What Others Say
about U3A Online
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Practical Psychology for Relationships
Hi! My name is Jenny Hughes, I have retired to the magical Blue Mountains and have lived in the Village for sixteen years. I recently chose to join U3A Online and found your course and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Thank you for your indepth, informative, honest and helpful notes.
Sincerely, Jenny Hughes.
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Oct 2021
Autobiography & Journaling
Well, actually this course exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect to get so much benefit from doing even just 10 minutes of writing every day. I’ve been writing up a storm, and the memories just keep coming…amazing. This has to be good for the brain too.
I am in relative isolation due to failing physical health (and Covid). I will need cataracts removed soon and look forward to being able to do more from this course and other courses offered by U3A when my sight is better. I appreciate being able to do so many courses on-line. So much to do…so little time.
Maureen Burton
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Introduction to Western Philosophy
Being involved in forum discussions with fellow students was a hugely positive experience. I usually felt rushed to complete discussion submissions before I had really given the subject the attention it deserved. Some of the areas covered are very challenging in terms of personal beliefs etc. and more time to think and reflect and explore new ideas could only be good.
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I have made contact with some great people in other parts of Australia, people I would never have met had I not been online. Knowing that there are others out there who are interested in learning about the same subject as myself and sharing information is great. The subject matter in each course that I have participated in has been fascinating, as have the different websites that we have been recommended to use.
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I like to hear of other people who are doing the course and through it have made e-mail contact with people all over the world. This helps to keep me busy.
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I thoroughly enjoy being part of an on-line group sharing a similar interest. It is especially good when participants keep in contact after the course is finished.
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I have found the three courses that I have untaken to be very rewarding. The information has been presented beautifully. Congratulations to all those who worked so had behind the scenes. As a novice computer operator I have found access technically friendly. A huge plus. The content of courses has been excellent and the tutors very approachable.
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I missed people who did not respond for a couple of weeks, and when they returned with explanations about where they had been or what had happened to them, it was like greeting old friends again.
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I enjoy the feeling of learning and being a part of a group. It's like meeting old friends when familiar names crop up in other courses. The discussion forum is interesting even though comments do not always respond to the points others have made. I am really enjoying ongoing contact with one participant.
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When I eventually retired I discovered U3A Online which seemed an excellent way of keeping the mind active. I have found it is a lot more. Each unit I have undertaken has pointed me in so many different directions with their links to related URLs. They have also brought me into virtual contact with a whole range of different people so that I now have contacts across the globe and literally in my own suburb.
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Nowadays, living alone and physically limited, I was being stupefied by knitting, crochet, patchwork, computer puzzles and occasional bus trips. There is a limit.
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I am the primary carer for my frail mother who at nearly 100 needs full time care now. Being able to access a service like this is one way to feel less isolated from the world outside. I am indeed much blessed.
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I have to devote a lot of my time to looking after my wife who will be 90 years of age in November. I enjoyed being able to work at my own speed and time.
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I am deaf - communicating online is wonderful for me. I am sure that is true for other people with disabilities of many kinds.
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I am a self-funded retiree caring for my wife with [dementia]. Because of her condition I am with her constantly and generally confined to home.
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I care for my wife who has Alzheimers. Have done so for the last 8 years.
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I am partially blind with limited short sight. I am extremely grateful to u3a as I now have an interest at home - am happy working on my own and life has again a meaning.
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I feel as though I belong to something to keep my mind off my pain, also helps keep my brain working.
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I'll go as far as to say that being totally absorbed in my most recent online course has saved my sanity this year.
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