Brown University Continuing Education

[Music] Brown is a lively place. It’s full of understanding, full of learning, full of constant curiosity. Continuing Education is a part of that enterprise – that engaging, dynamic community. And our doors are open to the community here now. Continuing Education really is the pioneer in bringing all sorts of new people to Providence and through Providence. Moving down to the Jewelry District is one of many important pieces of expanding Brown’s reach and being an engine for the Knowledge District. It’s really open, it’s really inviting, it’s just bright colors… We really want the people of Rhode Island to see us as a resource for learning in their own education. And as Providence continues to grow and change, I get people from the community who bring different cultural values and perspectives and even languages into the class. The students are highly motivated, very bright. They are so full of energy and so full of excitement. Excitement in trying to do things that are not what they’re used to doing. And they come from all over the country and all over the world. In my class of nineteen students last year, they came from twelve different countries. I wanted to be near students who were just like me – who were eager to learn. There’s that camaraderie and that excitement, and that’s what really makes it special. As far as the course offerings, it reads like the kid in the candy shop. It’s hard for me to imagine that there is a student anywhere who couldn’t find something. I don’t know – it’s just something that I’ll never forget. Students in our courses get a real sense of why what they’re learning matters. So, for example, the war in Afghanistan – or, how should the United States respond to global environmental problems? These are questions that teachers want to teach about, but they need access to good scholarship, and Brown and Continuing Education here is able to provide that. I film interviews with scholars from Brown, visiting lecturers – really, really interesting and exciting people – and I turn them into videos. There’s always something new going on here, and I don’t think people realize just how much we really do. They’ve shown how exceptional they are at managing these Continuing Education programs – giving access to the facilities, giving access to all the faculty. Continuing Education is full of a team of academic entrepreneurs. One of the things that we’re doing right now is we’re integrating this material in new digital technology. Students can be reading the content, and there’s a video – just pop the video, listen to somebody who is a leader in the field. We are on the leading edge of a lot of new technologies, particularly in online and blended learning. The online team has just been so enthusiastic about new ways to incorporate online learning. An online education can in fact be tremendously interactive, and I think Continuing Education at Brown is really leading the way. Continuing Education is about innovation. It’s about lifelong learning. Independent thinking – about using your imagination in ways that you hadn’t thought you could. You never know enough. You’re never current enough. It’s all a kaleidoscope, and we can look with all of the various shapes and colors. Continuing Education, whether in school, out of school, in the summer, beyond school, after graduation at any level, has to be part of the way one operates. It’s part of one’s oxygen. [Music]