This welcoming, beginner-level course helps learners build confidence using provided computers, smartphones, and essential online tools. Over 10 weeks, students will learn how to use devices, set up accounts and manage passwords, send and receive email, navigate the internet safely, use social media, complete online forms, shop and bank online securely, and access helpful digital resources. Smartphone basics such as texting, calling, and using apps are also included. A skills checklists will guide learning and assess progress. Students who successfully complete the course may check out a computer from the FLI Lending Library for home use. This course is free due to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County. This class meet twice a week  on Monday  and Tuesday.

Does your name affect your income? Are rich people more or less generous than poor people? Was there an unexpected cause for the decrease in American crime in the 1990’s? Why did Spanish Treasure ships sink 3 times more often than Portuguese ones? We’ll discuss some of the work of The Chicago School of Economics, including that of Stephen Levitt and Nobel Prize winner Richard Thayler. 3 sessions, July 8th, 15th, and 22nd

This welcoming, beginner-level course helps learners build confidence using provided computers, smartphones, and essential online tools. Over 10 weeks, students will learn how to use devices, set up accounts and manage passwords, send and receive email, navigate the internet safely, use social media, complete online forms, shop and bank online securely, and access helpful digital resources. Smartphone basics such as texting, calling, and using apps are also included. A skills checklists will guide learning and assess progress. Students who successfully complete the course may check out a computer from the FLI Lending Library for home use. This course is free due to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County. This class meet twice a week on Wednesday and Thursday.

After exploring free market economy benefits, we examine current issues that stress our social order. As society becomes more impersonal and politically divided, it is hard for the economy to deal with climate change, artificial intelligence, aging population, increasing income inequality and numorous other issues. This makes us concerned that our social order is at risk. But we can be hopeful that our future economy can survive and thrive. Formal economics studies are not a prerequisite for this course.

This will be a single session class July 14, about the South Bend Watch Company. We will discuss the need for high quality watches, a little about how they work, the company's origins, many of the people involved, products, location, ultimate demise and aftermath. For anyone who has an old pocket watch and would like to bring it to the class, I will remain afterward to provide any information I can about the watch. This session will meet Thursday, July 14.