College claims that most online students “are part-time adult learners, attending classes amidst other priorities including family and jobs.” New B.S. in nursing and LPN program will be online in the fall
Online courses and programs have become an increasingly important delivery mechanism for Yavapai Community College. In fact, one might argue its current and future survival appears to rest on ensuring it has large numbers of outstanding online courses.
Data delivered to the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board in April showed over 40% of credits are now obtained online. Although it produced no hard analytical data supporting its claim, it asserted that most online students “are part-time adult learners, attending classes amidst other priorities including family and jobs.”
The new Bachelor of Science in Nursing, as well as an LPN program, will be launched in the Fall of 2023. The coursework will be offered online, and intends to target Community College RN graduates who would like to upgrade their skills and credentials.
Good online learning opportunities depends on at least three things: First, the quality and stability of the technology used to deliver the online course. Second, the quality of the course content. Finally, the training and collateral support of faculty who develop a course and then teach it online.
Yavapai Community College was an early adopter of online technologies, beginning almost 23 years ago. Since then, it has invested large sums of money in technology, software and support services to improve the quality of our online offerings.
There remain fundamental unanswered debatable questions about the quality of an online learning experience for a student versus face-to-face classroom learning or a hybrid online experience mixed with some face-to-face classroom learning experiences. The answer about which learning environment is better, so far, is incomplete and generally unsatisfactory. A common response is that how learning occurs seems to turn on the specific learning characteristics of each individual student and the quality of the faculty member delivering the material. Some students appear to thrive in an online environment. Others, however, appear to need in-person classroom instruction in order to achieve their maximum potential for learning.
As more and more quality online learning opportunities appear from universities, colleges, and private enterprises, and the model of education delivery is being forever altered, the challenges for the Yavapai Community College administration are many.
Yavapai Community College announced in a November 21 press release that Dr. Barbara Durham was selected as Director of Nursing. Dr. Durham is Prescott based and has been an employee of the Community College since 2017 when she moved from Hartnell community college in Salinas, California where she had taught for 12 years.
Thirty-nine student nurses took part in the traditional pinning ceremony on December 10, 2021 on the Prescott Campus of Yavapai Community College. They represented both the spring and fall 2021 cohort and the Verde Valley and Prescott quad cities.
It was reported by the Arizona Republic newspaper and other media on November 1, 2021 that two nursing students have sued Maricopa Community Colleges over a requirement they get vaccinated against COVID-19. They claim the community college district is violating their free exercise of religion by not helping them to graduate as scheduled or providing preferred accommodations since they are refusing to get vaccinated for religious reasons.
If registration data of August 4, 2021 from Yavapai Community College is any indication, the nursing program on the Verde Campus for fall 2021 is a smash hit. Data from the College’s web site indicate that 16 of the 20 nursing courses offered this fall are already filled to overflowing.
Yavapai Community College will host a site visit for continuing accreditation of its Nursing Program by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing Feb. 22-25. This is a regular visit that is required of all programs that are operating a Nursing program. 
The Yavapai Community College Foundation has awarded twelve two-year full tuition scholarships to students in the College’s healthcare program. Ten of the scholarships went to nursing students and two of the scholarships were awarded to radiologic technology students.
Forty-eight future nurses gathered December 13 for a traditional graduation pinning ceremony at the Yavapai Community College Performing Arts Center on the Prescott campus. (Blog was informed that at least 13 are from the Verde Valley.) The nursing graduates also celebrated with a lamp lighting and recitation of the Florence Nightingale pledge. In the pledge, the graduates commit to “be loyal to my work and devoted towards the welfare of those committed to my care.”