OLLI Scholars on Lessons Shared

They come to study at the University of Minnesota from places near and far—California, China, Iowa, India, New York, Norway, Mankato, Mozambique, South Carolina, and South Korea, to name a few—yet only 20 go on to become OLLI Scholars each year.

Hosted by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Minnesota (OLLI at the U of M), OLLI Scholars represent a select group of University graduates and postdoctoral researchers who are dedicated to honing their teaching skills by developing curricula and leading courses in their respective areas of expertise. The program, the brainchild of OLLI at the U of M founder and former director, Steve Benson, offers stipends of $1,000 as compensation for their work, and yet, year after year, it’s the experience that scholars cite as being most beneficial and appreciated.

The sentiment is not limited to the scholars. OLLI members, generally characterized as active lifelong learners over 50 years old, are actively involved in the selection of the scholars, and they often express the gratification that accompanies learning from and contributing to the growth and professional experience of budding scholars and researchers. It's intergenerational education at its best, and includes numerous opportunities for experiential teaching and learning, give-and-take, call-and-response, on both sides of the equation.

“Not a week goes by that I don’t talk about the OLLI Scholars program at the University of Minnesota (my Golden alma mater),” notes Steve Thaxton ’80, executive director of the Osher National Resource Center at Northwestern University. “The combination of passionate graduate researchers/teachers with intellectually ambitious OLLI students is genius. It allows institute members to support both their host university and the scholars, all while learning from impressive new generations as their academic careers are launching.”

“The combination of passionate graduate researchers/teachers with intellectually ambitious OLLI students is genius. It allows institute members to support both their host university and the scholars, all while learning from impressive new generations as their academic careers are launching.”

Since its founding in 2008, close to 275 U of M students have participated in the OLLI Scholars program.  Here, in their own words, are the experiences of a few of the most recent scholars.

 

Kathryn Burden

portrait of Kathryn Burden

Degree pursuing: PhD in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (Comparative and International Development Education track)

Expected degree completion: spring 2023

College: College of Education and Human Development

Course taught: Global Citizenship (winter 2022)

What led to your interest in becoming an OLLI Scholar? I have ambitions to teach at the university level. I wanted to teach an undergraduate class on my research topic (global citizenship). Becoming an OLLI Scholar looked like a great way to develop my own syllabus around this topic. Also, because it's not as formal and structured as a credit-bearing university class, I had the flexibility to try out different teaching techniques and activities.

What stands out most about the experience? It has been such a rewarding and insightful experience! This was my first time teaching an OLLI class and also my first time teaching adults. What stood out to me the most was just how interested and engaged everyone was. We covered some complex and controversial topics in the course (for example, what does citizenship mean, who can be a citizen, who can be a global citizen, what are human rights). I was so impressed by the way in which everyone in the class engaged in thoughtful, civil, and vulnerable discussions. Everyone brought such a wealth of knowledge and experience to the class that I think we all came away having learned a great deal from one another.

What surprised you or was unexpected? To be honest, I was surprised that so many people were willing to attend an in-person class! With the pandemic still going on, I was not sure if there would be much interest in meeting in person, but I think everyone was eager to actually be in person again. I think being face-to-face with one another helped us to be able to engage in deep discussions.

What advice would you give to future OLLI Scholars? Go for it! Propose a class on a topic that really interests you and that you want to further develop. This is such a wonderful opportunity to create a class around your topic of interest, something that many graduate students don't get to do in our normal teaching assistantship roles. It's also a great learning experience to work with a population that you might not ordinarily teach.

Jeremy Hiniker, '21

portrait of Jeremy Hiniker

Degree pursuing: Master’s in Music in Classical Guitar Performance

Expected degree completion: graduated in spring 2021

College: College of Liberal Arts 

Course taught: The History of the Guitar (fall 2020)

What led to your interest in becoming an OLLI Scholar? I was interested in the opportunity to share my knowledge and gain experience teaching an academic course as opposed to a performance course.

What stands out most about the experience? It was very enjoyable interacting with the students, discussing the topics and bringing about interesting conversations on the material and related subjects.

What surprised you or was unexpected? I was surprised at how well the online medium worked for the course. I felt that the breakout rooms really helped contribute to better discussion that enriched the course for everyone.

