FAQs for OLLI Members

What is OLLI's website?

noncredit.temple.edu/olli

How do I access the OLLI Member Handbook?

Go to our website noncredit.temple.edu/olli. Click on the Resources tab, and under Resources, look for the Member Handbook. Click on Member Handbook.

What are the office hours?

We are open from 9:00AM ‐ 10:30AM, 11:30AM ‐ 1:00PM, and 2:00PM ‐ 3:00PM.

Where can I park?

Discount parking is available at the Parkway parking garage located at 16th & Ranstead Streets. When coming down 16th street from Chestnut, the parking garage is located on your right. You will see a driveway on the sidewalk that leads to an underground parking lot.

Don't make the mistake of going to the parking lot to the left. We do not have a discount with that parking lot.

After you've parked, stop by the OLLI office and pick up your discount sticker before you go to pick up your car.

How can I get access to the wireless internet/WIFI?

Come to the OLLI office to get a hardcopy of the wireless internet instructions.

I lost my ID card/my ID card got stolen. How can I obtain a new one?

You can come to the OLLI office to obtain one. It will cost $10. You must pay with a check or money order. It will take about a week to get your new ID card. For every time you lose an ID, the fee will increase $5.

Make the check payable to Temple University.

IMPORTANT NOTE: OLLI uses the word ENROLLMENT to refer to the process of renewing or purchasing your membership each year. OLLI uses the word REGISTRATION for the process of signing up for courses.

When can I ENROLL in OLLI for next year?

Enrollment for new members is held in late July or early August. Individuals who were members the previous year, are able to enroll for two weeks in early July; after that, we open up enrollment to the public. There are several ways to enroll:
Paper Application ‐ in every case, fill out the paper application

Online ‐ enroll online using our website

Hands-on Assistance ‐ come in to our computer lab where we offer hands-on assistance with enrollment

Other ‐ fill out a paper application and then mail in or drop off a check

How do I REGISTER for classes?

Go to our website at noncredit.temple.edu/olli. You will see a picture of a photo shoot on the left. On the right will be a listing of our courses. The courses are typically in alphabetical order. Log-in to DestinyOne through clicking on Account (upper right) and then Student Login. Sign into the section that says, DestinyOne Account Login.

If you have ever been an OLLI member, you already have DestinyOne credentials, so DO NOT log in the section entitled, I am a New User. If you are completely new to OLLI, you need to create an account by filling out the section, I am a New User.

After you've logged in, go back to our website and scroll down to find your courses. The quickest way to get back to our website is to click on the Temple T in the top left corner. If that doesn't work, click on Continuing Education Menu (top left) › Programs › Lifelong Learning Programs › Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, you're there. Click the course you are interested in participating. Click the small plus (+) sign (to the right). Click Join Waitlist. A question will come up to ask you to confirm that you want to join the wait list. Make sure you confirm it. Then you will have the option to Keep Shopping or Check out. If you want another course, Keep Shopping. If not, check out. Once you are done, the system will send you an email confirmation that you successfully joined the wait list for the courses you selected.

I'm not computer savvy. Is there help with registration?

Yes. We open our computer lab for several days over two weeks during fall and spring registration and over one week for summer registration. Volunteers and staff are there to walk you through the registration process.

I find registration so onerous. What can be done, or what can I do, to make the process easier?

The biggest difficulty people face is logging in to DestinyOne. They often make an error when they type in their user name or password. Once you obtain your DestinyOne credentials (your user name and password), write them down immediately. Make it super-clear to yourself which letters are capital and which are lower case, whether it's the letter o or a zero. You must know each character precisely. This is the one thing you can do that will ensure that you are ready for registration and that it will go smoothly.

If, for any reason, you forget your user name and password, the office can always look up your user name. However, only you (should) know your password. If you forget your password, all you need to do is log into DestinyOne using your user name, and then click forgot password. The system will send a temporary password to your personal email address, which will enable you to log in. Once you log in, you will be prompted to create a new password that you will remember. Once you do this, write it down immediately, following the advice mentioned above.

