National Osher Online
Osher Online was created by the Osher National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University, to expand member access, institute collaboration, sharing of resources, and ensure the legacy of over 120 Osher Institues. These classes are delivered by the Osher NRC, and its staff will provide moderator and technical assistance.
Osher Online classes are $70 each, and available to OLLI members only.
Space is limited. Registration will open May 15 and close June 21, 2026 for the summer term classes below.
We hope you enjoy the opportunity to learn from premiere instructors along with OLLI members from across the nation!
History of Signs: How Signs Tell America’s Story
Fridays, July 24–August 28, 8:00–9:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
Explore 100 years of American history through objects often taken for granted in everyday life: signs. This course introduces the Museum’s origins and features a conversation with ASM’s founder about why signs matter. We will examine how signs have evolved due to trends in commerce and technology and explore case studies of three major food companies who used signage to shape their brands. In the final session, we will take a virtual visit to ASM’s neon shop to see how a neon sign is made.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Erin Holland is the Director of Education and Engagement at The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Museum covers more than 100 years of American sign history and displays more than 800 signs and artifacts, making it the most comprehensive museum of its kind. With a mission to educate the community about the history of the sign industry and its significant contribution to commerce and the American landscape, the Museum is organized to preserve, archive and display a historical collection of signs in their many types and forms.
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The Indispensable Founder: George Washington
Mondays, July 13–August 17, 10:00–11:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
As America celebrates 250 years of independence, this course examines the indispensable founder, George Washington – his life, political leadership, and roles as farmer, entrepreneur, and architect. We will also explore the groundbreaking Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which has owned and managed Mount Vernon since 1858, when a determined group of women without the right to vote or own property united to save Washington’s home, launching the American historic preservation movement.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Anne “Dede” Neal Petri was elected the 24th Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA) in 2024. The MVLA, founded in 1858, is responsible for the management and preservation of George Washington's Mount Vernon. The MVLA mission is to educate the world about the leadership and character of George Washington in order to inspire future generations. Petri received her undergraduate degree in American history and literature from Harvard College and her law degree from Harvard Law School.
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The Digital Shift: How Computing Remade Media
Mondays, July 20–August 24, 8:00–9:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
Streaming music, swiping photos, consuming real-time news, reading e-books – all of these activities have been transformed by digital technology. This course will explore how media is created, stored, and experienced in a digitized world. We will demystify fundamentals like text files, encoding, pixels, and algorithms in easy-to-understand ways – no prior computer knowledge needed. Each session examines a different medium, contrasting analog past with digital present, exploring Generative AI’s impact. Topics will include text, images, music, social media, and media ownership.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Rafael Davis Portela is a PhD candidate in Latin American History at the Graduate Center, CUNY. His research examines the history of computing and technology, especially how they shaped and were shaped by economy. His dissertation traces Microsoft’s expansion in Brazil, the rise of the Brazilian computing industry, and resulting tensions between the US and Brazilian governments. Beyond history, Portela is passionate about programming and digital tools and has taught university researchers how to use computing in their own work.
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Threads of History: The World of Oriental Rugs
Mondays, July 6–August 10, Noon–1:30 p.m. (PST)
Description
What makes an Oriental rug so captivating - elegant design, intricate pattern, or mysterious origins? In this richly illustrated course, we will discover the stories woven into these textiles. We will trace the history and artistry of carpet weaving across Asia and North Africa, with examples dating from the 4th century BCE to the nineteenth century. Using expert insights and vivid images, we will explore carpet-making from Anatolia, Iran, Transcaucasia, North Africa, and Central Asia, and learn to spot weaving traditions, historical periods, purposes, and production.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Sumru Belger Krody is Chief Curator and Avenir Foundation Curator of The Textile Museum Collection at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. A specialist in late antique and Islamic textiles, she leads the museum’s curatorial department and serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Textile Museum Journal. Krody guest lectures at George Washington University and has curated numerous exhibitions, including Enduring Traditions and the upcoming Adorning the Horse. She has written widely and co-authored nine publications, including Textile Treasures (2025).
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Deaf Culture and History
Thursdays, July 9–August 13, 2:00–3:30 p.m. (PST)
Description
In this course, we will introduce key aspects of Deaf Culture in the United States and explore what defines the Deaf community as a cultural minority. We will examine cultural identity, group norms, social interaction, values, and traditions, while emphasizing awareness, diversity, and language preservation. We will investigate how modern technology shapes community life, along with emerging issues, trends, and advocacy. We will also discuss communication, terminology, educational alternatives, legislation, and community resources.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Matthew Cooper is an Assistant Professor of American Sign Language at the University of Tulsa and adjunct faculty at Tulsa Community College. Born to two Deaf parents, Cooper grew up a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) in a family who were leaders and active participants in the Deaf community. In 2025, Cooper was a TEDx Editor’s Pick for his TEDx Talk titled Between Two Worlds: A CODA’s Perspective. He is currently writing a book about the modern CODA experience.
