Osher Institute registration for spring 2018 classes now available online

On December 12, registration for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute classes opened online. Within three hours, over 1,700 individual class registrations were received.

While volume temporarily slowed registration transactions to a crawl in the first minutes that registration opened, our online registration portal provider, Entrinsik, was able to expand capacity and provide relief to members struggling to complete registrations.

Entrinsik support staff assured Osher Institute director Peggy Watson that expanded capacity would be available for future registration openings to limit the impact of high demand on the morning that registration opens.

In the first 24 hours that registration was open to members, over 2,500 membership purchases and course registrations were processed, the vast majority through the online registration portal.

Osher Institute staff members worked closely with members who experienced registration issues throughout the day on December 12, providing support to current and new members working to complete transactions. Despite overwhelming volume, staff were able to support members throughout the day in person, online, and by phone.

The spring 2018 schedule of Osher Institute classes features over 100 individual classes and events, including those that are offered through the Osher Series on Aging Well supported by the Regirer Foundation.

This is the second semester that online registration has been available for Osher Institute classes, and registration volume on December 12 exceeded volume for the opening of fall 2017 class registration by hundreds of registrations.

Despite the challenges of incorporating a new registration process, embracing a new online registration system, and working through network slowdowns, Osher members have demonstrated their enthusiasm and desire to register online in record numbers.

For more information about the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond, visit osher.richmond.edu.