Opportunities for Lifelong Education
HELLO,
Newsletter June 2020
OLÉ! MEMBERS! While we’d all like to meet in-person, take our trips, attend our courses, we’re all … adapting. OLÉ! has had to adapt, too. By now, you all know, having received Gretchen Bersch’s letter, that: • OLÉ!’s fall 2020 term will be offered as Internet Zoom courses, not face-to-face classes. • Membership is automatically extended one term forward (unless a member doesn’t want this arrangement and requests a refund in writing to the president). • You all should have received tour and trip refunds.
But we’re still here! And we’re thinking of the best ways to learn and socialize with each other. For now, that mostly means …
DO YOU ZOOM? If you do, you know how much of the world has opened to you pretty easily. You can take courses, watch live performances, visit with friends, play games long-distance. If you haven’t discovered Zoom yet, we encourage you to give it a try. You don’t need a Zoom account to join a call (but you do need Internet access).
LEARNING ZOOM
We’ve identified some online learning opportunities:
Step-by-step written instructions with illustrations: https://bit.ly/3cRd1VZ. Scroll down to Course Handout and click on “Download here.” Joining Zoom for the First Time (video): https://bit.ly/3dP7kZT Joining a Zoom Meeting without downloading Zoom (video): https://bit.ly/2MIZjKh Adjusting audio and video controls in a Zoom meeting (video): https://bit.ly/3dTCNKB
www.OleAnchorage.org. Need Help? Call Member Support at 231-0095.
June Newsletter photography What’s happening now? Shared interest groups are happening! Social distancing poses a challenge, but several SIGs (OLÉ! Shared Interest Groups) are continuing to be active and welcome new members. The photography SIG is meeting online, and the painting SIG is meeting at outdoor locations with facemasks and physical separation.
The mystery book club meets the first Monday of the month at 1:00 on Zoom. They will meet again on July 6th to discuss The Cuckoo’s Calling, first in a series by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym). The variety book club meets the second Tuesday of the month at 10:30 and will meet again July 14th; the book is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
If you are interested in joining any of these SIGs or finding out more, contact one of the SIG coordinators. Log in to OLÉ!’s home page and click on “Shared Interest Groups (SIGs)” in the Main Menu. Then click on “Current SIGs.” Your OLÉ! friends are waiting for you!
What will Fall Term look like? OLÉ!’s curriculum committee is working on about 30 courses to be offered via Zoom. Since classes won’t be in a physical location, our schedule can be more flexible: online classes will be held Tuesday through Saturday, with 30-minutes or more between consecutive classes. Classes are expected to begin the week of September 28, with the course catalog coming out around the third week in August. The operations committee, whose job it is to make attending, teaching, and managing OLÉ! classes as simple and as seamless as possible, has been meeting almost daily to test out various Zoom formats and features. The MOMs are looking forward to working with OLÉ! online and are calling for volunteers to serve as Zoom class managers. If you’re interested, please email MOMs@oleanchorage.org. They’ll train, too! www.OleAnchorage.org. Need Help? Call Member Support at 231-0095.
June Newsletter OLÉ! is on Facebook If you stay in touch on Facebook, find us at “OLE! Opportunities for Lifelong Education.” This is a non-public group for OLÉ! members.
Our sad news
Long-time OLÉ! member, Jean Truscott, passed away May 14th from recurrent breast cancer. An online service will be held June 11th at 2:00 at https://bit.ly/2zquozs Our thoughts go out to Jean’s friends and family.
STAY SAFE! The OLÉ! board has carefully considered each move and change that OLÉ! has made due to Covid-19 and will continue to do so until the health threat is no longer significant. We want to ensure that we do not in any way jeopardize the health of our membership.
Great Courses and DVDs are happening! The Tower Memorial Collection of Great Courses DVDs is open for borrowing. Just place your order online, and DVD pickups are arranged to be safe and socially-distanced. Log in to OLÉ!’s home page, click on “Library” in the Main Menu, and pick from all the wonderful offerings.
Make sure you’re counted So far, only 40% of Alaskans have been counted in the Census, and nationally, the number is 61%. Please don’t let them undercount Alaskans and seniors! Just go to https:// my2020census.gov/ or call 1-844-330-2020. It takes only ten minutes but makes a big difference. Alaska’s primary election will be held August 18th. If you are concerned about voting in person, you may file for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you at https://bit.ly/3f9OWLJ. You will need to print out the application to sign it. Deadline: August 8th.
www.OleAnchorage.org. Need Help? Call Member Support at 231-0095.