Early-morning class extends time of class offerings

Ozarks Technical Community College is very close to becoming a 24-hour college thanks to this fall’s addition of a new Diesel Technology class that begins at 5 a.m.

Add that class to the successful late-night classes OTC has offered since last year, some which extend well past midnight, and the college has about 20 hours of classes almost every day.

The Electrical I class, which has a lecture component from 5-5:50 a.m. and lab from 6-6:50 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, has 12 students enrolled.

The class teaches the students how to perform preventive maintenance and repair methods required of an entry-level technician in the automotive and diesel fields and is a required course in the Diesel Technology program.

The instructor, Jay Yinger, said the class was developed after talking with Layton Childress, dean of technical education.

“Many of these students work at night and when they get off work, they can come straight to class,” Childress said.

Several of the students come in from a graveyard shift where they work and two come from Bolivar, Yinger said. Other students include those with a military background and those who have been home schooled.

And students appear to enjoy the class.

“Everything is fine as long as I keep the coffee coming,” Yinger said.

The class has been so successful that, at the request of the students, part two of the electrical class will be held at the same time in the spring semester.

“The students said that they all wanted to come back and take the second class at the same time,” Yinger said.

The early morning class pairs and the late-night classes are popular among some students.

Yinger said his class and the late-night classes offer students a choice in class times that’s important in meeting their needs.

“The colleges are changing and becoming more flexible,” he said. “We’re trying to make it convenient for the working student and the parent student.”

Steve Koehler is coordinator of publications at Ozarks Technical Community College. Contact him at koehlers@otc.edu