Virtual Reality: Digital Distance Learning

Awestruck residents sat in the community room at Laurel Lake in Hudson, but they felt like they were at the International Space Station. The 2011 program used videoconferencing technology to allow senior residents to witness not only astronauts inside the Space Station but the sun cresting over our distant blue planet through a window.

Programming Manager Susan Busko still gets emotional remembering residents who may have seen the first moon landing on their TVs in awe at the incredible real-time sight. “They said, ‘Wait till I tell my grandkids what I did today.’ It was amazing.”

For 27 of the 30 years that Busko has been the programming manager, Case Western Reserve University professors have been invited to the retirement community to give educational lectures in the Off-Campus Learning program.

In 2009, Busko and her colleague, Sandy Kreisman, took a chance and changed how the program worked. They devised a way to bring educators and programming from anywhere in the world directly into Laurel Lake’s community room — what Busko calls their “big living room” — in real-time via videoconferencing technology for the Keys to a Sharp Mind program.

“ I never stop learning from [our residents]; they share their wisdom and experiences with me every day,” Busko says. “So to stay one step ahead of them and offer good programming, I have to keep figuring out ways to keep the world interesting to them every day they wake up here.”

With the help of the on-site audiovisual technician, Busko brought in a 12-foot video screen, a Bose surround sound system and an induction audio loop — essentially a system of rechargeable battery-powered headsets that transmit sound directly from the speaker’s microphone to the wearer’s ears with individually adjustable sound levels — to accommodate the needs of residents with hearing or vision difficulties. “Content providers at the far site look larger than life on a big screen, and it makes it so much easier for [residents] to see and hear them,” she says.

Through videoconferencing, residents now enjoy monthly themed programming, virtually traveling throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and beyond. Programs include sea lion monitoring in Alaska, wolf research at the International Wolf Center in Minnesota, tropical plant studies with the Royal Gardens of Ontario, Canada, and holiday observances in Israel.

Initial funding for the distance learning program came as a grant from the local Reinberger Foundation. It is now part of Laurel Lake’s regular budget. “It’s that important,” Busko says.

Busko and Kreisman both have educational backgrounds, so they spend a lot of time and effort modifying programs intended for younger adults to be more challenging and appropriate for Laurel Lake’s highly educated and engaged residents. Visiting lecturers and distance learning components are often supplemented with related field trips to nearby institutions, like the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland for a module focused on economics.

Many times, residents themselves deliver lectures or lead discussions on topics as varied as the civil rights movement, art history, money management, international politics and opera. “Now we have a group that’s meeting twice a month and doing modern physics and cosmology,” Busko says.

Between the monthly distance learning modules Busko and Kreisman program, off-campus lectures from visiting professors and programs led by fellow residents, Laurel Lake has something educational available for residents almost every day of the week. “The intellectual [programs] around here just keep growing,” Busko says.

Be Our Guest

Kent State’s Senior Guest program is a win for older people seeking knowledge.

If you’re over 60 and have lived in Ohio for a year or more, you can take college courses at Kent State University for free — with a few caveats.

“ Tuition is waived, but it’s up to the faculty member,” says Marilyn Bokrass, director of continuing education and summer sessions at Kent State. That means seniors apply for the class they want to attend, and Bokrass’ office contacts the professor to see if they will accept the guest student. “The faculty try to be welcoming, but sometimes they feel there are prerequisites or the nature of the class doesn’t lend itself well to someone who isn’t studying that discipline. And, of course, there is no credit awarded.”

That means you won’t be able to earn a degree with this program, but you could still learn a language or submerse yourself in art history. And with online courses available to seniors since 2017, the possibilities are immense. Bokrass says a lot of seniors go for surprising topics. “We have people who take math and classes you don’t think of as general interest,” she says. One very popular class is Physics 11030, better known as “Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe,” designed by Kent State professors in the late 1990s for non-physics majors.

Online registration was made available for senior guests last year, but if it’s your first time, you might want to register in person. “We’ve got people there helping; we can pull up the schedule of classes and show them the options,” Bokrass says.

For more info, visit kent.edu/cde/senior-guest-program or call 330-672-2002.

Also check out the 60-plus program at The University of Akron at uakron.edu/60/ or 330-972-5793.