Beginning today, a new virtual campus becomes reality – geared to teaching computer tricks to older students.

Cs4seniors.com is the learning-for-fun Web site of Mimi Witcher, a 64-year-old former stay-at-home mom who has transformed herself into a popular, tech-savvy instructor at Richland College.

Ten years ago, she thought cut, copy and paste meant using scissors, a Xerox machine and Glue Stics. Now she can Photoshop and PowerPoint with the best of them.

Ms. Witcher's ability to pass these skills on to students 50 and older in Richland's emeritus program earned her the college's teacher of the year award in 2005.

"We're trying to move what I've done in the classroom to the Internet so that more people can take advantage of it," Ms. Witcher says.

This isn't about earning an academic degree. There isn't one. It's about earning a measure of confidence and empowerment.

"Learning the computer can connect us to the younger generations in a way that not knowing the computer disconnects us," she says. "This is such an energetic, eager- to-learn segment of the population. When they learn what they can learn, it opens up a whole new world."

The discovery process can be as easy as successfully learning to set up a free e-mail account on Yahoo or learning how to attach a picture, she says.

Adding on

The Web campus has been quietly up and running for two months as Ms. Witcher and her 62-year-old husband, Bill, worked out the kinks and added curriculum.

"Our campus has grown very large with a lot of senior-specific content because Mimi is devoting eight- to 10-hour days to the site," says her husband, who handles the administrative details.

Take a tour of cs4seniors.com and you'll find information about its computer, government, photography and fitness departments.

If you want to sign up for classes such as Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Paint, you'll have to enroll. But tuition won't set you back much: It's $36 for as much online learning as you can pack into a six-month semester or $58 for a full year.

"We wanted to keep it affordable," Ms. Witcher says. "We figured that's about the price of one good computer book."

Coming soon will be a campus newspaper, The Encourager, which will focus on seniors who start something new after turning 50.

People like Mimi.

Discovering a passion

In 1998, Mimi and Bill Witcher were empty-nesters with two daughters in college.

Mimi, who'd worked at a stock brokerage in Kansas City before marrying Bill in 1974, wanted to get back into the business world but had no modern office skills.

A few years earlier, Bill had "hired" her to type a book he'd written and brought home a secondhand PC. She thought it was demonized. When she lost three hours of work, she reverted to typing the rest of the manuscript on her IBM Selectric.

A friend pointed her to Richland's office technology department, where she learned Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel and discovered a passion.

"I loved it," Ms. Witcher says. "I particularly loved graphics. I went over to multimedia and took a couple of Photoshop classes."

Becky Jones, associate dean of Richland's Information Technology Institute, taught Ms. Witcher several courses. Ms. Jones was so impressed with how Ms. Witcher helped struggling fellow students that she offered her a job teaching digital imaging.

"Mimi is such a strong advocate for the students," Ms. Jones says. "Everything she thinks about and does is to help them to learn as much as they can."

Fred Mason, a retired electrical and mechanical engineer, uses his new Photoshop skills to make mock-ups for his Western paintings.

He's putting together a portfolio so that he can launch a right-brain career at age 70. "Being an engineer was very mentally structured," he says. "This is a godsend for me."

People kept telling Ms. Witcher that they wished their parents who lived elsewhere had the same opportunities as the seniors at Richland.

The idea of a virtual campus crystallized when a 90-year-old repeat student whose health was failing asked Ms. Witcher to post some of her lessons on the Internet.

Mr. Witcher, vice president of marketing for Richardson- based National Write Your Congressman, thought an Internet computer school for seniors had business potential.

"There was a clearly defined niche market with a clearly defined need," Mr. Witcher says. "And I had a dedicated and caring wife who had developed a proven product after seven years in the classroom."

Ardent faculty

Faculty members are largely highly qualified friends who sign on for nominal pay because they believe in the cause.

Campus security (the identity-theft kind) and technical expertise is the domain of David Lovrien, a local IT and Web expert who also plays saxophone and is the Webmaster for the Dallas Wind Symphony.

Dave Berry, former president and chief operating officer of Bank of America Texas, heads up cs4seniors' government center and photography departments.

He works with Mr. Witcher and is an ardent photographer and legislative affairs expert.

"When Bill showed me the idea on the computer, I said, 'This is an absolute winner,' " Mr. Berry says.

Mr. Berry's wife, Patti, heads up the Campus Kitchen.

Go to the section on food and nutrition, and the first recipe is for Dirt Muffins. There is absolutely nothing healthful in these goodies made with 21 crushed Double Stuf Oreos, butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla bark.

But, Ms. Berry says, they'll be a hit with the grandkids.

Other recipes and food tips are more in keeping with the ways of Cooper Wellness Center, which is also participating on the site.

Success!

Kay Baum, 67, began taking Photoshop classes from Ms. Witcher in 2006 because she wanted to restore old photos. Now she's helping test the Web site for typos and instructions that aren't clear enough.

"I had never used Paint before. I went into the site, followed the directions, and now I can use it if I have the opportunity," she says. "My sister lives in California, and I'm talking to her about getting active in it."

And that fits perfectly into Ms. Witcher's goals.

"I'd like to be a successful entrepreneur," she says. "But what I'd really like is to be able to wear my fuzzy house slippers and dreadful old bathrobe, stay at home at my computer and communicate with seniors around the world," she says.

"I want to tell them they can do it, because I did. And I see it every day when I go to work."