Loading...The electrical grid, all half a billion miles of it, is in need of some attention. Much of it was built in the 1960s, so not only is it old, there’s just not enough of it. So, because of the sheer age and electrical capacity, the electrical grid is finally starting to get some serious attention.
Thousands of miles of transmission line work is on the horizon. The Smart Grid projects totaling 150 billion dollars will become a reality by the end of this decade. All of this is certainly not lost on the NECA-IBEW team, the reigning market share leaders in this huge industry. Supplying the skilled manpower needed to meet the demands of the future has prompted the NECA-IBEW team to develop a comprehensive training curriculum in keeping with the times.
This is David Garland and Roderick Williams, two third-year apprentices here at SELCAT, the Southeastern Line Constructors Apprenticeship Training Facility outside Atlanta. They are two of more than 4,000 outside line apprentices learning at this and eight more similar facilities from coast to coast. Part of the behind the scenes the NECA-IBEW team has done to grow its position in the market is by continuing to improve its already world-class training. One significant way is by delivering information with the click of a mouse.
Blended learning is a recent online and computer-driven curriculum that gets the most out of lineman training for apprentices and instructors alike. This program allows men and women of the trade to study at their own pace, any time, any place. Have questions? Their instructor is only an email away.
David Garland, Apprentice, IBEW Local 175
“The technology is awesome, it’s great being able to get on the computer at your own pace and if you do have a question working on the computer system, the blended learning system, you can always email your instructor. And he’s always prepared for something like this. He has his computer too and he has apprentices asking questions and he gets back with you right away. If he knows you have problems, he will note those problems and when it comes time for class, he’ll address those problems in class too. With the old way, they just couldn’t do that.”
Virgil Melton, Training Director, Southeastern Line Constructors Apprenticeship Training
“It actually maximizes the time in the classroom. It gives the instructors so much more time to work with the apprentice on problems, not every problem. One of the things that an instructor can do is that when he logs in to his page, he can see if he has 20 students and all 20 of them missed number nine, he can see that and it’s a good lesson plan for him to work on whatever question that is. It’s really given us a lot more time in the classroom.”
Roderick Williams, Apprentice, IBEW Local 175
“I might be able to shoot my instructor an email every once in a while if I have a problem, if I’m stuck with something. Then later on, during class time, he will come to me and ask me, ‘I heard you had this problem and this problem, can you work that out?’ He comes to me with that and we usually work it out and iron out the bad spots.”
With linemen often living far from comprehensive training centers like SELCAT, it isn’t physically possible to spend quality, face-to-face time with instructors every week. So, blended learning is exactly that – blending textbook training with hands-on learning that is so vital to a safe and productive lineman.
Michael Callanan, who heads up the NECA-IBEW’s training effort, says blended learning is already paying off in a big way.
Michael Callanan, Executive Director, NJATC
“The blended learning tool gives our instructors the ability to customize lessons so they can tailor the lesson to meet the specific needs of their apprentices and the JATC in the area they are working with. We’re pretty excited about that because we can begin to have an opportunity to really meet the needs of our local industry and customers. If transmission is really booming as we know it is right now, we’re able to focus in and use our time in the transmission skills. Distribution, other areas like that, it just gives us a lot more flexibility at the NJATC level.”
“We’re going to find that this whole blended learning transition has been one of the most important decisions that the whole NJATC has made. I’m so happy that the outside industry has led the way for us on this one, because it’s going to improve the efficiency of the way we train this next generation of lineworkers. And our outside line industry is growing at an incredible pace. This improves our ability to deliver tomorrow’s journeymen linemen sooner and better.”
Glenn Anthony, Instructor, Southeastern Line Constructors Apprenticeship Training
“I feel like that’s the difference between being a union lineman and a non-union lineman. We have a different approach to things. We’re not only learning how you do it, but learning why you do it, the way you do things.”
The NECA-IBEW team has been using the hands-on, journeyman to apprentice training for generations. It has been incorporating its blended learning training today in the computer age. Through it all, there’s one part of our heritage that ties it together: pride in our work.
Roderick Williams, Apprentice, IBEW Local 175
“My lineman, he preaches that all the time. He says from the tiniest thing, blots and washers, you want them straight up and down. You always want to take pride in it. You don’t want anything sloppy, because you don’t want the next person to come in trying to figure out what you you’ve got going on. You want it nice and neat, and he won’t have any problems.”
David Garland, Apprentice, IBEW Local 175
“The brotherhood on the line, the IBEW, is so strong. I’ve been really fortunate with my on the job training to have linemen with 40 years of experience. 40 years doing this, and nothing ever bad to say. They keep pushing it down to us younger guys, and it’s just such a tight family.”
Every year, the NECA-IBEW team spends about 18 million dollars training the best linemen in the industry. And because of it, union market share dominates and is continuing to climb.