The Electrical Training Alliance is dedicated to education and training, but how can we tell if that dedication to education and training is paying off? You need a learning management system, and that’s where the craft certification program comes into play. In order to help local JATC’s to evaluate an apprentice’s skill-set, the Electrical Training Alliance has developed the craft certification booth.
Watch this edition of IBEW Hour Power News Briefs to learn more about the craft certification booth.
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IBEW Hour Power News Brief: Craft Certification
Here at NTI the electrical training alliance is dedicated to education and training. But how do you know if that training is working? You need a learning management system, and that’s where the craft certification program comes into play.
Jim Boyd – Assistant Executive Director at ETA
“The Craft Certification is a way for an apprenticeship program to evaluate the graduating apprentices or journey-level workers when it’s necessary or organized workers to see what skills they actually have.”
In order to help local JATC’s to evaluate an apprentice’s skill-set, the Electrical Training Alliance has developed the craft certification booth.
Jim Boyd – Assistant Executive Director at ETA
“The craft certification booth was put together based on a job analysis performed all across the union industry, and contains five or six different tasks that are essential for every electrical worker to use.”
Train the best, use the best’ is a slogan that is preached and is in practice with respect to Craft Certification… leveraging industry partners for their expertise, while at the same time helping to increase brand awareness among students and instructors was a major contributing factor for EATON to stand behind the development and financing of the craft certification booths.
Thomas Domitrovich – VP of Technical Sales
“We’ve worked with the Electrical Training Alliance for many years with regards to helping to educate apprentices and bring our young students into the industry to a level of awareness and understanding of electrical safety and electrical products, and how they are installed. The craft certification booths are important to challenge ourselves, not only our students, but our curriculum, to make sure we’re effective, and delivering the right messages.”
The booth is made to replicate real products apprentices will see in the field such as a primary and secondary panel board, a 30kVA transformer, and a combination motor starter.
Jim Boyd – Assistant Executive Director at ETA
“They have to install all these devices with the wiring, with the conduit, and when they’re completed with the project it has to meet code, it has to be ready for inspection.”
To make the booth more versatile for multiple applications and testing, but keep it cost-effective, a magnetic diagram was developed to help demonstrate differently sized transformers.
Jim Boyd – Assistant Executive Director at ETA
“Because this is a fixed sized transformer, what we’ve done is provided magnetic labels that the evaluator can put on that transformer and change the size so each evaluation isn’t exactly the same. So one individual may have a 30kVA and the next individual may have a 15kVA transformer.”
With such a great way to evaluate apprentice performance, local JATC’s across the country are showing great interest.
Todd Stafford – Executive Director IBEW NECA Training
“Jim Boyd the Assistant Executive Director that heads this program up for us, he can hardly keep up with the demands sometimes. With programs wanting more information, how they can build a booth, how they can use the evaluation exams, how that can be used to judge apprenticeship training. It’s going to continue to grow and expand.”
And with these partnerships with manufacturers like EATON, growing the craft certification program is more than possible…
Thomas Domitrovich – VP of Technical Sales
“We want to make sure that we build the relationships locally to make sure that when they need a solution, they need one of these booths put together, we’re going to be there to help them assemble that. We have a bill of material, we know exactly the parts and pieces, we’ve worked very closely with the training lines to understand the importance of making sure we get it right, and we want to be there to help make that happen.”
For more information about the craft certification program please visit electricaltrainingalliance.org
Reporting from Ann Arbor, MI for IBEW Hour Power, I’m Matthew Walton.
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