{"65866":{"#nid":"65866","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Take or Teach an Upcoming OPTIONS Class","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy day, Kendra Albers is a research engineer for a lab at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. But in her spare time, she indulges her interest in less technical areas such as music and foreign languages \u2014 thanks to the Tech OPTIONS program. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI chose to take OPTIONS classes because I graduated last May from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and it was weird to not take classes last fall,\u201d said Albers, who works in the Electro-Optical Systems Lab at GTRI. \u201cThese classes offer a relaxing environment where you get to learn the things you have always been interested in but never got to take in college because you were too busy studying for your major.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlbers has taken both piano and Italian language classes through OPTIONS. However, the program offers courses that change each semester in subjects including dance, religion, art and life skills.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETech began offering the noncredit courses about 20 years ago as a way to provide classes for students that were low-stress and \u201cfun,\u201d said Tasha Myers, who oversees OPTIONS.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost classes are held in the Student Center or elsewhere on campus. Anyone, including people from outside of the Tech community, may take the classes. The cost varies, with the fee structure being least expensive for students and then faculty and staff members.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnyone may also propose and teach a course \u2014 as long as the person has experience or qualifications in the course area. The primary criteria for a class to be offered is whether it is of interest to students and whether they will pay the proposed price. Proposals may be submitted at any time online at the OPTIONS website, with the deadline for fall courses being June 30.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstructors have creative freedom when it comes to designing the course and setting the price. They receive 80 percent of each registration fee paid, Myers added.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve done ad design and photography for a few years and was helping the Student Center Programs Council (SCPC) with some promotional material in the Adobe suite,\u201d said Stephen Lester, an IT support professional in the School of Physics. \u201cThat was when Tasha said that I should teach a class on Photoshop. Working with the SCPC was fun, and they made the process easy.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGiorgio Calanni is a postdoctoral fellow in aerospace engineering and began teaching Italian language classes for OPTIONS in 2005.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot of the bureaucratic work is taken care of by the OPTIONS staff, while space and equipment are easily available,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom that point of view, working with this program has always been a smooth and pleasant experience \u2014 the staff makes such an exciting and rewarding experience effortless.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe course schedule for the summer session, which will run from May 16 to July 22, will be posted on the OPTIONS website by May 6.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about taking or teaching a class, email \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tasha.myers@stucen.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMyers\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy day, Kendra Albers is a research engineer for a lab at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. But in her spare time, she indulges her interest in less technical areas such as music and foreign languages \u2014 thanks to the Tech OPTIONS program.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"By day, Kendra Albers is a research engineer for a lab at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. But in her spare time, she indulges her interest in less technical areas such as music and foreign languages \u2014 thanks to the Tech OPTIONS program."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-04-29 14:35:42","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:38","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"65867":{"id":"65867","type":"image","title":"OPTIONS Dance Class","body":null,"created":"1449176884","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:08:04","changed":"1475894585","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:05","alt":"OPTIONS Dance Class","file":{"fid":"193265","name":"Options_Pic.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Options_Pic_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Options_Pic_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2919394,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Options_Pic_0.jpg?itok=CdZX0-Cr"}}},"media_ids":["65867"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/techoptions","title":"OPTIONS Program"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12989","name":"OPTIONS program"},{"id":"12990","name":"Tasha Myers"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}