By Rachel Sawicki

DOVER — The University of Delaware’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is bringing back in-person classes for adults 50 and over after moving fully online during the pandemic, but some aspects of online learning are here to stay.

Several instructors and program managers agree that online learning allows students to connect more than ever before. It also opens up a number of possibilities for students to take more classes per semester and choose from a greater variety.

Sally Cole, the interim program manager for OLLI Kent and Sussex, said the staff started learning how to work on Zoom, holding online happy hours and interest groups and reaching out to engage with members.

“While we unfortunately didn’t see many of our in-person members, I feel like our online program really strengthened the membership between those who participated,” Ms. Cole said. “It was statewide so we met people we wouldn’t have normally met. And we enjoyed taking classes from instructors whose programming we had not experienced or wouldn’t normally have access to.”

Connie Benko is the council chairwoman for the now-combined Sussex and Kent County OLLI institutions. She has been an educator her entire life, teaching all ages from pre-K to adults. Her main interests are in history and religion, which she recently started teaching as well. She’s been taking classes since 1998, when the program was called by its founding name, the Southern Delaware Academy of Lifelong Learning.

As a student, Ms. Benko once took 10 classes in one semester.

“So many of us have spent a lifetime in a career of what we had to do,” Ms. Benko said. “And now we’re doing what we want to do, which for some people, is a whole new experience.”

The program was modeled on UD’s Wilmington-based lifelong learning program founded 10 years earlier. The Wilmington program brought students from as far away as Dover, Milford and Rehoboth Beach, but by 1988 a new committee formed to establish a program in southern Delaware. UD’s lifelong learning programs received a $2 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation in 2010 and then joined the national network of OLLI programs.

Now, with online capabilities, members of the program span across 25 different states and instructors have been able to teach remotely from across the globe.

“There were other programs that were online prior to the pandemic, but I know at least as far as all the Wilmington programs, every time (putting more classes online) came up, it was like, ‘No we want to get together and hug each other every day,’” said Jennifer Merrill, OLLI Wilmington manager.

“Then push came to shove and we had no option. This crowd was nimble, they were active learners and they took this on and it’s been amazing.”

Susan Watkins worked as a registered nurse before her retirement. She is now an instructor for OLLI. All of the instructors work on a volunteer basis.

“This is truly volunteer-driven,” Ms. Watkins said. “If it wasn’t for the volunteers, it would have all fallen apart (during the pandemic.)”

Ms. Watkins teaches classes on topics she enjoys such as music, art, and even “Star Trek.” She said she wanted to teach things that she’s interested in and leave her nursing career behind.

“(Teaching for OLLI) allows you to look at something that might be your passion, that you may not have done in your regular life, and then explore that through developing and teaching a class,” Ms. Watkins said.

Ms. Cole said that members often decide to teach a course based on an experience in a course they are currently taking. Course proposals are accepted three times a year, months in advance of the following semester. For more information about teaching a course or leading an activity, members can send an email to olli-kent-sussex@udel.edu.

Rosemary Engle, the vice chairwoman of the Kent and Sussex council, said adult learning programs keep her and other students young.

“When your mind keeps working, it keeps you younger and keeps you interested and involved,” Ms. Engle said. “That’s one of the focuses of this program throughout the United States is to teach older people who have retired from a job, but haven’t retired from living.”

Mike Martin, 69, of Dover, is the “trivia guy” at OLLI’s Kent County campus. He’s been taking classes since he retired three years ago and every semester he signs up for “Trivia Time,” an extracurricular course.

“It’s nice to have that stimulation and learn new information,” Mr. Martin said. “It is much more rewarding in person though. Personal interaction with other students and having discussions, that was a lot harder to do on Zoom.”

Mr. Martin takes four or five classes every semester and signed up for Intro to Western Art along with Trivia Time at the OLLI Open House in Dover on Wednesday.

Mike Apgar, 75, of Dover, registered for several classes on Wednesday such as English Country Dance, Controversial Issues and Christian Morality in Context. He has also taught classes over 10 different semesters and would teach again in person.

“In person, I can be a little more animated and walk around and see if people are falling asleep,” he said. “Being in person definitely helps keep me [engaged].”

Claudia Young, 76, of Dover, will be taking classes for the first time this fall. She heard about UD’s OLLI programs through a friend, who convinced her to sign up for Storytelling Through Music. She said she’ll probably sign up for more classes in the future.

“This is my path to the future,” she said.

Just like students on campus at UD, OLLI’s students must submit proof of vaccination or file an exemption to take classes. They have also reimplemented a mask mandate for all indoor programs.

Statewide, 330 classes are available in person and online this fall. The membership fee that allows access to both in-person and OLLI online courses and extracurricular activities is $100 for Kent/Sussex and $125 in New Castle per semester. Online-only membership for any location is $100 per semester. Ms. Cole said that they may be revisiting the membership fee schedule in the spring.

OLLI Kent/Sussex is offering a special reduced fee of $15 per five-week course or $30 per 10/11-week course to welcome members back to in-person classes. OLLI online course fees are $25 per five-week course or $50 per 11-week course. Downstate in-person courses are offered at four different locations: Bridgeville, Lewes, Ocean View and Dover. The New Castle program is on-site in Wilmington.

Registration and more information can be found here. Priority registration ends at 4 p.m. on Monday but will reopen again at the end of the month. Classes begin on Sept. 7.