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W
e’ve had a busy spring in
the education department,
largely attributed to yet
another very successful Fast Trac session.
This time we worked in conjunction with
the Maine Marine Trades Association. For
this group we offered two certification
programs, one in Marine Systems and
the other with our ever popular Marine
Electrical Certification. With this group
we ended up with a total of 40 participants
from all over Maine.
A two-day trip to Portland, Maine to
meet with the group followed their online
sessions, which were conducted during the
month of March. All I can say is that it is a
rare treat to get a classroom full of craftsmen
from the likes of Sabre Yachts, Front
Street Boatyard, Lyman-Morse, Brooklin
Boatyard and Morris Yachts all at the same
time and place. That’s just the boat building
contingent; we also had a large group from
all of the major Maine coast service yards.
In all, just a great experience and I look
forward to a return trip.
Next stop was a trip to a new venue for
us, Key West, Florida. We connected
with Key West Community College and
offered our Electrical Certification in part
one of a three-part series we are going
to offer at the college this year. We’ll be
following up the successful Electrical
Certification session with our Marine
Corrosion Certification in June and
Marine Diesels in September. The college
did a great job hosting us and locating
some cost effective hotel accommodations
for participants who needed them. We’re
really looking forward to return trips to
the Conch Republic!
As I write this, we are very near to
completing our second online course
offering. It may even be ready by the time
you read this. The course will be entitled
Basic Electricity and Introduction to
Corrosion Prevention. The target market
for this course is going to be a mix of
boaters, service technicians coming
from another industry sector, such as
automotive, and anyone just starting out
as a marine technician. The course is very
visual and interactive. The course includes
audio overlays which help explain some
of the details being shown on screen.
Additionally, demonstration videos are
presented throughout the course to show
the student how certain tasks are actually
performed on a boat. Each section is
provided with review questions to help
the student assess
their
progress.
We’re really
very excited
about this
course
offering and
?
Where
in the
Hull
is
Ed Sherman
F R O M A B Y C ’ S D I R E C T O R O F E D U C AT I O N A L P R O G R A M M I N G , E D S H E R M A N
Over the last several years we have
seen major revisions to many of
our ABYC standards and even the
addition of several new standards. To
that end, we will be working with our
certification partners, the National
Occupational Competency Testing
Institute (NOCTI) to revise our Electrical,
Marine Systems, Standards Knowledge
and Gasoline Engine certifications.
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