Keep your mind active and FIT with these Fascinating Intellectual Topics. The commitment is small with just one or two evening classes (depending on the topic). Take one, some or all of the topics in this series – the choice is yours! Come learn from some of the community’s finest as you delve into fascinating subject matter and spend a bit of time with like-minded individuals. Fun and affordable at just $49 plus GST per topic. This is a great opportunity to learn about a topic of curiosity and stay FIT!
If you are interested in a course that has already taken place, please contact the Continuing Studies office at 250-862-5480. An interest list
will be built and you will be contacted if there is another offering of the
course.
Fall 2019
September
We all have within us a wealth of stories waiting to be told. How do we give these stories shape and discover the deeper meaning beneath the surface of events? How do we elevate our personal stories to reveal larger truths? This course will teach techniques for transforming memories and family stories into compelling narratives. Participants will examine excerpts from published memoirs to understand the building blocks of the genre. They will learn pre-writing techniques to tap into a memories and practice methods of bringing stories to life through scene-building, characterization, sensory details, tension, and dialogue.
This two-part lecture series explores our cultural preoccupation with losing weight, arguing that fatphobia is a form of social oppression that reinforces sexist and racist ideas. We will explore the faulty science that has labelled fat bodies sick, examine the colonial origins of current beauty standards, and engage with the powerful art and activism from the fat liberation movement.
We all view the world through different cultural lenses, based on things like our own experiences, our heritage, our values, and so much more. As we become more aware of our own cultural influences, our unconscious biases, and the fact that people around us are viewing the world through lenses different from our own, we are better able to understand and communicate with one another.
During this interactive-style course, we will notice by simply suspending judgment and noticing our personal bias we can create communities in which all feel heard and valued. We will create a space where we encourage one another to engage with diverse perspectives in order to learn and tilt the lens on how we create truly inclusive environments and communities.
Instructor: Doreen Rosvold and Leah Sanford, KCR Community Resources
In 2015 the world committed to work toward achieving 17 Goals by 2030. These Goals set down an agenda for thinking and acting on social, economic and environmental problems that are experienced by people all over the world. As universal, indivisible and aspirational achievements, each of the 17 Goals speak to ways in which we can all live ‘better’. In this workshop, participants will explore various aspects of the SDGs (jobs and work, climate action, education, gender equality, economic inequality, etc.) with the help of community partners experienced in local and global work towards the Global Goals. By the conclusion of the workshop, participants will have a stronger appreciation for and knowledge about the Goals, improved ability to communicate how the goals relate to their own life values, and a road map for taking action on Goals that have the most resonance with their own ideas and values.
Instructor: Dr. Rosalind Warner plus Global Citizen Kelowna and the Global Empowerment Coalition of the Central Okanagan (a Chapter of the British Columbia Council on International Cooperation)
By 2100, if we continue to develop as we are today, the earth will be virtually unrecognizable. The future is uncertain, yet there are things we know now about how the climate changes will effect development, ecosystems, and species and the direction of human and natural worlds. This workshop addresses how a changing climate might impact nations, communities, societies, and families in the coming years and explores opportunities to collectively and individually respond now. Through facilitated discussions, participants will use ‘backcasting’ techniques to envision life in the Okanagan Valley in the distant future, not-so-distant, and immediate future, with links to the past, in order to gain a deeper awareness and understanding of how the choices made today impact the quality of life in current and for future generations. Participants will be encouraged to explore their own vision of the Okanagan Valley, share their ideas with others, and identify key opportunities to shift to low carbon development in the region. The goal is to identify common visions and consider plans of action that proactively address the biggest issue of the 21st century. The workshop program will be co-facilitated with community partners active on issues of climate change and climate action.