The last thing that will make registration quicker and easier is if you know your user name and password for your personal email account. Many of us have had a friend or technician set up our email on our home computer, and they programmed the computer to memorize the user name and password of our email account. This practice, while well intentioned, is terribly misguided, because, as a result, we never learn the user name and password for our email account. Without knowing those credentials, we cannot access our email from any other computer besides our home computer. Therefore, if you were in our computer lab receiving assistance, and you forgot your DestinyOne password, you would have to wait till you get home to update your password and complete registration. On the other hand, if you knew your email user name and password, you could log into your email from OLLI's computer lab, access the temporary password, and wiz through registration.

Why when I'm registering do I join the wait list?

Several of our courses are in high demand. In order to make it fair -- so that everyone has an equal opportunity to get into these courses -- we program the courses so that during registration, everyone joins the wait list for the course. After registration is over, we run a lottery on our oversubscribed courses and it randomly determines who gets in and who doesn't. Those who get in are moved from the wait list to the class list. Those who do not win the lottery, are put on the wait list for the course. Once the semester is underway, as people drop from the class list, the office moves people from the wait list, to the class list. When this happens, the members receive an email from DestinyOne informing them they've been added to the course. The office typically drops and adds individuals through the 5th week of the semester.

I didn't get into the courses I wanted. What can I do?

If you do not win the lottery for a particular course, you have the option of arriving early, signing in with a Class Monitor, returning 10 minutes before the start of class, and if there are empty seats, the Monitor fills the seats with non-registered students.

In addition, if we have the classroom space, we simulcast our high demand courses into a second classroom. We seat the simulcast room on a first come, first served basis. So if you did not win the lottery for a course, if space allows, simulcast may be another option.

When will I be notified which classes I have been admitted to?

We typically notify our members about which courses they are admitted to at least two weeks before the semester starts.

Am I able to register for more than one course at a time?

Yes. There is no guarantee you will get into either, but our lottery system will not place you in both.

How do I go about dropping/adding a class?

To be added to a class, you have to have registered for that course. Once you register for a course, you will either win the lottery and be admitted to the course, or you will be added to the wait list. Once the semester starts and members drop courses, the office will fill the empty seats by going to the first person on the wait list, and move them onto the class list. Whenever someone is moved onto the class list, they will receive and email from DestinyOne, informing them they have been added to the course. WARNING: We cannot move someone from the wait list, into the class list of a course, if they are already registered for another course at the same time.

If you wish to be dropped from a course, you can either do it yourself, through DestinyOne, or you can email olli@temple.edu and ask the office to drop you.

What is the attendance policy?

For oversubscribed courses, you can miss 1 out of the first 3 sessions. After you miss 2 out of the first 3 classes, you will be dropped from the class. If you have an exception, you must reach out to the Director.

OLLI's 10-minute rule: Another important attendance policy is that registered students must arrive to their class at least 11 minutes before the start of class. Starting 10 minutes before class, registered students forfeit their seat, and Class Monitors are given the green light to begin filling any empty seats with non-registered students.

What volunteer opportunities exist at OLLI?

There are 9 active committees at OLLI. These include Curriculum, Friday Forum, Fundraising, Library, Newsletter, Nominations, Special Events, Trips, Membership and Class Monitors. The description of these committees are in the OLLI Member Handbook. Periodically we send out invitations from certain committees, asking whether anyone is interested in joining. Most committees try to limit their size to approximately 10 members.

FAQs for Faculty

How do I notify the office of my technology and other needs for teaching my course?

There are two ways you can notify the office of your classroom needs for your course.

Before the start of each semester ‐ the office sends out a survey asking you what your classroom needs are. You can respond to that survey.

Email ‐ you can send an email to olli@temple.edu to let us know what your classroom needs are for your course.

How do I upload files to the Instructor Handouts page for my class to view or print?

You can send your handouts to the OLLI office's email at olli@temple.edu. We will upload your files for you. We ask you send these handouts at least 48 hours in advance of when you want them posted.

How do I obtain access to the computer in my classroom?

You would apply for an Accessnet account with Temple University. Directions on how to obtain an Accessnet account are available in the OLLI office.

How can I or my students access Instructor Handouts? What is the course password?

