Short Courses

Office of Workforce Training and Continuing Education · Room A-112 · ext. 2310 · workforce@bellweather.tech

Community education short courses for the Spring 2027 term begin the week of January 11, 2027. Enrollment is rolling until a course is full. Registration, payment, and refund terms are published at Non-credit registration.

Rooms are listed in DroverNet and confirmed in the registration acknowledgment.

Course descriptions

Foodways Documentation

6 weeks, Mondays, $85. Oral history method, recipe transcription standards, photographic documentation, and archival deposit, applied to the food traditions of the region. Offered with the county historical society. Participants’ completed documentation is deposited with the society’s collection by agreement.

Backyard Poultry Keeping

6 weeks, Mondays, $85. January 11 to February 22, 2027; no session January 18. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.. Room as listed in DroverNet. Instructor: Junie Framm. Coop siting and construction, flock size, feed and water through the winter, egg collection, handling, and refrigeration, predator exclusion, common diseases, and flock biosecurity. The final session covers recordkeeping and the reporting of unusual illness or death in a flock to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Live birds are not used in this course. Whether poultry may be kept at a given address is determined by the township or municipality, not by the College; participants should confirm before purchasing birds.

Membership Organization Administration

4 weeks, Tuesdays, $60. Bylaws, dues handling, newsletter production, event insurance, and officer transition for clubs, fan organizations, and civic groups. The course uses a model organization constitution developed by the Student Affairs office.

Home Heating Systems for Homeowners

6 weeks, Tuesdays, $90. January 12 to February 16, 2027. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.. Room as listed in DroverNet. Instructor: Franklin R. Bede. How forced-air furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, and water heaters work; filter selection and replacement; thermostat settings; combustion air and venting; carbon monoxide alarm placement and testing; reading a service invoice; and what to ask a contractor before agreeing to a repair or replacement. This course does not qualify participants to install, service, or adjust fuel-burning appliances. The instructor does not evaluate participants’ own equipment or provide estimates. Anyone with a carbon monoxide alarm sounding or symptoms of exposure should leave the building and call 911 or the gas utility. This course routinely fills. Registration for this course opens Monday, November 16, 2026.

Permits and Inspections for Homeowner Projects

4 weeks, Wednesdays, $85. January 13 to February 3, 2027. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.. Room as listed in DroverNet. Instructor: Vernon Tilgh. Which residential projects require a building permit or zoning approval in Ohio; fences, sheds, decks, and finished basements; preparing a permit application; scheduling and preparing for inspections; and obtaining the permit history of a property. This course does not provide plan review or code interpretation for any specific property and makes no determination on behalf of any building department. Questions about a particular project are directed to the jurisdiction having authority.

Understanding Your Homeowner’s Insurance Policy

4 weeks, Wednesdays, $85. February 10 to March 3, 2027. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.. Room as listed in DroverNet. Instructor: Harriet Quiglee. The declarations page, coverage parts, and endorsements; commonly misunderstood exclusions, including flood, sewer backup, and wear and tear; deductibles; replacement cost and actual cash value; documenting household contents; and filing and documenting a claim. Consumer services of the Ohio Department of Insurance are reviewed in the final session. The instructor does not review participants’ policies or advise on any pending claim. This course is not approved for insurance continuing education credit and does not prepare participants for licensure.

Tribute and Repertory Act Operations

6 weeks, Thursdays, $95. Booking, contracts, performing rights licensing for cover repertoire, sound reinforcement at the club scale, and merchandising. Taught by a working regional bandleader. This course addresses the business of tribute performance; it does not provide vocal or instrumental instruction.

Home Fermentation and Safe Practice

6 weeks, Thursdays, $95. January 14 to February 18, 2027. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.. Room as listed in DroverNet. Instructor: Solveig Trapp. Salt ratios and brine fermentation of cabbage and cucumbers, acidity and its measurement, the difference between fermentation and canning, storage, and the signs of spoilage. Ingredients and jars are included in the fee. This course does not address pressure canning or the shelf storage of low-acid foods. It does not qualify participants to produce fermented foods for sale; home-based food production for sale in Ohio is governed by Ohio Department of Agriculture rules.

Basic Garment Mending and Alteration

4 weeks, Saturdays, $95. January 23 to February 13, 2027. 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.. Room as listed in DroverNet. Instructor: Cassandra Nurre. Hand and machine stitching, buttons and closures, seam repair, patching, hemming, and taking in or letting out a waist. Sewing machines are provided. Participants bring two garments in need of repair to the first session. This course does not address tailoring of suits or formalwear, leather, or upholstery.

Writing for Licensed and Shared Properties

4 weeks, online, $60. The legal and professional landscape of writing within properties owned by others: licensing, work-for-hire, submission policies of rights holders, and the distinction between licensed work and unauthorized derivative work. This course does not review or workshop participants’ fiction.

Offered in the fall term

Regional Foodways Cookery

6 weeks, Wednesdays, $110. Hands-on preparation of dishes of the Ohio and upper Ohio Valley table: sauerkraut balls, city chicken, shredded chicken, fried bologna, pierogi, a lard-fried chicken in the Barberton manner, and both principal dressings of the region. Participants take home what they prepare. Kitchen 1. Enrollment limited to 12. Offered fall term only, and offered in cooperation with the Foodways Documentation course, into whose collection any recipe a participant chooses to contribute is deposited by agreement.