Participating in Virtual TILLI

By Natalie Schatz

When the pandemic shut down virtually all activity in mid-March 2020, the Spring curriculum for TILLI was already set up and brochures distributed and posted online. The topics of the study groups as always cover a wide range of topics: literature, science, history, cinema. I was scheduled to lead a study group, Life Revealed in Literature: The Writings of Three Italian Jewish Writers. The chair of the curriculum committee asked how many study group leaders would be willing to offer their course on Zoom. We were able to offer 4 courses in the Spring.I volunteered to be a pioneer because my study group would be easily adapted for the Internet. The participants were required to read the stories by the three authors in advance of the meeting and I led the discussion. It did not require visual or audio aides. My experience as a study group leader using Zoom is very positive. We had lively and interactive discussions as we viewed each other in close up.

This fall TILLI offered 7 study groups. I took 2 of them, a study group on Jewish Angelenos and one on How Our Brains Work. Both courses used visual aides such as film, slides and YouTube talks which enhanced the learning experience. (By this time most of us had mastered screensharing with some glitches). Zoom is particularly effective in teaching scientific topics. For example, a slide illustrating the parts of the neuron shows up on your computer screen in colorful detail which is a vast improvement on trying to view the slice on a screen at the front of the classroom several feet away. As someone with practically no science background this was enormously helpful in the process.

TILLI encompasses more than the study groups. It is morning coffee together before class, lunch and learn with excellent speakers on a range of issues,, a book series and numerous other activities. Virtual TILLI would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of Susan Misselbeck and Brigid Goggin.