What advice would you give to future OLLI Scholars? Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity as the students really are appreciative of your time and knowledge. 

Keavy McFadden

portrait of Keavy McFadden

Degree pursuing: PhD, Urban Geography

Expected degree completion: May 2022

College: College of Liberal Arts

Course taught: Emerald Cities: The Promises and Pitfalls of Urban Sustainability (fall 2021)

What led to your interest in becoming an OLLI Scholar? I wanted additional teaching experience and the space to design and craft my own course on a topic related to my next research project. In addition, I had heard positive reports from other PhD students who said that teaching with OLLI was a rewarding and enriching experience because of the OLLI community.

What stands out most about the experience? The OLLI community is engaged and eager. This creates a very dynamic classroom space with lots of avenues for discussion and debate! As an instructor, I fed off the energy and contributions of everyone in the room, learning a lot in the process.

What surprised you or was unexpected? The level of engagement and friendliness!

What advice would you give to future OLLI Scholars? Teach something you are passionate about! Don't be afraid to take a niche approach.

 Yue Wu

portrait of Yue Wu

Degree pursuing: PhD, ​​Rehabilitation Science

Expected degree completion: fall 2023

College: Medical School

Courses taught: The Intersection of Music Therapy and Autism Rehabilitation (winter 2021) and Music Therapy and Dementia (fall 2021)

What led to your interest in becoming an OLLI Scholar? I have a research assistantship at the University. Since I study rehabilitation science, not music therapy, I was not teaching. OLLI Scholars provided me the platform to teach what I know the best—topics in music therapy.

What stands out most about the experience? OLLI Scholars helped me discover my love of teaching and interacting with course participants. The participants are mostly retired professionals who are not only knowledgeable in their own fields, but also full of wisdom and life experiences. Having them in discussion really enriched the class experience for everyone!

What surprised you or was unexpected? I was surprised how many people are interested in music therapy.

What advice would you give to future OLLI Scholars? Be courageous and try teaching [as an] OLLI Scholar—you will LOVE it!
 

Emily Schoenbeck

portrait of Emily Schoenbeck

Degree pursuing: PhD, Renaissance Literature and Theater with an emphasis in Shakespeare and Adaptation

Expected degree completion: 2024

College: College of Liberal Arts

Course taught: Shakespeare's Roguish Princes, Daring Lovers, and Terrible Tyrants (fall 2021)

What led to your interest in becoming an OLLI Scholar? I was looking to gain more teaching experience, and the idea of working with enthusiastic learners outside of a grading system really appealed to me.

What stands out most about the experience? The depth of knowledge students bring to the subject is really great. The first time I taught as an OLLI scholar I ended up adjusting my lesson plans because students brought a lot of prior knowledge to the subject. Even those who weren't well versed in the subject in particular had a ready curiosity.

What surprised you or was unexpected? As a young scholar, I wasn't sure how older students would feel about me being their teacher, but they saw my age and perspective as something exciting.

What advice would you give to future OLLI Scholars? Assume your students will be enthusiastic and be prepared to run with that energy.

Hailey Shanovich

portrait of Hailey Shanovich

Degree pursuing: PhD, Natural Resource Science and Management

Expected degree completion: summer, 2023

College: College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences

Course taught: Bug me! Minnesota’s Insects (fall, 2021)

What led to your interest in becoming an OLLI Scholar? It seemed like a great opportunity to get experience designing and delivering a course to an engaged and welcoming audience.

What stands out most about the experience? The welcoming, attentive, eager-to-learn nature of the OLLI students was heart-warming. The OLLI students were very engaged and asked many great questions!

What surprised you or was unexpected? The quality of the classrooms, technology, and accessibility options were wonderful and beyond expected. The classrooms are large, and tables and chairs have the ability to be moved around. The microphone system and options were wonderful and the fact that there was an IT person on site standing by made everything run very smoothly.

What advice would you give to future OLLI Scholars? Prepare your course content as far in advance as you can so that it doesn't consume substantial time during the semester, but don't be afraid to ask the students what they want to get out of the course or why they are taking the course and adjust your content or delivery to meet their desires and ideas. 
 

You can champion intergenerational education by supporting University of Minnesota graduates and post-doctoral researchers through the OLLI Scholars Program Fund.