Maine Adult Education Program
Lifelong learning continues online at Merrymeeting Adult Ed
Staff at Merrymeeting Adult Education devoted much of the last 10 weeks creating a platform for online enrichment classes. The community can learn about everything from farming with native plants to drawing flowers and leaves from the comfort and safety of home this summer.
Online classes launched in May. The learning curve was steep as both teachers and students adapted to video conferencing platforms, like Zoom and Webex for class meetings.
Gloria Brown is a longtime art student at Merrymeeting. She participated in a test class in watercolor painting taught by Linda Murray.
“I was very hesitant to join an online art class,” Brown said. “I knew nothing about Zoom or online classes. I wasn’t sure that an online class for art would work well for me. Linda emailed us the information for our first online class. I downloaded the Zoom app, and visited the links to the video demos. It was all so much easier than I expected.”
Enrichment programming will continue online through the summer. Merrymeeting will publish a list of offerings in The Cryer monthly community newspaper in June, July and August.
Fall enrichment classes will also be held online. A catalog of courses will be directly mailed in July to residents of Arrowsic, Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Brunswick, Harpswell, Phippsburg, Topsham, Woolwich and Wiscasset.
“Merrymeeting is committed to providing the best educational experience we can,” Director Allen Lampert said. “We are proud of what we have accomplished over the past few months meeting the needs of our students. We want to be sure we can keep doing that and online education allows us to continue offering the classes our community has come to enjoy.”
That includes high school completion, College Transitions, English Language Learning, and workforce training classes, as well. In fact, adult and community education programs throughout the Midcoast and Maine continue to offer these programs. Classes and individual tutoring are being held via video conferencing, telephone, and other online options.
For more information about adult education opportunities throughout Maine, visit maineadulted.org.
Jun
3
Online Learning with Raye: Special for Drawing Class
Undecided about whether or not online learning is right for you? Test drive the tools of online learning with Raye Leonard, Merrymeeting’s project administrator and distance learning guru. Take a virtual tour of the digital platforms you are most likely to encounter in an online course at Merrymeeting, ask questions, and share your concerns.
Jun
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Online: Fiction in a Flash
Just how short can a short story be? Can you tell a tale in few words? In this course, we will explore and practice hint fiction, drabble stories, and the craft of the flash. Come join the challenge and the fun of being a quick-on-the-draw writer. This class is offered through video conferencing and/or pre-recorded […]
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Online: June 8 Photographing Flora & Fauna with Your iPhone
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Online: Mixed Level Belly Dance
Authentic Belly Dance, or raks sharqi, is an ancient form of dance. Raks sharqi means “dance of the east” in Arabic. Belly dance celebrates every body type and every stage of life. The dance is proud and powerful and soft and sinewy with elegant and isolating movements emanating from the core. It’s the Pilates of […]
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8
Online: Intermediate French
Learn lingo and cultural tidbits for travel, eating out, shopping, and holidays in French-speaking countries. Students are responsible for ordering their own book prior to the start of class: “Vite et Bien 1”. This class is offered through video conferencing and/or pre-recorded video, or a combination of the two. Students must have an audio and […]
