New Fall Community Education Courses Available at UACCM

The University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton will offer several new non-credit courses this fall, including health-related, child care, general skills, and computer skills courses. All courses are open to the public and are sponsored by the Office of Workforce and Community Education.

·      Sept. 28: The Basics: Memory Loss, Dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease is a program designed to educate participants about the difference between normal memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. Risk factors for Alzheimer’s, the diagnostic process, and brain changes during the progression of the disease are just some of the topics covered in the program. The course will meet from 6-7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28. Registration is free.

·      Oct. 2 – Oct. 25: Participants in the Microsoft Excel Beginner course will learn to create a Microsoft Excel workbook, format and align text, use basic functions such as sum and average, use the fill handle, format numbers, merge and center cells, create charts, use arithmetic operations, insert and delete rows and columns, and print spreadsheets. The course will meet from 5-7 p.m. each Monday and Wednesday. Registration is $100 and must be paid by Sept. 25. Participants must be computer literate and have a good understand of using a computer.

·      Oct. 2 – Oct. 30: Pre-K Early Literacy Learning in Arkansas is a 30-hour training course for educators presented by the Early Childhood Education Project. This course is designed to advance teacher understanding of how three- to five-year-old children develop language and literary skills and why it is important that children develop these skills. The course will meet at 5:45 p.m. each Monday and Thursday. Registration is free.

·      Oct. 9: Effective Interviewing is a course designed to prepare job applicants for the interview process. Ray Trower, a UACCM psychology instructor, will lead participants through what to do before, during, and after the interview. The course will meet from 5-7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 9. Registration is $25 and must be paid by Oct. 2.

·      Oct. 11: Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) is a classroom, video-based, instructor-led course that uses a series of simulated pediatric emergencies to reinforce the important concepts of a systematic approach to pediatric assessment, basic life support, PALS treatment algorithms, effective resuscitation, and team dynamics. The course will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11. Registration is $80 and must be paid by Oct. 4. This course can be paired with the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course on Nov. 8 for the discounted registration fee of $150.

·      Oct. 21: ACT Test Prep is a one-day workshop that will help participants learn to avoid common mistakes on the ACT and other placement exams. Participants will gain valuable skills to improve their scores and increase scholarship potential. The workshop will meet from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21. Registration is $40 and must be paid by Oct. 14. A $20 book is also required for this course, which is available for purchase through the UACCM Bookstore.

·      Oct. 23 – Dec. 15: Introduction to Welding Basics comprises over 135 hours of hands-on classroom instruction in welding, craft skills, OSHA safety certification, soft skills, and job search and resume writing — all with the possibility of up to six hours of prior learning credit. The course will meet from 6-9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Registration is $500 and must be paid by Oct. 16.

·      Oct. 26: Know the 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease is an introductory program that provides participants with an understanding of the difference between age-related memory loss and Alzheimer’s and what to do if they or someone they know has signs of the disease. Participants will view video footage of real people who are living with the early stages of dementia and their families addressing fears and myths associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The course will meet from 6-7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26. Registration is free.

·      Oct. 26 – Dec. 14: Microsoft Excel Intermediate will teach participants how to use median, min, and max functions, resolve error messages, use COUNTIF and IF functions, apply conditional formatting, free and unfreeze columns and rows, print tiles, scale a spreadsheet to fit a page, insert footers, format a chart, and use PivotTables. The course will meet from 5-7 p.m. each Thursday. Registration is $100 and must be paid by Oct. 19. Participants must have competencies shown in Microsoft Excel Beginner.

·      Nov. 6 – Dec. 11: Participants in the Microsoft Access course will learn to plan and create a database, assign data type to fields, add records, use design view to create a table, create a query using a simple query wizard, create and print a form using a wizard, create a report using a wizard, create multiple tables in a database, create a table relationship, sort records in a table, create a query in design view, set criteria in a query, use wildcards in a query, create a calculated field, modify a form in layout view and in design view, create and modify a report, and group data in a printed report. The course will meet from 5-7 p.m. each Monday. Registration is $100 and must be paid by Oct. 30.

·      Nov. 8: Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) is an advanced course that highlights the importance of high-performance team dynamics and communication, systems of care, recognition and intervention of cardiopulmonary arrest, immediate post-cardiac arrest, acute dysrhythmia, stroke, and acute coronary syndromes. The course will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Registration is $80 and must be paid by Nov. 1. This course can be paired with the PALS course on Oct. 11 for the discounted registration fee of $150.

·      Nov. 13 – Dec. 13: Participants in the Nursing Assistant course will be prepared to provide competent, skilled nursing care in a compassionate manner to residents of long-term care, hospice, and hospital facilities. Upon successful completion of this course with a grade of “C” or higher, participants will take the state competency exam. With successful passage, they will be eligible to become certified nursing assistants. Prerequisites for this course include completion of the non-credit class CPR for Healthcare Providers; a high school diploma or GED; and the ability to meet minimum scores for reading, writing, and math with placement scores from the past five years. Participants must also have a negative tuberculosis test and be willing to undergo criminal background clearance. The course will meet from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. Registration is $450 and must be paid by Nov. 6.

·      Nov. 16: Dementia Conversations is a program designed to help participants talk with their families about some challenging and often uncomfortable topics surrounding Alzheimer’s and dementia, such as going to the doctor to get a diagnoses or medical care; deciding when it is necessary to stop driving; and making plans for managing finances and legal documents to be sure the person’s wishes are carried out and the costs of future care are covered. The course will meet from 6-7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16. Registration is free. 

Registration for all courses can be completed by going to www.uaccm.edu/workforce. For more information about these training opportunities, please contact Director of Workforce Development Vicki Shadell at (501) 977-2132 or at shadellv@uaccm.edu.

The mission of UACCM Workforce and Community Education is to provide a highly skilled workforce for the employers in our six-county service area and beyond.