Instructor: Team facilitated with members of the Okanagan Sustainability Leadership Councils
Urbanization, with its attendant rapid development and population growth, is defining not only the socio-cultural, demographic, and economic aspects of Canada’s diverse communities, but also its complex real estate/housing markets as well as its urban social geographies. These lectures examine a broad range of social issues related to urbanization in Kelowna as well as in the Okanagan Valley. Attention will be paid to the relationship between population growth, demographic change, internal/international migrations, and urbanization. Topics will include: (a) geographies of population (e.g., population growth; population change and urbanization; demographic patterns; migration and immigration; planning and policy issues); (b) geographies of migration and settlement (e.g., immigration policies; international migration patterns; the regionalization of immigration; settlement polices and outcomes); (c) geography of housing and housing policy (e.g., current housing markets, the demand for housing/choice-constraints and residential location, neighbourhood change, market failures and housing problems, homelessness, social housing and the role of government); (d) urbanization, urban form and governance (e.g. urban growth processes, Canada’s urban system, governing and planning the city, housing and neighbourhoods and living in cities).
More impactful and educational than simply “living an hour in their shoes” this homelessness simulation session will challenge you to explore the causes, systems and barriers that exist and that need to change in order to find solutions to one of our most pressing social issues.
Instructor: A Journey Home partnership project powered by United Way, John Howard Society, Okanagan Boys & Girls Club, with pilot funding from Central Okanagan Foundation.
In this interactive-style course, we will delve a little deeper and continue on our intercultural and inclusion journey. We will discuss what it means to create a space of real inclusion – where our colleagues, neighbours, students, leaders, clients, or everyone with whom we come in contact feels they truly belong. We will touch upon topics such as power, privilege, intersectionality, and positionality.
We will also start looking at diversity and inclusion as a reciprocal model – where learning is multidirectional. Rather than solely learning “about” one another, we will challenge the “us vs. them” or the “we vs. they” rhetoric and look into ways to strengthen our diverse communities by learning, working, and living “alongside” one another.
Instructor: Doreen Rosvold and Leah Sanford, KCR Community Resources
The financial system suffers from regular, periodic crises. Otherwise it works quite well, and has furnished us with an exceptional standard of living, and incredible societal progress in the last few hundred years. How was this possible? What are some of the threats faced by the system? Is continued prosperity possible, or even desirable? Ultimately, what is money, how is it made, and how do the choices of individuals affect our wealth and prosperity? To quote the BCBS:
“The notional amount of outstanding (derivative) contracts with a remaining maturity up to and including one year rose from $191 trillion to $231 trillion between end-2017 and end-June 2018”
How are such numbers even possible?
Find out this Fall …
Why does a limit on quantity at the grocery store cause us to double the amount we would buy?
How could thinking about a random number cause us to pay more for something?
Why do people continue to gamble even after losing money?
Find out why we do dumb things in our lives. This introduction to behavioural economics will discuss psychological, neurological and biological influences that steer most of us away from making "rational" decisions.
More impactful and educational than simply “living an hour in their shoes” this homelessness simulation session will challenge you to explore the causes, systems and barriers that exist and that need to change in order to find solutions to one of our most pressing social issues.
Instructor: A Journey Home partnership project powered by United Way, John Howard Society, Okanagan Boys & Girls Club, with pilot funding from Central Okanagan Foundation.
This "book club" will be different! Engaging with an author not only gives readers an opportunity to meet the person behind the book, it also affords them the chance to ask their questions and gain new perspective. Author and professional coach, Lorrie Forde, leads her readers on a journey of discovery and action as they make their way through Really Good F Words: Your Interactive Guide to Self-Care. From chapters like "Don't Should on Yourself" and "Suffering is Optional", F Words will support you (beyond these classes) to build your own intentional self-care practice. Please note that this course has an additional material fee of $20 +GST.
As barriers and cost of entry into the world of Investing and Trading are constantly lowered, is a self- directed approach right for everybody?
We will explore the history of the financial markets and their evolution through technology and find out what it’s like to be a day trader or active investor today.
