Anyone who wants to learn American Sign Language (ASL) can register now for Oklahoma School for the Deaf ’s free online courses.

Last year, 452,934 people from the United States and more than 30 other countries participated in OSD’s selfpaced ASL I or the advanced ASL II classes.

The community outreach courses have eight pre-recorded lessons taught by Jolene Reed, an OSD teacher who is deaf.

Reed presents videos with no audio or voice. She signs and points to words and phrases on PowerPoint slides using a cursor to help students follow along as they become naturally immersed in ASL.

Students complete 8 lessons per course with quizzes after each lesson. The courses are self-paced, which allows students to take class at convenient times and review the lessons as many times as needed to learn the content.

OSD has offered ASL courses to the public for many years. During the COVID pandemic in 2020, the school put the courses online in the spring and fall, and the new platform exploded in popularity.

No accurate count of the number of ASL users is available. A widely quoted estimate by StoryLearning indicates between 250,000 and 500,000 people use ASL as their native language in the United States and Canada. It is the third most used language in the U.S., after English and Spanish, according to the same source.

Spring 2024 registration is available now. The ASL lessons were released on February 12.

For more information about Oklahoma School for the Deaf ’s online ASL classes, visit https://courses.osd. k12.ok.us/ or email aslclass@ osd.k12.ok.us. A help tab is available for participants to assist with questions. but they can contact OSD through the course website.