Instructor Trainee Program in Full Swing at Kennebec Valley Community College
Earlier this Spring, KVCC invited instructors from community colleges, technical high schools, unions, apprenticeship programs, and baccalaureate level programs to apply for its Instructor Trainee Program focused in three primary curricula areas:
- Architectural/engineering
- Electrical Technology
- Building Technology
The response was enthusiastic. Of the 33 applications received from 26 institutions, 26 instructor trainees from 21 institutions from six states in the Northeast were accepted to the program: six in Massachusetts and Maine, four in New York and Maine, three in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and Vermont.
“It’s hard to believe that it has only been one year since this program got off the ground, but the market demand is there. We are ecstatic about the response,” said Dana Doran, Director of Energy Programs, Kennebec Valley Community College.
Credit: Amy Hudnor, KVCC
The program is divided into six academic semesters: spring/summer 2013, fall 2013, and three semesters in 2014. All instructor trainees have completed KVCC’s online Intro to PV from April-June. This summer, the trainees will travel to KVCC for onsite trainings in June, July, and August, divided between engineering, electrical and building construction. Two webinars, on integrating PV into existing curricula and IREC’s Credentialing Program, are scheduled for this fall.
‘As an electrical apprentice instructor for both high school and college level programs, my job is to prepare our students for entry level positions in the electrical field,” said Charles Kennedy, Greater Lawrence Technical High School in Andover, Massachusetts. “To do this right, I need to keep up with the technology changes in the electrical field. I’m grateful to have been allowed the opportunity to attend the PV training here at KVCC and I’m excited about sharing this education with my students.”
In Spring 2014, KVCC will make site visits and offer another online course—this one on PV design and installation. Summer 2014 will find the instructor trainees back in Maine for another round of onsite training. In the fall and winter of 2014, KVCC will hold a best practices workshop on solar PV instruction and make another round of site visits.
“After I leave this training, I will be implementing aspects of the SITN Introduction to PV online and on-site courses into a 40-hour course I’m teaching later in the summer,” said Mario Capozzo, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 90 JATC. “The course is part of our apprenticeship program that includes journeyman wiremen, and many ideas I learned from my SITN participation so far will be useful additions to this course.”
In addition, KVCC is also working with the other RTP in the Northeast Region, Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) on code official training. The first of these code official trainings is scheduled for September at Vermont Technical College.
