Back in college for a day

Referring to these adult students, Schragis says, "There's a type. A lot are retired. If they are not retired, they are not totally caught up in their career. They're not coming on Saturday and thinking they're going to make more money on Monday. The type of person who thinks that spending most of a weekend day in a classroom would be a good use of time and money obviously has a respect for education."

That could describe Cheryl Taustin, who came from Ocean City, Md., to attend One Day University. "With lifelong learning, you're keeping your mind active," she says. "I may not climb Mt. Everest, but I look forward to learning about anything in the world."

On this Saturday in Newton, that learning begins with a lecture on "Moby Dick," given by Andrew Delbanco, director of American studies at Columbia University. As he traces the life and times of Herman Melville, many in the audience take notes.

" 'Moby Dick' is implicitly a political book," he tells the group. "The brute facts of American life were not airbrushed out of it." Later, he explains that his favorite passage for reading aloud is a chapter titled "Nantucket." "Melville had never been to Nantucket," he says. "You could describe this chapter as a great cadenza."

Shawn Achor of Harvard University follows with a lecture on happiness. His course, "Positive Psychology and the Science of Happiness," is the most popular class at Harvard.

"The way you think about yourself has physical manifestations in your life," he tells the audience. "There's something very important in consciously trying to be happier. If you want to see the world a happier place, the best place to start is with yourself."

After a buffet lunch, students regroup to hear Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., discuss Congress and politics. "I believe 2008 will be a ground-shifting election for Republicans and Democrats," she says.

Then, her voice brimming with enthusiasm, she says, "You know what's great about this audience? I can make a reference and you'll understand." The group laughs.

That shared knowledge represents one of the benefits for professors here.

"I enjoy the different audiences," says Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, a philosophy professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and the final speaker of the day. "I learn from their perspectives, their life experiences, their feedback."

More like peers than students

Mr. Galvin, cofounder of One Day University, adds, "It's stimulating for them to interact with their peers. The political science professors can talk about Ronald Reagan and have people know what they're talking about. They've devoted their whole career to researching, studying, and sharing this knowledge. It's to a large extent bottled up with a lot of 18-year-olds with their baseball cap on backwards. To talk to 150 interested adults who are there only for the reason of learning, it's exhilarating."

For many here, One Day University represents only the latest in a succession of continuing education ventures.

Calling his learning "not structured," Luddecke notes that one of his educational pursuits involves languages. "I bought a learn-Spanish tape to listen to in my car," he says.

Ms. Lofblad, who winters in Florida, enjoys attending lectures on foreign policy. And last month, Ms. Taustin completed a for-credit course on environmental issues at a university in Florida, an experience she calls "exhilarating."

That attitude runs in her family. "Our kids are all exploring things they want to do, and they're passionate about," she says. "My husband is exploring new businesses. He also took a week and went to culinary school. My challenge is learning and seeing new parts of the world."

Luddecke, reveling in the chance this Saturday classroom offers him to "get the mind going again," says of the professors, "They're giving me trails to follow, books to read, names to Google – all sorts of things."

Voicing her own determination to keep abreast of new ideas, Lofblad says, "People who are learning stay younger. Our kids are learning so much these days. We have to be able to speak their language. I'm not going to be left behind."

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