Folk schools and lifelong learning: Following your own curiosity

If you were in the know, you could have been on the mushroom walk that yielded these images above. The walk was offered August 21 through Folkskills, a platform that links teachers and learners in Anchorage. The classes are in person, in the community, and taught by local experts and enthusiasts. In this case, Christin Anderson led the mushroom identification walk for Folkskills. She’s also taught at the Folk School in Fairbanks and studied oyster mushrooms for her master’s thesis at UAF.

But sometimes lifelong learning still takes place in the classroom, even though the setting and aspirations are not formal. Opportunities for Lifelong Learning, or OLE, celebrates 10 years of bringing teachers, topics and students together.

Homer, Talkeetna and Fairbanks have versions of folk schools. On the next Hometown Alaska, we’ll talk with organizers about how they find teachers, who their audience is, how they decide on topics and what their most popular requests are. Join us!

LISTEN HERE

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

GUESTS:

• John Moriarty, founder, Folkskills
  
• Penny Cordes, curriculum, Opportunities for Lifelong Education OLE
  
• Betsy Smith, executive director, Northern Susitna Institute (Talkeetna) Alaska Folk School

LINKS

• Folkskills website, Facebook page
• Ole, Opportunities for Lifelong Education, website
• Northern Susitna Institute, Alaska Folk School website
• Homer Folk School website
• Folk School Fairbanks website Facebook page
• A basket case in North Carolina, (history of U.S. folk schools) NYTimes, 5.20.2007