Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC Online Classes Bring Education to You This Spring

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Community College is offering a wide array of non-credit, six-week, online classes during spring term. Students can register for any of these courses by visiting www.ourcoursescome2u.com. These online courses will be held two times this spring: the first session will be offered Wednesday, April 10, through Friday, May 17; and the second runs from Wednesday, May 8, through Friday, June 14. Two lessons are downloaded each week, and students can open the lessons anytime for the duration of the course. Cost per course is $69.In Insurance: Unraveling the Maze, learn how to make informed choices about insurance coverage. Students will be guided past fear tactics and given the opportunity to consider options without worrying about pressure to buy from anyone. The non-credit course will give instruction on what insurance is, how it works, various kinds of insurance, how to determine much or little insurance they need, and how to make a claim while avoiding lawsuits.Get up to speed with one of the most popular photo-editing software programs by enrolling in Photoshop 6 for the Absolute Beginner. Adobe Photoshop is widely used by professional photographers, artists and graphic designers to enhance and edit photos and other images. Through step-by-step online instruction, first-time users can learn to edit their own images with ease. After working at their own pace online, students will complete the non-credit course by creating simple digital paintings, editing photographs to remove red-eye, eliminating image dust and scratches and correcting image exposure.For both professional and aspiring writers, Intro to Internet Writing Markets will offer practical tactics. Each student can learn to supplement income by writing Web page content, develop articles for e-zines, supply content for online databases, write for information sites, craft fiction for the Internet, build online training materials, and write electronic books and manuals for e-publishers. Linda Aksomitis, a local published author and successful Web-site designer will share her expertise about Internet markets for writers. She is the author of seven electronically published books, works as an online magazine editor, and serves as the children’s acquisitions editor for an e-book publisher. This non-credit course is a unique opportunity to learn from an expert in one of the fastest-growing markets for writers. Learn how to improve your relationships with bosses, co-workers, neighbors and family members through the non-credit course, Achieving Success With Difficult People. This offering will equip students with needed communication skills. The Internet is an ideal classroom for discussing personal relationship challenges in open forum with anonymity. Students will complete the course by creating an action plan for dealing with the four main personality types: the ruler, thinker, entertainer and relater. Growing Plants for Fun and Profit offers the convenience of learning on your home computer in the evening, while applying lessons to your garden in the daylight. This non-credit course will teach green thumbs how to turn their passion for plants into extra income. In an area as small as 1,000 square feet, gardeners can generate thousands of dollars worth of plant material in a single growing season. This online course supplies practical guidance to licensing, site preparation, equipment, how and where to find supplies, and how to select and produce plants appropriate to the Pacific Northwest. By working at his or her own pace, each student will learn how to grow and market plants on a small scale without major capital investment.For more information, contact PCC Community Education at 503-731-6619.