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Endless Grounds: Coffee’s Social, Economic, and Cultural Life
Thursdays, July 9–August 13, 8:00–9:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
Coffee will be a lens on climate change, social life, health, North–South dynamics, social and economic justice, tourism, and slavery. We will trace coffee from planting and processing through shipping and, ultimately, the drink in our cups. We will explore coffee’s history, its shift from elite beverage to everyday staple, and research on health, farmer income, and climate resilience. The instructor will share experiences from coffee farms around the world, discuss different brewing methods, and demonstrate how coffee is brewed.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Robert Thurston, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of History at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio). He earned a BA in History from Northwestern University and a PhD in modern Russian history from the University of Michigan. His writing spans twentieth-century Russian/Soviet history, witch hunts (Europe and Salem), the body in the Anglosphere (1880–1920), and coffee as an economic and social force. A devoted coffee educator, he has opened a roastery and coffee shop and has visited coffee farms from Asia to South America.
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Revolutionary Echoes in Washington DC
Thursdays, July 9–August 13, 10:00–11:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
The Declaration of Independence shaped Americans long after the Revolution. This course will examine how people in Washington, D.C. invoked the Declaration and its ideas after independence - from city planners shaping the capital to Union soldiers defending it during the Civil War. We will explore how the Declaration was used to advance causes and define the nation’s civic identity. Featuring museum artifacts from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection, this course will trace D.C.’s early history through.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Kasey Sease, PhD, is Curator of the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. Beyond developing exhibitions and activating the collection, she programs the Albert H. Small Center for National Capital Area Studies. A former Managing Editor of Washington History, Kasey holds degrees from the College of William and Mary (PhD, MA, history) and the University of Virginia (BA, history and government).
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Broadway Musicals: A Fascinating History
Tuesdays, July 21–August 25, 2:00–3:30 p.m. (PST)
Description
Musicals have shaped American theater, from Tin Pan Alley-driven comedies of the early twentieth century to the integrated classics of midcentury. In this course, we will explore book musicals, concept musicals, and the rise of European mega-productions. We will spotlight influential composers, lyricists, writers, choreographers, directors, and performers. With the help of audiovisuals, we will study landmark shows including Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, Show Boat, Guys and Dolls, Hair, Cabaret, Rent, Wicked, Hamilton, and more.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Emanuel Abramovits is a mechanical engineer and has been a concert promoter for over two decades. He is involved in events by international artists like Itzhak Perlman, Gustavo Dudamel, Sarah Brightman, Roger Hodgson, ASIA, Journey, and Kenny G. Abramovits has designed and staged original orchestral events, including an Event of the Year winner and several world premieres. He served as the cultural director at Union Israelita De Caracas, releasing books and organizing film cycles, concerts, and art exhibits.
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Protecting Yourself as a Patient
Tuesdays, July 21–August 25, Noon–1:30 p.m. (PST)
Description
This course will help us keep ourselves and our loved ones safer in today’s complex healthcare system. Medical harm (often unintentional yet preventable) injures and kills hundreds of thousands of patients each year. We will learn how to reduce risk from common problems such as medication errors, care accidents, infections, diagnostic mistakes, and procedural or surgical complications. Through presentations, videos, and discussions, patient safety experts and advocates will share practical strategies, tactics, and resources to help us navigate care with greater confidence.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Hardeep Singh, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and a leader in quality and safety research focused on reducing diagnostic errors, improving health information technology, and transforming health care systems. His work has informed major patient-safety initiatives and policy reports from organizations including the National Academy of Medicine, CDC, OECD, and WHO. He has received prestigious awards for his pioneering work, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Individual Lifetime Achievement.
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Children’s Literature: The Development of a Genre
Tuesdays, July 7–August 11, 8:00–9:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
In this course, we will trace the evolution of literature specifically written for children - from its earliest forms to the modern era. We will begin with the oral traditions that underpin all storytelling, then follow the shift toward published works created specifically with young readers in mind. We will survey key moments and turning points that shaped the growth of children’s literature as a distinct field. We will conclude by analyzing how a well-known children’s literature has evolved over time.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Blake Regnier is a former middle school reading interventionist and current English instructor for Worthington Learning Center. Regnier is also an adjunct instructor of English for Minnesota West Community and Technical College. With a diverse background in literary traditions spanning classical works through the modern era, his primary research interest has been in Victorian era monsters and other assorted "things that go bump in the night."