The financial system suffers from regular, periodic crises. Otherwise it works quite well, and has furnished us with an exceptional standard of living, and incredible societal progress in the last few hundred years. How was this possible? What are some of the threats faced by the system? Is continued prosperity possible, or even desirable? Ultimately, what is money, how is it made, and how do the choices of individuals affect our wealth and prosperity? To quote the BCBS:
“The notional amount of outstanding (derivative) contracts with a remaining maturity up to and including one year rose from $191 trillion to $231 trillion between end-2017 and end-June 2018”
How are such numbers even possible?
Find out this Fall …
During the Second World War weapons and types of warfare emerged that dominate our world today: conventional, nuclear, and guerrilla warfare, as well as terrorism. This course will look at selected campaigns of the Second World War and then look at how these types of warfare have developed to the present day. Professor Howard Hisdal, CD, MA, a retired captain from the Canadian Army with infantry and armoured experience and the Chair of the History Department at Okanagan College will teach the two sessions.
More than 2,000 years ago, the Persian Empire launched an ill-fated series of assaults on the scattered, isolated cities of Ancient Greece, that would ultimately result in the complete collapse of the Western half of the Empire a few decades later. The invasions themselves left scars, physical and political, in Ancient Greece that caused the eventual collapse also of Athens, and Greek democracy under the tyrant Alexander, and his ultimate triumph over the Persian Empire at Gaugamela. Come and join us for a riveting discussion and exploration of how these wars were fought, who fought them, and what impact they still have today.
Is addiction a choice? If so, why is it often so irrational and self-destructive? Recent approaches to drug and alcohol addiction explain addictive behaviour as the result of automatic and often unconscious thoughts, feelings and actions. Understanding how automaticity works explains some of the perplexing aspects of addiction and leads to new ideas in treatment and prevention. This topic is taught by Dr. Marvin Krank, Psychology Professor at UBC, who specializes in cognitive processes and substance abuse in youth.
This two-part lecture series explores the media studies theories that inform the popular current term “fake news”. From its anchoring in propaganda, to its contemporary use by Donald Trump, we will look at how this concept is employed and investigate its political, social and cultural repercussions. More importantly, we will also explore ways to spot "fake news" and learn how others are detecting and debunking it. Come prepared with a phone, tablet or a laptop for each class, as we will engage in some critical digital media analysis together.
This series is taught by Dr. Raluca Fratiloiu and Ed Henczel from the Department of Communications. When she’s not teaching Intro to Mass Communication, Digital Media or Video Games Studies, Raluca is online, consuming media, or outside, hiking or snowboarding. Ed has more than 25 years’ experience as a journalist and public relations specialist and teaches writing at the college.
Learn how the earth’s magnetic field is shielding you from harmful radiation and how some animals navigate using this magnetic field. You will also learn how we have figured out how to communicate and send massive amounts of information at the speed of light when we use our cell phones. Finally we will take a look into how electromagnetism causing hydrogen atoms to rotate back and forth creates detailed images in an MRI and how low intensity, pulsed electromagnetic fields can be used to help heal injuries.
Urbanization, with its attendant rapid development and population growth, is defining not only the socio-cultural, demographic, and economic aspects of Canada’s diverse communities, but also its complex real estate/housing markets as well as its urban social geographies. These lectures examine a broad range of social issues related to urbanization in Kelowna as well as in the Okanagan Valley. Attention will be paid to the relationship between population growth, demographic change, internal/international migrations, and urbanization. Topics will include: (a) geographies of population (e.g., population growth; population change and urbanization; demographic patterns; migration and immigration; planning and policy issues); (b) geographies of migration and settlement (e.g., immigration policies; international migration patterns; the regionalization of immigration; settlement polices and outcomes); (c) geography of housing and housing policy (e.g., current housing markets, the demand for housing/choice-constraints and residential location, neighbourhood change, market failures and housing problems, homelessness, social housing and the role of government); (d) urbanization, urban form and governance (e.g. urban growth processes, Canada’s urban system, governing and planning the city, housing and neighbourhoods and living in cities).
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