OER faculty training program begun February 10
Under the direction of President Lisa Rhine, Yavapai Community College has launched an aggressive program to reduce the annual book costs to a student by an estimated $1,600. The program will rely on “Open Educational Resources” materials that are proving to be as good or better in most cases than traditional textbooks. The District Governing Board received a detailed explanation of how the College is implementing the OER program at its meeting last Tuesday.
The first faculty training program began February 10 and a second is scheduled for March 30. Students using OER material will receive them on-line. Their is no cost attached to them. They can then download the material as a PDF file and place it in a binder. It permanently belongs to the student.
The OER material is flexible and can be altered by faculty using it before sending it to students in a course. This is an advantage over traditional textbooks.
A complete, detailed explanation by Dr. Rhine and Dr. Diane Ryan about OER material is contained in the video below. Dr. Ryan is a veteran in successfully developing OER material and implementing them into a College curriculum.
Recall that the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board has authorized the College to spend a half million dollars to purchase futuristic 3d construction machinery. (See earlier videos and stories on the Blog about how these printers work.) The authorization was for two printers, according to officials interviewed at the Tuesday Governing Board meeting, not one.
The Community College, in response to Community urging, is exploring the possibility of executing a five-year lease on a building on Highway 260 located at 600 East Curry, Camp Verde. If an agreement can be reached, the facility will be renovated to house a Career and Technical Education Center for the east side of Yavapai County. The facility has 40,000 square feet and the idea is to lease space over a five year period in three phases beginning initially with 10,000 square feet.
Selena Castillo, a 22-year-old Yavapai Community College student from Cottonwood, saved her mother’s life by applying CPR skills learned at the College. 
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s Brown Bag Brain Buzz will host Jayana Clerk, “Speculations on Artificial Intelligence, from 12:45 p.m. until 1:45 p.m. Thursday, March 5 in Room G-106 at Yavapai College’s Verde Valley campus, 601 Black Hills Drive in Clarkdale.
The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board will hold its monthly General Public Meeting on Tuesday, March 3, 1:00 P.M. The meeting will be held at the Sedona Center, Room 34. Among topics listed on the agenda is one involving the potential for a hotel being constructed on College land at the Sedona Center. (The Board may also discuss the potential for a hotel on Community College land on the Verde Valley Campus.) You may view the detailed hotel report to the College in the agenda 
The program is sponsored by Yavapai Community College.