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Discovering Portugal
Tuesdays, July 7–August 11, 10:00–11:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
Explore how tiny Portugal played an outsized role in world history. We will examine its fifteenth and sixteenth century maritime expansion and its central role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people. We will trace Portugal’s rise as the Iberian Peninsula’s only independent kingdom, its global reach from Brazil to Japan, and its later decline into twentieth-century poverty under Europe’s longest dictatorship. We will see how democracy reshaped Portuguese culture and survey its landscape, art, architecture, and food to learn why Americans are flocking there today.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Alison Roberts is a journalist with nearly four decades of experience, reporting in her native UK and later internationally for English-language outlets including the BBC, NPR, and Bloomberg News. Her work has covered politics, finance, sports, and the arts. She has edited or contributed to a dozen guidebooks and provided online updates for Fodor’s, Time Out, and other publishers. Now based in Portugal, she is writing a history of the country and has explored it extensively from north to south.
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Horticulture A-Z
Tuesdays, July 7–August 11, 4:00–5:30 p.m. (PST)
Description
In this course, we will explore a wide range of horticultural practices with something to offer no matter our experience level or where we live. We will cover container gardening, aquatic gardens, ornamental and fruiting plants, bonsai, landscape design, and pest management. Each week, we will focus on a theme and examine design ideas, plant choices, and long-term care practices for success. Whether we garden on 10 acres or in an apartment, we will find plenty to learn and enjoy in horticulture.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Chris Baker has worked in horticulture for 15 years, including as a horticulturist at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and as Curator of Bonsai at the Chicago Botanic Garden. He focuses on the use and benefits of native plant species and sound, eco-friendly horticultural practices. Baker studied with bonsai master Torho Suzuki at the Daiju-en Nursery in Japan. He is President of the North American Bonsai Federation and a board member of the World Bonsai Friendship Federation.
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Hindu Traditions: Ritual, Knowledge, Devotion
Wednesdays, July 15–August 19, Noon–1:30 p.m. (PST)
Description
In this course, we will explore Hindu traditions from classical to contemporary times, emphasizing ritual, knowledge, and devotion. We will begin with South Asian roots in the Vedic tradition and key religious foundations. We will examine early and classical Hindu thought through the concept of dharma, then explore major deities through their narratives, practices, and iconography. We will examine the six major schools of Hindu philosophy using primary and secondary sources, consider bhakti (devotion), and conclude with sacred spaces (temples and tīrthas) and pilgrimage practices.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Eileen Goddard is a Religious Studies Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Goddard lectures on Indian and Asian religious traditions at both UCSB and the University of Houston. Her research centers on the interrelationship of soteriology and embodiment in the sixteenth-century Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Kṛṣṇa tradition. She is a comparative scholar whose research also includes the Pātañjala Yoga, Advaita Vedānta, Śrīvaiṣṇava, and Pāñcarātra traditions, analyzing how emotion, desire, meditation, and ritual variously contribute towards ultimate realization of self and/or divine Other.
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Women Architects and Designers
Wednesdays, July 15–August 19, 10:00–11:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
Often overlooked in traditional design and architecture courses, twentieth-century women designers profoundly shaped how we perceive and experience built environments, interiors, and decorative objects. In this course, we will explore the work and influence of figures such as Elsie de Wolfe, Eileen Gray, Lilly Reich, Charlotte Perriand, Dorothy Draper, Ray Eames, and Zaha Hadid. We will consider their lives and enduring designs within the social and political contexts they faced, and trace the lasting imprints they left on twentieth-century design.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Eleanor Schrader is an award-winning educator, lecturer, and author. She lectures and leads tours worldwide on art and architectural history. She was named a distinguished instructor at UCLA Extension, where she teaches history of architecture, interior design, furniture, and decorative arts. She completed graduate work in fine and decorative arts at Sotheby’s Institute in London and New York. She served as a design review commissioner for the City of Beverly Hills and serves on the John Lautner Foundation board of directors.
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Canals and the Making of the Modern World
Wednesdays, July 8–August 12, 8:00–9:30 a.m. (PST)
Description
When the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it revolutionized American travel and transportation, but it was inspired by Europe’s earlier canal networks. In this course, we will trace French, British, and Irish canals of the 17th and 18th centuries, then follow the story into the 19th century as we examine American canals, especially in New York and Pennsylvania. We will explore how canals reflect national politics and ambitions and why they remain vital to global shipping today.
About YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Bernard (Bernie) Carlson is Vaughan Professor Emeritus of Humanities at the University of Virginia and an expert on invention, entrepreneurship, and technology’s role in society. He received the Sally Hacker Prize from the Society for the History of Technology and the William Middleton Prize from the IEEE, and filmed Understanding the Inventions that Changed the World. Now based in Ireland, he directs the MS program in AgInnovation at the University of Galway, where he trains adult learners in product development, startups, and sustainable farming.