Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Free Focus on College seminars prepare students for success


Periodically, PTC staff and faculty hold Focus on College seminars -- free seminars/workshops that teach tips about time management, stress management, studying, test-taking, the college environment overall and much more. Additionally, a valuable 68-page bound guide, Making Your Mark, is given away at the seminars.

Navigating Your Future!
The Focus on College seminars offered in Fall, 2010 will carry a Navigating Your Future theme! Plan to attend any and/or all seminars offered this fall, and learn to navigate:
-- online tools such as D2L
-- with GPS LifePlan
-- communication with other PTC students
-- with your unique Learning Style, and learn how to use it to your advantage
-- PTC clubs and organizations

Schedule of Focus on College seminars
-- Aug. 4 2010: 9 a.m. to 12 noon
-- Aug. 9 2010: 5 to 8 p.m.

Specialized Focus on College workshops:

Week 1: Navigating my Online Class Using D2L
-- Aug. 30 2010: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Aug. 31 2010: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 1 2010: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 2 2010: 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 3 2010: 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Week 2: Why is my Syllabus so Important?
-- Aug. 30 2010: 10 a.m.
-- Aug. 31 2010: 1 p.m.

Week 3: Finding Time for Course Work
-- Sept. 7 2010: 1 p.m.
-- Sept. 8 2010: 11 a.m.

Week 4: Tools for a Successful Research Paper
-- Sept. 15 2010: 11 a.m.

Pre-Registration is required. For more information, call 800-521-7463 to reserve your spot at one (or many) of these valuable seminars!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Medical Laboratory Technician program poised to fill dire workforce shortage


The health care industry is facing worker shortages due to an increase in retirees, fewer workers and a growing demand for services. According to Healthcare Labor Shortages: Get the Facts, Minnesota will likely experience vacancies in registered nursing -- the largest employment group in health care -- of over 9,200 by 2015. This type of news report often focuses on nurses, but the nursing shortage isn’t the only alarming part of the story. Similar forecasts are anticipated in almost all health care programs including laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, home health aide, respiratory therapy and nursing assistants.

Jon Linnell, CEO of North Valley Health Center, Warren, says, "If we lose just one X-ray or laboratory tech, we may have to close our doors. The supply and demand problem is especially severe in Greater Minnesota where there is a very limited supply of professionals in the face of an increasing demand."

To help offset such healthcare worker shortages in East Central Minnesota, Pine Technical College has partnered with Lake Superior College to bring a Medical Laboratory Technician A.A.S. degree to the Pine Area and starts in the Fall semester, 2010. A Medical Laboratory Technician performs routine tests in all areas of the clinical laboratory and searches for the presence, absence, extent and cause of diseases. Qualifications of this highly skilled individual include a dedication and commitment to accuracy and precision to ensure quality patient outcomes. Interested students should apply now; the program will not accept new students next year. Classes start Aug. 23.

For more information about PTC's new Medical Laboratory Technician degree, call 320-629-5100.

Monday, July 12, 2010

More students choosing ASL


The Pine Technical College American Sign Language (ASL) program, an 18-credit certificate, is a rapidly-growing program. While the program is not often one students choose to take alone, it is a popular ‘side-dish’ program.

“To take the ASL program in addition to another program is a smart choice,” explains Nancy Mach, PTC Dean of Student Affairs. “Especially students graduating from early childhood, nursing, accounting and business programs with the ASL certificate on top are more attractive to prospective employers in the job market. It’s an excellent side-dish program,” Mach adds.

PTC’s ASL courses are not only popular with students since they meet requirements within the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum and help students when transferring to state universities with world language requirements, but also since there is a growing demand for graduates with the skill.

“ASL is estimated to be the fourth most commonly used language in the country,” says Kathryn Krier, PTC ASL instructor. “ASL courses fit well with nearly any student’s major or program and always makes the student more appealing to hire since they graduate with an extra skill. For example, nursing students will not only have the ability carry out healthcare services, but also the ability to communicate with deaf or hard-of-hearing patients, and that makes those graduates more appealing than students graduating with just the nursing diploma,” Krier explains.

The number of students enrolled in the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program taking ASL courses also is on the rise. In addition to Krier’s regularly-scheduled courses at the PTC campus, Krier teaches ASL via interactive television (ITV) to many rural area high schools including Isle, Holdingford, Lac qui Parle Valley, North Branch and BOLD Senior High School in Olivia, Minn. To take ASL courses via the PSEO program gives high school students the opportunity to earn credit that satisfies high school and college requirements simultaneously while gaining a skill in ASL as well as getting an early start on college.

“American Sign Language is the language of the Deaf community in the United States, and the Deaf population in Minnesota’s East Central Area has grown in the past few years,” Krier says. “Our community needs more people fluent in ASL, and we’re proud to contribute to meeting the need in the community,” Krier adds.

The ASL program at PTC is a language and culture program, which approaches the study of signed languages from both a linguistic and scientific perspective.

“ASL is a full, natural language. It uses a gestural-visual modality in which manual signs, facial expressions and body movements all convey complex, linguistic information,” Krier explains. “Once a student completes the certificate, he or she will have gained a full understanding of the language and be able to apply it in nearly any professional or social setting,” Krier adds.

Courses start Aug. 23, and PTC is accepting applications now. For more information about the ASL program, call 320-629-5100.