Original Inquiry From Polly Bannister, VIVA, University of Denver, CO
VIVA! (University of Denver) has created a Long-range Planning Committee to assess where we are, where we should be going, and how to get there safely. VIVA@ is now 5 years old. We have 311 members in our just-started fall session-- a 20% increase over last year and four times our first-year enrollment. Our present growth results primarily from word-of-mouth publicity--members tell friends, friends tell friends, and it snowballs.

VIVA! was originally created on a study/discussion group format, with classes led by member facilitators. Study/discussion groups are still the core of the program, although we have added a few lecture classes (10% of the curriculum), with two or three retired professors as the lecturers.

We cannot assume that our present style will continue to attract people as it has in the past. Therefore, the first assignment of the LRP Committee is to learn as much as we can about the Boomer generation--who they are, how they think, their likes and dislikes. We realize that the Boomers will not arrive all at once, and we should never make the mistake of thinking that
everybody born in the same year thinks the same way. I would guess that study/discussion groups will remain a large part of the program for years to come.

The question for the LRP Committee is--Should we begin now to add other types of classes? A further question is--Can we, and should we, control our growth? And--whatever our growth may be, there will be the subsidiary problems of recruiting class leaders and securing adequate classroom space. Our University liaison has offered us the services of the market
researcher who is on their staff, so we will have reliable demographic information without a lot of work on our part.

Our question to the Forum--Have other ILRs undertaken a project of this sort? And if so, would you share your results?

From Carolynn Rafman, McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement, Montreal
The long-range planning committee of McGill ILR conducted an 18-month self-evaluation project in 1994. please forward a contact name and address and I will forward a copy of the guidebook that resulted from the study.