The following video programs are previously recorded OLLI courses. Learn at your own pace, on your own time and at your convenience. Over 40 hours of programming are available for a single cost of $30. You will receive a link in your registration confirmation email to access all recordings. The link will be active from the first day of the term until one week before the next term starts.
All programming originates from OLLI at UNL.
Doppelgangers, Enemies, and Strangers – Ted Wheeler (1 session)
Combining history and creative writing, learn about the historical figures behind the novel, The War Begins in Paris, including a pioneering female journalist who later joined a group of American “radio traitors” who broadcast propaganda on behalf of the Nazis. The author discusses his approach to discovering character during the early drafts of a story and walk participants through their own generative writing exercise.
Shaping Omaha’s Future – Pete Festersen (1 session)
Discover the top priorities, opportunities and challenges facing the City of Omaha including a discussion of city finances, public safety, economic development, affordable housing, and quality of life measures and the key public-private partnerships that make the city work.
Jesse James in Nebraska – Jeff Barnes (1 session)
The notorious Jesse James typically isn’t thought of in connection with Nebraska… but he was here. Nebraska was where the outlaw could find family and friends. It was where he could plan robberies, make a recovery of an escape, and even sit for his most famous photograph. He wanted to buy a farm here and some even say he started a family here! Learn what’s known of the truth, the fiction and the legend of Jesse James in Nebraska.
Nebraska’s Unique Legislature – Charlyne Berens & Numerous Current/Past State Senators (4 sessions)
Nebraska’s Unicameral is the only one-house, nonpartisan legislature in the nation. Learn the history and principles behind it, then hear insights from the recently retired long-time Clerk of the Legislature, former senators, current senators and lobbyists about how the Unicameral works, its strengths and weaknesses and how it continues to change.
Nebraska Ecology – Alie Mayes, Monica Macoubrie, Grace Gaard, Brianna Nugent (6 sessions)
From the Pine Ridge in the west, the central Sandhills, to the prairies and woodland corridors found in the east, Nebraska is home to many unique habitats and ecosystems that support a rich biological diversity of flora and fauna across the state. Gain a broad understanding of Nebraska’s ecology, and the diversity found in the birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and fish that call our state home.
Dangerous Earth – David Harwood (5 sessions)
This course provides geological context to understand Earth processes that pose risks to humans, our infrastructure, and the natural world. Learn about catastrophic impacts from mega-earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, ocean acidification and anoxia, meteorite impacts, and abrupt climate changes from runaway global geochemical feedback. By reviewing Earth's past, we can understand the timing and scale of future events to help us prepare for inevitable calamities that will affect humanity and our co-inhabitants of Planet Earth.
Embracing Technology: A Guide to Artificial Intelligence – Rich Sincovec (2 sessions)
Artificial Intelligence, AI, is a force driving our future. Unlock the secrets of AI: where it began, how it functions, and the transformative power it holds for you in everyday life. Learn how to use AI systems in planning trips, summarizing books, authoring stories, songs, and poems, creating recipes and images, language translation and other things. Watch AI come to life and explore its power on devices you are now using such as smart phones, computers, and tablets.
Modern College Football Officiating – Kevin Mar (1 session)
An inside look of what goes into a week as a major college football official crew chief, from the minute the crew steps off the field on Saturday to next week's game. True “Whistle Wisdom” from a high-level Division 1 official for 20+ years and 16 bowl games. Learn about crew scheduling, logistics, learning the teams, coaches, and tendencies, and how they handle hectic play by play situations, decisions, and instant replay.
My Mother and the Holocaust Brought to Light – Irv Lubliner (1 session)
Before her death in 1974, Felicia Bornstein Lubliner wrote about her internment in ghettos and concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland. Her son, Irv, has published her powerful writings in “Only Hope: A Survivor’s Stories of the Holocaust.” Join us as he shares excerpts from the book, reflects on his mother’s resilience, and offers his perspective as a child of survivors and on bringing her work to light.
The Steps of St. Paul – Bob Kacvinsky (1 session)
Come experience the photos and stories of key places in Greece that St. Paul visited to bring the Christian message to the gentiles. Experience where Paul baptized and converted the 1st European Lydia in Philippi, visit Paul's bases of Ephesus and Thessaloniki, and where Paul received lashings in Corinth.