Courses > Personal Enrichment

Click any title below to view a complete course description including a syllabus, instructor biography, prerequisites, and requirements.

Write Your Life Story
Instructor: Eva Shaw

It’s your story. It’s time to write it so you can tell history, share your secrets and successes, and better understand yourself. Learn what it takes to write essays, a legacy letter (sometimes called an ethical will), a memoir, an autobiography or the story of a loved one’s life in simple, easy steps that will get you ready for whatever you want to tell. It’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s your truth. The step-by-step process begins with capturing ideas and ends by providing all the tools to tell the stories in your life.

Genealogy Basics
Instructor: Bob Moyer

Who will you discover? What new branch of your family will you find? If you're a newcomer or an amateur genealogist, this course will help guide you to the most useful Web sites where you can search for family names. Tracing your family's history is a fascinating journey, as you'll see through hands-on examples that help you dig deeper into your family's past. The course explains in simple terms where to look, who to contact, and how to make your family history come alive.

Healing Through Hypnosis
Instructor: Lillie Barnes

Learn to use hypnotic suggestion on yourself and others with amazing results.

Merrill Ream Speed Reading
Instructor: Merrill Ream

Are you struggling to keep up with a flood of email, articles, reports, books, and other printed matter? Save yourself oodles of time by learning to read faster and with better comprehension from acclaimed speed reading expert Dr. Merrill Ream. This course is a complete speed reading experience. Topics are presented in a logical progression with plenty of time to help you master the skills and techniques you'll need for lasting proficiency as a speed reader.

Achieving Success with Difficult People
Instructor: Judy Snyder

Do you know people whose behavior makes completing even the simplest tasks difficult? Would you like to learn how to have more successful relationships with difficult bosses, co-workers, students, neighbors or family members? Join this class and get helpful information for understanding yourself, solving people problems, and improving your relationships and personal and professional productivity.

Keys to Effective Communication
Instructor: Dawn Lianna

Lost for words? Don't be! Learn to build rapport, trust, warmth, and respect through conversation.

Interpersonal Communication
Instructor: Laurel Bragstad

Communication is more than speaking, hearing, or even having a good vocabulary. This course explores strategies for success in everyday interpersonal communication. You'll explore clear examples of verbal and nonverbal habits, effective listening, self-concept, differences in cultural and gender conversation styles, and conflict management. You'll also gain practical strategies you can use today to improve communication at home, in social situations, and in the workplace. If you want to strengthen personal behavior and develop strategies for creating positive communication climates with family, friends, and business associates, you're sure to find this course invaluable.

Goodbye to Shy
Instructor: Kimberly Floyd

Want to learn how to overcome shyness? Now you can—from someone who has been there! The ability to interact with others affects everything we do, from selecting a mate to advancing in our careers. If shyness keeps you from having the life you want, here's your chance to learn the secrets to overcoming it. In this encouraging and practical course, you'll find out how to reduce anxiety, build self-esteem, strike up conversations with others, win friends, and act confidently in romantic relationships.

Luscious, Low-Fat, Lightning-Quick Meals
Instructor: Donna Acosta

Do you want to save money and prepare home-cooked meals that are fast, easy and so delicious your family won’t even realize they’re healthy? If so, then this is the cooking class for you! Find out just how simple it can be to prepare meals that are both nutritious and delicious. You’ll discover dozens of easy ways to make lowered-fat food taste terrific. You’ll learn a dietitian’s trade secrets for getting in and out of the kitchen quicker, and explore her tricks of the trade for encouraging reluctant family members to eat more healthfully. Get ready to discover over 50 exciting and easy lowered-fat recipes for tasty entrees, side dishes, desserts, and garnishes!

Handling Medical Emergencies
Instructor: Bryan Scyphers

Medical emergencies occur suddenly and with little warning. Would you know how to confidently react if someone needed your help? This course will identify common medical emergencies affecting children and adults, help you recognize signs and symptoms, and show you how to render appropriate care.

Assisting Aging Parents
Instructor: Marsiea Warren

Are your parents in their golden years? Learning how to help parents or other loved ones through their transition can prepare us for our own. This compassionate and comprehensive class will give you the tools, techniques, and insights for this passage. You'll learn to handle most of the challenges you will face while coming to appreciate and cherish the privilege of the journey.

