer financial footing. More from Durham University…
Education for the more mature?
How do you qualify to be a student in the UK? Ideally, you need to be under 25 and looking for a vocational course. Only 1% of the UK education budget is available for older students. This in the face of demographic change which sees 11 million people of pensionable age, many of whom will be looking for something to do post-employment. It is being left to private organisations such as the NCS to provide brain stimulus to our older people, a necessary part of maintaining health into older age.
Congratulations, USA
Today, President Barack Hussein Obama starts the job of leading the western world. A great deal of hope has been invested in this man and, clearly, one man cannot save the world. However, a good leader can inspire the rest of us to pull together and then, just maybe, we can all try to save the world. So let’s hope that all the dreamers and the hopeful who believe in Barack Obama, and there are a lot of them, also start the job, today, of solving some of the difficult problems that bedevil our world. Then the wishes may come true.
Ben Bova Credits His Early Training
Science Fiction writer, editor and journalist, Ben Bova credits his early practical training in High School and local newspapers as giving him the solid grounding in writing style and work ethic which shaped his career. Bova was given his first break by his English teacher who put him to work on the school paper. He was later to apply that experience to studying for his journalism degree and working on the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is best known to fans of science fiction as the editor of Analog and author of many books such as Maxwell’s Demons, Mars and Titan. He also co-wrote the story for George Lucas’ film THX 1138.
Web Phone System Broadcasts The News
The popular Skype Internet phone system has found another job – broadcasting the news. Janie Porter of WSTP-TV used a Skype video-phone connection from her laptop to send her story live to the television studio. The quality was good enough to go straight to the public and allowed Porter to set up her own outside broadcast system singlehanded. More from Poynter Online …
