Course Descriptions

COMPUTERS AND OFFICE TECHNOLOGY This is a comprehensive 192-hour course with concentrations in both clerical and computer skills. This course will prepare students for employment in a wide range of office settings as well as help prepare students for clerical civil service exams. The clerical components of the course include: keyboarding, document filing, business letter and memo setup, record keeping, punctuation, and grammar. The computer skills components are: Introduction to Computers, Introduction to Windows, word processing with MS Word, spreadsheet design with MS Excel, and data entry. This course also contains a segment on job development - using the Internet to perform job searches, practical interviewing tips, and classroom discussions abouth the job search process. Prerequisites: high school diploma, GED, or recommendation from a vocational counselor

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS This 128-hour course immerses the student in the most common computer applications used by businesses today - The Microsoft Office Suite. Begin with an introduction to Windows, create formatted documents with Word, design spreadsheets with Excel, create slide presentations with PowerPoint, use Outlook to plan events and schedule meetings, and design and manage databases with Access. This course has a wide range of applications. It would be appropriate for an experienced clerical worker who wants to broaden their computer skills in order to qualify as an administrative assistant or secretary. It would also be an excellent course for someone who has a career or profession, but needs to know how to use these programs in order to be more competetive in the job market. They could range anywhere from bankers, to legal secretaries, to sales representatives, or department managers. Prerequisites: high school diploma, GED, or recommendation by a vocational counselor.

MEDICAL OFFICE PROCEDURES Medical Office Procedures is a very intensive/comprehensive 128-hour course designed to prepare students for an entry-level position in one of the most in-demand occupations in this region - medical billing and coding. Learn many of the tasks performed in a medical office using "Medisoft" - medical office software - to set appointments, enter patient data, prepare patient billing, and process insurance claim forms. Students will also learn medical terminology, human anatomy, how to assign diagnostic and procedural codes from the CPT and ICD-9 codebooks, and how to prepare medical insurance claim forms. The various types of health care plans are covered in this course also, from Medicare to HMO's to Worker's Compensation. Graduates can find work in a variety of medical settings: physician's offices, health insurance companies, outpatient facilities, and hospitals. Increase your credentials by taking the National Billing and Coding Specialist Exam upon graduation. Prerequisites: high school diplima or GED, minimum keyboarding speed of 25wpm, computer literacy.

FUNDAMENTALS OF BOOKKEEPING Sharpen your pencil for this intensive 128-hour bookkeeping course. Learn key accounting principles that will enable you to set up a company's books, post transactions to the general ledger, track payables and receivables, make adjusting entries, and prepare financial statements. The course also covers payroll processing, making payroll tax payments, preparing Federal and New York State payroll tax returns, and requirements for collecting and filing sales tax in New York State. We will then tie all of these concepts together using QuickBooks - the most popular bookkeeping program in use today. Since every business needs to track its income and expenses, there are a wide range of business settings to work in. Some positions would be: accounts payable/receivable clerk, payroll clerk, full-charge bookkeeper, and office manager. Since office managers will often times be a company's bookkeeper, this would be an excellent course for someone who desires to qualify for this type of position. Increase your credentials by taking the National Registered Bookkeeper Exam upon graduation. Prerequisites: high school diploma or GED, competency in Excel, computer literacy. WHAT IF I DON'T NEED TO TAKE A WHOLE PROGRAM? That's fine. We offer a wide variety of individual classes for those that don't need to take a whole program. Keyboarding is one of our most popular classes. So are Word, Excel, and QuickBooks. If you only need to take a class or two to fill in the gaps or to help you qualify for certain jobs, we might have a class that's just right for you. To find out what individual classes we offer, call our Poughkeepsie school at (845) 473-6544 or our Kingston school at (845) 331-7740.