Go to our website: noncredit.temple.edu/olli. You will see a picture of a photo shoot. To the right of that picture, you will see four tabs: OLLI, About, Resources, Contact, and FAQs. Hover your cursor over the word Resources, and click on it. To the right, you will see a list of Resources. Click on Instructor Handouts. The course password is OLLI2018. Click the blue URL. Click your instructor’s last name on the left hand column.

What if I'm ready to teach and the tech assistants have not yet arrived to provide me with my microphone or assist in other ways?

You can use the phones in the halls, dial the number 3. This will connect you to Computer Services. You can request a tech to come to your class. Make sure you give them the correct room number.

Alternatively, you can call the OLLI office on your cell, at (215) 204-1505, and we can ask them to come to your classroom.

What are OLLI's policies around copying handouts?

The OLLI office must receive any document you wish copied at least 48 hours in advance of your need, so that we can post it on the Instructor's Handouts section of the OLLI website. In this way, members will have plenty of time to print it.

We only make copies for 50% of the total number of students in the class. We assume the other 50% of the students have printers at home. We want to cut down on program costs and encourage our members to print the documents from home.

Every copy job we make will be double sided.

We will only make copies of documents that are a maximum of 10 double-sided pages of original content (not copyrighted material).

We cannot promise we can make copies of handouts that arrive the day of the class. This is because our days are busy, we share our copier with other departments, so we don't always have the time or access to the copier at the last minute.

I've heard that universities are cracking down on copyright and that there are certain restrictions about copying copyrighted materials. Please explain?

The purpose of copyright laws is to protect the author ‐ to prevent people from copying a work which they should be paying for.

Here is how it works:

Let's say a class wants to read the play To Kill a Mockingbird.

We are permitted to copy 10 pages from the script and make 10 copies of those 10 pages.

However if 10 pages is more than 10% of the total work (in other words if the work is less than 100 pages long), we can only copy 10 % of the total work. So if the total play/piece is 20 pages long, we can only copy 2 pages and make 10 copies of those 2 pages.

We are also not allowed to make 10 copies this week, and 10 copies next week. We are only allowed to make one set of 10 copies.

Are there copyright laws that also restrict the use of film and video in classes? Can you explain this?

The Copyright Act permits teachers to show a film, video, or TV program in a classroom for teaching or educational purposes under the face to face teaching exemption. In order to satisfy this exemption, the film must have been lawfully obtained (no illegally downloaded or pirated copies allowed), the film must be shown in the classroom, and the instructor must be engaged in face-to-face teaching activities.

In other words, film or video content should be connected to whatever subject matter you are covering in your class and not merely for entertainment. (We know that many of you do many of these things already.)

To comply with the federal Copyright Act's provision of the face to face teaching exemption we will need you to do the following:

Your syllabus ‐ must explain the connect between the film and the course and have a clear justification for why it is being shown;

Credit the company ‐ You must credit the company that made the video in your syllabus and in your classroom before you show the film (since it is their intellectual property);

Before the film screening ‐ you should provide educational content for discussion after the film has been shown, such as readings, questions for students to think about as the film is being shown, this can be included in your syllabus or attached to your instructor page as a weekly addition.

After showing the film ‐ you should have a discussion that achieves certain educational objectives.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may not show programs from Netflix in your classroom unless the program is a documentary. This is because the terms of the Netflix subscription agreement prohibit the screening of any programs outside of an individual's household, except in the case of documentaries.

Going forward, OLLI will no longer offer Netflix for viewing in our classes. You may use a personal Netflix account only to stream a documentary program for your class for educational purposes. You must also confer with our office before streaming programs from other online third-party services (e.g., Hulu), which may also restrict what content may be screened in a classroom.

If you wish to show a film or television program, the simplest way would be to borrow it from your local library. Many educational films are available for streaming online through your local library without the restrictions on Netflix films. You may also show a film that you lawfully obtained (e.g., a DVD that you own). If none of these options work, please reach out to us and we will try to brainstorm other solutions.

If you wish to show DVDs from other companies, for example, The Teaching Company, you must notify OLLI office beforehand. The Teaching Company requires that we purchase a license in order to show their films to a group of people.