When the COVID-19 pandemic required CSUCI to implement distance learning, staff running the University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) needed to redesign the format used to instruct classes for students.
The OLLI program is aimed to serve adults 50 and better but open to individuals from Ventura, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles counties and beyond. OLLI offers stimulating Six week college-level, entirely online courses on a variety of topics without the burden of homework, tests or grades. There are many exciting offerings in the upcoming Summer session will include the course Jewel of the Nile with Laura Hagel which will analyze the popular film and will be reminiscent of the trip to Egypt many of OLLI members took months back. Cliff Wilcox will be offering his Controversies in American History and Professor Amy Denton will be offering a class exploring plagues and pandemics. These are just a sample of the many interesting classes that we will be offering this Summer session.
According to OLLI Director Daniel Banyai, requests were received from many OLLI members to continue programming during the pandemic. One such request came from Thousand Oaks resident Millie Rathburn who has been taking OLLI classes since 2005 and was very concerned when classes were initially canceled.
In an attempt to continue the Spring Session, staff assembled five virtual classes offered free of charge to anyone via Zoom. Topics include baroque art, music in film, history of Southern California architectural styles, history of cinema and the psychological dimensions of climate change. The class meets once a week via zoom at the directions of OLLI instructors for seven weeks. Classes held online during the Spring were available for later viewing in which case students missed the live presentation.
“I was excited when we were advised several of our classes would be offered with the Zoom format,” said Rathburn. “I was also pleased the classes were being offered for free this session as it likely meant more of our OLLI members would be able to attend.”
To ensure all students were adequately prepared for using the Zoom platform, OLLI staff provided training to more than 400 students to help make the transition to virtual learning smooth. The resilience shown by the students was equal in strength to the versatility of the instructor such as Jerry Clifford who successfully transitioned their courses to an online platform.
“At first I was a little apprehensive. Zoom might be difficult to understand and implement,” Rathburn explained. “The excellent preliminary sessions Jerry Clifford (Physics Lecturer), Daniel Banyai (OLLI Program Director) and Michael Trainor (OLLI Program Coordinator) offered were excellent and solved that concern.”
For Rathburn and fellow students learning from home has been an enjoyable experience.
“I feel like I'm sitting in the front row in the OLLI classroom. Not only can I hear the instructor well and clearly view the slide presentations, I can now see some of my fellow classmates without spinning my head in class.”
OLLI Program Director, Daniel Banyai, recounts the success and receptiveness to web-based learning to be unprecedented.
“We had around 230 participants in the first week alone,” Banyai said. “We have some amazing instructors that are teaching with really interesting backgrounds. Anyone in the community can take these classes. We even have a student taking classes from New Jersey.”
The courses are open to anyone fifty or above that is continuing their education by taking rigorous courses reaching beyond Ventura County and at a global level. Even in the face of a pandemic, students have access to higher education with the click of a mouse.
“Having these classes available during this home-quarantine time has been an incredible opportunity,” added Rathburn. “It provides a sense of normalcy and an escape from the never-ending news presentations. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the instructors and the staff at Channel Islands for giving us the continued gift of staying involved and active.”
For more information contact the OLLI team at olli@csuci.edu.
Classes for Summer Session begin Monday, June 15th and conclude Friday, July 24th. For more information on how to register for courses and class offerings please visit the OLLI website.
https://ext.csuci.edu/programs/professional-community-ed/osher-lifelong-learning-institute/index.htm