Skills for Making Great Decisions
Instructor: Donna Brown

Learn how to make excellent everyday decisions from an experienced counselor and life coach. Master techniques for achieving your goals, managing risk, dealing with crises, and making decisions--big and small--with knowledge and confidence. Find out how to avoid many types of mistakes and how to recover from others.

Medical Coding
Instructor: Jennifer Della'Zanna

Take your first step toward a lucrative career as a medical coder! In this course, you'll learn how to find medical codes for any disease, condition, treatment, or surgical procedure. We'll discuss how medical coding works in the real world, and then we'll go over the different types of codes you'll need to understand to describe every aspect of a patient's visit and report that information to an insurance company. From there, you'll be ready to begin putting it all into practice. By the end of this course, you'll know how to find your way through both the CPT manual and the ICD-9-CM manual, and you'll be well on your way to becoming a medical coder.

Travel Photography for the Digital Photographer
Instructor: Beverly Schulz

The lure of travel is surpassed only by the inevitable desire to bring home pictures and share your adventures. Join us and discover the world through a photographer's eye. This course will address the tools and tricks that enable digital photographers to capture scenes from around the world and bring them home. We'll share various examples from destinations across the globe, and expand your knowledge of techniques for shooting digitally and working with the images after you get back.

HIPAA Compliance
Instructor: Carline Dalgleish

Demystify the complexities of HIPAA! If you're a health care professional, it's mandatory that you know the ins and outs of HIPAA compliance. This course focuses on the Administrative Simplification portion of HIPAA. We'll cover transactions, code sets, and identifiers; the Privacy Rule; and the Security Rule. By the end of the course, you'll feel confident in your ability to bring your organization into compliance with HIPAA's requirements.

Making Age an Asset in Your Job Search
Instructor: Linda Gravett

This course, based on research and programs developed by AARP, is a guide for older workers looking to make a career change, find employment opportunities, or learn strategies that give them the best chance of getting hired. You'll discover how you can capitalize on your age and experience as you reposition yourself in today's workplace. You'll find out how to use the AARP Foundation's exciting new interest and skills-assessment tool, WorkSearch. By the end of the course, you'll have completed a self-assessment so you'll know what kind of job is most suited to you, developed a résumé and cover letter, and prepared for that all-important interview.

Lose Weight and Keep It Off
Instructor: Donna Acosta

Do you want to lose weight and keep it off? Now you can! In this course, you'll discover how to establish a healthy approach to successful weight loss and weight maintenance for a lifetime. You'll master how to set and achieve weight-loss and weight-maintenance goals that make sense for you. You'll also receive practical tips you can use immediately to develop healthier eating and exercise habits.

Going Green at the Workplace
Instructor: Brad Bergman

Learn how to position your business as a responsible environmental leader in a world of green consumers and carbon-conscious regulators. Explore ways to save energy, save money, and save the environment by making your building's lighting, HVAC, and information systems more efficient. In addition, discover simple and cost-effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint by conserving water, using alternative transportation fuels and vehicles, and generating your own renewable energy on-site.

Medical Transcription
Instructor:

Take your first step toward a lucrative career as a medical transcriptionist! You'll learn how to transcribe the most common medical reports used in both inpatient and outpatient settings. We'll review a lot of the grammar you might have forgotten since high school and apply it to the reports. You'll have the opportunity to listen to real dictation and transcribe it on your computer using the same tools real transcriptionists use. We'll also look at how you can further your education to take advantage of the new job markets available to transcriptionists and position yourself for the future in this exciting field. By the end of the course, you'll know the basics of the major reports and key clinical points of major disease processes.

Write and Publish Your Nonfiction Book
Instructor: Lisa Adams

One of the great things about nonfiction book writing is that you're 10 times more likely to get published than you'd be if you wrote fiction. Whether you dream of becoming a full-time author, writing books to advance your career, or penning your memoir or family history, this fun and information-packed course will teach you how to plan, research, write, edit, and publish your masterpiece. First you'll learn how to choose a topic, appraise the competition, and immerse yourself in your subject by performing research and interviews. Then you'll get into the heart of writing and editing as we explore structure, style, and strategies for getting the work done. Finally, you'll delve into the publishing industry and learn how to write winning query letters and proposals for publishers and agents or pursue a variety of nontraditional publishing options.