London Met students will work collaboratively with the Islington University of the Third Age (iU3A) to enable older members of the community to develop new interests and skills.
Date: 30 September 2020
A new partnership between London Met and the Islington U3A (iU3A) will enable retired and semi-retired members of the local community to develop new interests and skills. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will allow the partnership to share in collaborative learning in a number of ways.
The first project to get going under the MoU will see Students from London Met’s Social Sciences, Digital Media and Education programmes work collaboratively with iU3A to deliver small and large group ‘blended’ learning projects and facilitate more member engagement. This is particularly important as social opportunities and activities remain limited, as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
The students will help to facilitate iU3A’s activity programme and be responsible for designing approaches for effective blended engagement (online video conferencing combined with physical meetings) between small and large groups.
Vanessa Airth, Head of Work-Based Learning, Policy and Practice at London Met said: “We share the ethos of iU3A that age need not be a barrier to learning and developing new interests. We believe that facilitating the learning of others is a powerful way for our students to develop new skills themselves, and we’re delighted to be working to foster intergenerational links within our community.”
Chair of iU3A, Derek Harwood, said: “We are looking forward to new learning opportunities with London Met and we believe this MoU will open up creative learning possibilities in the community.”
iU3A is open to all older people and those who are retired from full-time work. It is aimed at people who want to keep their minds sharp, get out and about and learn new things, spark new interests, meet new people and keep physically and mentally active.
iU3A was formed in 2013. With over 80 interest groups, it offers an exciting annual programme of events, activities and learning opportunities to its nearly 700 members.
Image courtesy of iU3A