Welcome to U3A Online.
This is not your local U3A website.
This is the website of U3A Online which is a virtual U3A Group where everything is done online
Click on 'Find a U3A' tab on the blue line above to search for your local U3A Group website.
U3A Online is the world-first virtual University of the Third Age delivering online learning via the Internet.
All that's needed to study online is access to a computer, tablet or other device with an Internet connection - and some basic computing skills.
U3A Online is an individual, independent and autonomous U3A.U3A Online offers many other useful resources for older people, especially those who are geographically, physically or socially isolated.
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Courses
Our courses are open to all older people and disabled younger people anywhere in the world. They are especially suited to older members of the community who are isolated either geographically, or through physical or social circumstances (including carers).
We offer a wide variety of course subjects which can be studied at any level of interest. We aim to provide something for everyone, so our courses may vary in length and depth.
The courses are informal, there are no exams or assignments and no certificates issued. Each course is offered as Independent Study. A number of courses also have a Course Leader, at dates listed on the ‘with leader’ Courses list.
Courses with a Leader:
The chronological list of all up and coming Courses with a Leader is added to as each course becomes available. A course does not appear on the list when it is currently running. Click the course name for a summary of the course.
The course content of our courses is provided by our course writers and does not necessarily reflect
the view of the U3A Online Committee and/or Members.
Resources
The U3A Online website provides up-to-date contacts for all U3As that provide their information, as well as facilities for their members to exchange ideas, resources and information about U3A events. The wide range of helpful information, including news items, research reports and links to many interesting websites, will also prove useful to other groups of older people.
So please, explore...
ABN 44131287619
A few years ago, I did the Autobiography and Journalling Course under Mardi’s guidance. I’m a slow learner and so, I participated as a student three times. At the time I had two dreams; one was to write my late husband’s story, the other was to compile my family story as it was told to me by my grandfather in 1983.
Mardi’s course gave me a structure to work with and the confidence to do it and to stop thinking my writing wasn’t good enough. I wrote both books and Splinters (the family story) is available on Amazon now. In honesty, neither are writing marvels, but it’s the truths they contain that I still believe worthy of the telling.
During Covid, I was presented with the time necessary to write a third book; “10.55 to Cranbourne” the story of my son’s train vs semi-trailer level crossing crash in outer Melbourne in 2012. This too is now available on Amazon. For those interested, the back cover says …
One Saturday morning in outer Melbourne, a semi-trailer is en route from the Melbourne wholesale markets to Dandenong, laden with vegetables and flowers. The driver is tired and losing concentration. A Metro train is on the 10.55 run from Flinders Street to Cranbourne. The driver, 30 year old Trevor King, is on his last run for the day and for his working week. They are both approaching the Abbotts Road level crossing. The warning bells sound, the lights flash and the boom gates come down but the truck driver doesn’t notice. The train driver blasts his whistle, and still the truck doesn’t slow down… A life is lost, several are injured and the train driver is critically injured.
Originally intended as a comprehensive record of the events for the train driver, who has no recall; this is the story of the events that follow and the train driver's journey along the jagged line that divides life and death. It is told by his mother using her journal entries, messages to friends, media reports, photographs and memories shared by the driver’s wife and others who were there.
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08MQ3766G
So, I’m writing to acknowledge the value of the lessons I learned with Mardi at U3a Online and to say, if you have a story in you, write it and don’t let your own worst enemy (yourself) tell you that you can’t. I may never write a best seller, but I know I have written three stories that would otherwise be lost in the fullness of time. I’m very grateful for what I learned.
Thank you,
Susan Warburton
Mardi’s Autobiography and Journalling Classes of 2014, 2015 and 2016