Master minds: Joy of learning never grows old for senior students at U of A

Freshman Brian Heidecker is heading off to class.

"I have one course on China and I'm going to digital photography next," saysthe 74-year-old retiredrancher and businessman.

As Heidecker makes his way down a crowded hallway inthe education building at the University of Alberta, he's amongst a sea of seniors surfing for knowledge.

They're all members of Edmonton Lifelong Learners Associationand they're attending the spring session.

"We have 661 students registered in 50 classes. You can take anywhere from one to four classes in a day for three weeks," saysELLA president Shirley Forrest.

Physical space for the learning and other support is provided by the University of Alberta faculty of extension.

The ELLA classes are for people aged 50 and olderand are taught by university professors and other professionals.

The courses range from tai chi to terrorism in the modern world, from drawing for beginners to energy pipelines: fact and fiction.

'I refuse to act my age'

5 years ago

Duration 2:34

Meet some of the members of the Edmonton Lifelong Learners Association.

ELLA, established in 2002, is run by volunteers. Participants pony up $275to take up to four courses.

There's no university credit for the learning, but Forrest notes the upside:"There are no exams, there are no tests, classes are very relaxed and it's just a lot of fun."

Forrest believes it's the fun that has racked up a record-breaking 1,011 members this year.

"One of the things that's been proven is aging is the cause of social isolation quite often and things like this mean people are getting out there using their brains."

For Heidecker, his first ELLA spring session has been like "old home week."

"I ran into a lot of former university employees, the odd banker, a couple of lawyers, just a bunch of very energetic older folks."

"What better thing can a person do than take a whole bunch of fascinating classes and keep this muscle between my ears exercised," Heidecker said.

He believes it beats the alternative.

"We end up at home on the sofa complaining about potholes or something else totally and completely irrelevant."

You can see more this week on Our Edmonton on Saturday at 10 a.m., noon on Sunday and 11 a.m. on Monday on CBC TV.