In March of 2010, the School of Continuing Education surveyed 525 people over the age of 50 from all over Coles County to acquire feedback to the Academy of Lifetime Learning program.

The Academy of Lifetime Learning is a paid membership program that sponsors Lifetime Learning classes, lectures and workshops generated toward people 50 years and older in the Coles County area.

Janna Overstreet, the project coordinator of the School of Continuing Education, said the goal of the survey was to find out what types of services people want from the Academy of Lifetime Learning.

Since the survey went out, the academy has seen an increase in membership from about 200 members to 1,000 members, she said.

Overstreet said the increase also occurred from many businesses giving out a free yearlong membership as part of their retirement gifts to their employees.

“We asked them (in the survey) how they get their news, their interests and what they wanted from the program,” Overstreet said.

According to the survey ranking results, most adults over the age of 50 get their news from the newspaper, followed by radio, TV and then the Internet.

“We kind of suspected these results, but they still surprised us,” Overstreet said.

The highest ranked interests in the survey are: arts, computers and technology, history, nature and gardening, and multicultural interests.

Overstreet said she did not expect to receive such a high number of responses from the survey.

The survey was online and they partnered with different organizations to send an email to their employees over the age of 50 encouraging them to click on a link that would take them to the survey, Overstreet said.

She said the organizations included: Eastern, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, the Charleston and Mattoon Community Unit School Districts, and RR Donnelley & Sons, which is the integrated communications provider in Mattoon.

Overstreet said she has recently presented her findings to many local groups like the Illinois Council on Continuing Education and the Board of Trustees.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].