Did you know that the number of people turning to Airbnb for lodging in Maine has almost doubled in the past two years? The revenue earned by Airbnb owners in Maine was roughly $40 million last year. If you have entertained the idea of turning your guest bedroom into a short term rental this is a class not to miss. Debra has operated River Escape for four years in Damariscotta as an active and popular AirBnb. She has put together a packet with good information and will present an online class using slides, live broadcast aswell as on-line web demonstration. Topics discussed will be ordinance, insurance, actual events, payment considerations, communication, Covid regulations etc.

Whether you're a sole proprietor looking to manage your business finances or you simply want to gain an understanding of accounting basics for career advancement or for personal use, the courses in this bundle will give you a solid foundation in financial matters. If you're interested in increasing your financial awareness while also gaining a marketable skill, this series of courses is perfect for you.

New start dates are available each month, call for information.

This comprehensive course will teach you the basics of accounting with QuickBooks Online, the most widely used accounting software for small business owners. You'll master the basics double-entry bookkeeping and get hands-on experience handling accounts receivable, accounts payable, sales taxes and other common financial activities.

Suite bundles are not eligible for partial drops or refunds. Transfers to other open sessions of the same course are available. Please refer to your school for additional details regarding drops, transfers, and refunds on Suite bundles.

How do you keep track of the day-to-day financial transactions of a business?  Whether you are looking to advance in your career, or you’re an entrepreneur, (or maybe you are a part of a family business), this course will help you if you are looking to understand the numbers.  The Basics of Bookkeeping course will help you understand, and know how to record, every penny that comes into your business and every penny that goes out of your business.  This course shows you how to create a chart of accounts that meets your needs.   All of the money you spend, and all of the money you earn, have a place to go.  How do your record them?  What are debits and credits?  What do the numbers mean?  How do I label accounts?  Even if you outsource your bookkeeping needs, you should still have a basic understanding of what happens with the money earned and the money spent.  No one should be blind to his or her finances!  In this course, you will learn where the numbers go, and why!  You will learn the bookkeeping terminology as well as what it means to keep track of the numbers.  At the end of the cycle, what do the numbers mean?  The Basics of Bookkeeping will show you how to keep track of the numbers and why!

CEUs/ILUs: 1.6

Length (in hours): 16

This is a one-month course that begins each quarter: winter, spring, summer, fall.

If the idea of creating a budget for your business, department, or project seems overwhelming, this course will alleviate all of those fears. Taught in an approachable and relatable format, this course walks you through the budgeting process so you can go from numbers averse to budgeting super-hero. The downloadable templates included in the course allow you to easily and quickly take what you learn and apply it to your job. The storytelling used throughout the course makes the topic more approachable and engaging so you can obtain the soft skills that will help you be successful implementing and tracking a budget in the real world. And finally, the course challenge is something that will pique your curiosity at the beginning of the course and provide motivation to complete the course and continue learning the material.

A company's budgeting process involves a lot more than just rows and columns of numbers on a spreadsheet. The reality is that budgeting is a sometimes organic and sometimes organized process. Most often, it's an equal mix of both in an attempt to add some level of certainty to an uncertain future. These processes are what we are going to explore in this course. You will be introduced to different strategies employed during the budgeting process, the techniques and tools that are commonly used to make budgeting forecasts, the components of a basic operating budget, and how businesses make certain decisions that may impact their budgeted amounts.

Learn how to create attractive, sophisticated blogs and websites—without any coding! WordPress is the world's most popular content management system, powering more than 34 percent of all sites on the Internet. WordPress is an easy-to-use solution that will help you put your site on the web in far less time than by coding, and at a much lower cost than hiring a professional.

In these lessons, you'll get hands-on experience with this powerful tool as you create your own WordPress.org site and blog. You'll find out how to use WordPress to create pages and posts, add images and videos, change a site's look and feel, and include user-friendly features. You'll discover the ease of using WordPress design themes to express your creativity, and you'll see how much fun it is to be part of the vibrant WordPress online community.

In addition to mastering the technical elements of WordPress, you'll learn how to organize a blog or website, create appealing content, keep your site secure, and achieve better positions on search engine results pages. By the end of this course, you'll be able to confidently use WordPress to create a blog or a personal, business, or organizational website.

The WordPress.org version covered in this class is the platform the pros use. While it normally requires a paid hosting account, this course includes a free SiteGround hosting account for three months, along with a private place on the web for practice.

This course has rolling start dates.  

Want to build an attractive, sophisticated blog or website—without having to learn how to code? WordPress.org is the answer! WordPress.org is one of the world's most popular web design tools. It's free and easy to use, and it produces professional results.

This series of courses will take you from having zero experience and knowledge of web design to more advanced techniques. You don't need any website publishing experience to get started. And, you'll walk away with your very own website and have the ability to manage it.

To take this series, you should be willing to open a hosting account, which will incur additional costs.

New start dates are available each month.

Educators and psychologists know that learning is significantly affected by factors such as stress, anxiety, self-image, cultural expectations and societal expectations. The increasing number of students diverse backgrounds in today’s classrooms introduces a tremendous diversity of lived experience which influences how students learn. 

In today’s public schools, the majority of teachers, 80% are white, and the majority of learners are students of color. This fact alone suggests a strong potential for a cultural and communication gap between teachers and their students. Research findings confirm that black students face significant challenges to their learning as a result of unconscious bias and lack of cultural awareness on the part of teachers. It is well documented that black students, particularly boys, are more likely to be on the receiving end of disciplinary action, more likely to be suspended from school, and are at greater risk of failing than are other students. It is also well documented that black children are perceived to be older than white children of the same age and are more likely, as a result, to have expectations for behavior that are developmentally inappropriate. These factors, along with micro-aggressions that are common, and sometimes racially motivated aggression by peers render the learning environment for black students fraught with challenges that may be unseen or unrecognized by educators.

In this course, we will examine the factors that come together to create unique challenges to black students in the classroom and explore ways in which teachers can minimize those challenges and support school success for all students.

CEUs/ILUs: 1.6

Length (in hours): 16